Blogical Discussion Review
Web 2.0 Futurama: Discussion Review Podcast
I must say the reactions to the week five discussion topic are as varied as the comments on Steve Hargadon’s initial post. I know replying to my post was a requirement, but your thoughtful responses and personal insights gave me a lot to think about.
Sarah Lovelidge framed the argument as the idealism of Hargadon vs. the pessimism of O’Hagan.
On the pessimism side, each of us identified road blocks to this new world of education. Sherri described a lack of funding and a focus on test scores. Joan described where she worked as “not a collaborative environment”. It wasn’t hard to identify other common obstacles: lack of money for the hardware, software, and bandwidth; either short sighted administrators or lack of administrative buy-in; and all were concerned about professional training to properly use this technology in meaningful ways in the curriculum to improve student learning. Sachiko said, “What I need is a support to implement technology in the curriculum. I would like to have a person to go to discuss what I vision in my lesson plan and how can it be done.” Chris felt, although his efforts were supported philosophically, they were not supported in a material sense.
On the idealism side, almost all admitted there would be change. Jonna said, “As a result of Web 2.0, I see education changing dramatically”. Whether you saw the change happening as a revolution or an evolution, everyone described how they envisioned education changing as a result of Web 2.0. Terri described the “slow ponderous change”, while Mindy describes the revolution as “more teachers learn about Web 2.0 tools and express the desire to integrate them into their classes, they will demand that their districts reconsider their stands against them or reluctance to use them.” The rate of change certainly is debatable. Susan has hopes for her students, “we might really get to see education become equitable! How I wish for the students I worked with in a high poverty, low achieving area to have what the students just down the street have!” Chris shares her hope, he has just applied for an Instructional Improvement Grant; although he is not sure what to buy.
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts.
