What a fabulous article in the Christchurch Press last week about Fendalton School being featured on the Google’s global blog highlighting excellence in application of technology in the classroom. How wonderful to be able to read about the way the school is using blogs, YouTube and photo-sharing to connect their learning with world beyond the school gate.
So why aren’t more school’s making use of these readily available web 2.0 tools? There will be a variety of reasons, lack of time, too much to do already or a requirement for teachers to become more up-skilled in these tools. It would be interesting to find out how Paul Sibson, principal of Fendalton School, succeeded in getting his teachers to embrace these tools for learning.
I am also wondering if there is a more fundamentally significant reason why many schools are not embracing the web 2.0 tools – fear! I know that my need to ensure student safety in online environments is the reason I haven’t been encouraging and supporting the teachers at my school to get into blogging with their classes. It is not that I cannot see the educational potential of students regularly blogging about their learning, posting onto YouTube, and using wikis to share and collaborate with audiences beyond the school. I can see the benefits and at the same I am scared of the potential consequences.
So where does this fear come from? Sure some of it comes from the unknown and the relative newness of these tools. My assumptions about the dangers of the internet have been greatly influenced by what I read in the newspaper and see o n television. How refreshing it was then to read such a positive article about Fendalton School in the Press last week.
The question that needs to be asked is whether or not the negative ‘spin’ regularly put on news items about the internet is because there is a real danger or is it because news organisations fear for their position in the world’s knowledge market as a result of the web 2.0 tools.
In the days of old, before web 2.0, news organisations were the authority and lens through which we learnt about the world. The spin they put on reported events coloured the thinking of the majority of the population. If they reported something in a positive light we believed it was good; if they choose to portray it negatively then we knew it was bad. For years they have had the ability to influence politics simply by the stories they chose to either print or ignore. But all that has changed.
The web allows anyone to post their ideas or comments for the rest of the word to see. We are no longer reliant on the six o’clock news to see footage of the latest disaster. Ordinary people with cell phones can film events and upload images to YouTube and other online forums.
It is true that news media organisations are beginning to embrace digital technologies. You can down load news items, and read the paper on line. And whilst provision is being made for people to comment on events, through blogs and wikis attached to news websites, it is still channelling thinking down the lens chosen by the media company.
I am beginning to see strong correlations between the behaviour of today’s media organisations and the persecution of the inventors of the printing press by the established church in the 15th century. The church was hugely threatened by the thought that people other than priests and nuns would be able to read God’s word thus allowing individual thought and interpretation. Today’s media organisations are fighting a similar battle.
I am not sure where that leaves me. I am too busy running a school to be able to investigate and think deeply about the safe and effective use of web 2.0 tools for learning. It is no use thinking that we will wait for the revolution to happen and then we will react. The revolution has been and gone and the way we learn about things has changed forever. We now need to decide what we will do about this in our schools.
Well done Fendalton School for leading the way. We are grateful for your vision and your courage.
Thingish Things
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The fact that you are following the web 2.0 debate and thinking about the needs of students for the future is surely a start. Even the role modelling of having your own blog and sharing your concerns and ideas places you well on the journey. You are an early adopter in many areas and it is hard to be so in everything. I guess the good thing is that schools like Fendalton are leading in the use of google tools etc and so you can learn from them - their successes and failures. Networked leaders sharing and collaborating can be a powerful force for change. It takes time and commitment, not overnight change and to sustain forward momentum is important. Wouldn't it be good if some of the early adopters had their own leadership hui to share ideas and build on each others' good practice?
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You said: "So why aren’t more school’s making use of these readily available web 2.0 tools? There will be a variety of reasons, lack of time, too much to do already or a requirement for teachers to become more up-skilled in these tools. It would be interesting to find out how Paul Sibson, principal of Fendalton School, succeeded in getting his teachers to embrace these tools for learning."
ReplyDeleteI think that many teachers put ICT/Web2.0 into the too hard basket. Actually, I don't think it - I know it - I live it at my school. As I was skimming my RSS feed I noticed a photo (which I now can't find!) which said something like: The future has arrived - it's just not spread evenly. Unfortunately many don't want to be in the future - they want to be in the past.
I've been living in the future for as long as I can remember (or at least the last 30 years) - if it was new I wanted to play with it (not for the gimmick) learn how it worked, write the code (I still code in HTML by hand!).
I want to introduce my students to technology - to show them that it's an integral part of their lives (much like I taught my own children now 18 & 21 how to write the dos commands to play their games).
We classroom teachers need inspired leaders who will push, shove, kick the laggards (I think that was Tony Ryan's term) into the future.
Well if I had read your post earlier I would have bailed him up at the First Time Principals Conference. He was in our group there- did you ask him how he managed it- I have introduced google calendar by embedding it on our school website, have set up a school delicious, flickr and google account- where to from here is the key- maybe I will give him a ring!
ReplyDeleteHey Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words. Fendalton is a very special place.
Rob