Thing 9

WOW! Huge Topic. It felt like the more I read about copyright use the less certain I am of proper usage. I would really love a Professional Development day or two on this topic- soon.

How do you see teaching and learning changing as a result of Web 2.0?
I think this will be a great avenue for students to not so much as to learn at their own pace but rather progress in their own learning. My biggest obstacle is that middle school students are not at the same starting place; they are not at the equal ripeness to absorb what is being taught and differ in their level of interest in topics. This technology assisted way of teaching could let me assess students based on their own progression rather than how they stack-up against 20 other students in class at the moment.

I found huge truth in the mention of how we teach in isolation and can see that Web 2.0 tools has the great potential to improve collaboration in the educational community.


What opportunities do you see emerging?
Reclaiming lost learning minutes. Currently in a 90 minute block, when I need to work one-on-one with my students, they each get less than 3 minutes of my time. In a 45 minute block, less than 90 seconds. There have been times where students will sit and wait until I come around to them because they want to make sure they're doing it right. So, if I had a few computer stations set up with video /blog where I've selected and assembled visual and written how tos, and students knew they could get up and view them at any time- how great would that be. If they could eventually view this all from their seat using their iphone... even better!
This would help the student who was absent, the student who needs a reteach or to refresh their memory after a 3 day weekend, the student who wants to be sure before they start, the student who wasn't listening yesterday because they were upset about something else, or the student that has the time and inclination to go farther with their project.

What can educators do to practice and teach ethical use of these interactive resources?
Make sure what we use in our classroom, digital or hard copy, has been cited or is in the legal domain. Also, anything we write and put on the web should use a Creative Commons type of copyright to let others know how they might use or re-purpose the work.