3/5 of the Web 2.0 Debate

1/13/2006 03:50:00 pm

We had a great conversation last night! I've been getting mail from Wes, Ewan and Miguel about how much fun we all had. (This is the first chance I've had to write anything about it. It's been such a crazy busy day -- TGIF!)

Kudos to Wes for getting us organized and moderating the discussion last night. We had decided to keep the discussion limited to one hour. We cut off our conversation after only hitting on the first three of the five questions.

Thanks also to Ewan (he made the heroic effort of participating at 4 am his time!) and Miguel for including me and their tremendous professionalism. Our positions on some issues are close, on others not. Miguel, Ewan and Wes are all real gentlemen. The level of discussion was entirely focused on the issues. When we disagreed with each other it was always based on the merits of our arguments. I feel fortunate to be part of this group.

We're planning a follow-up podcast in the next week or so to round off the discussion and touch on the last two questions. We managed to work in the replies Bud and John left in the comments to my earlier post. Wes suggested we invite Bud, John and any other interested educators to participate by submitting text or podcast responses to these questions:

  • 4. Will corporate interests (Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc) overpower the energy of web 2.0 technologies in their drive to monetize the Internet?

  • 5. How much should our enthusiasm for web 2.0, technology specifically and modernism in general be tempered by the "costs" we hear and know about regarding globalism?

It was really great sharing ideas with educational leaders from two other countries -- I've started thinking of this as the "From Three Countries Across One Big Ocean Podcast." ;-) If anything illustrates how education is going global, the simple fact of the four of us getting together this way to share ideas and learn from each other does.

Email any one of us or leave a comment on this post or Miguel's post or Wes' post or over at Ewan's post. We'll edit them in or play them live at our next get together.

So without any further ado, here it is:

The From Three Countries Across One Big Ocean Podcast

Show Notes
The Other Side of Outsourcing (Thomas Friedman, "The World is Flat" - Video)

John Pederson

Bud Hunt

Excellence and Imagination (Clarence Fisher's class)

Darren's classes: Pre-Cal 20S, Pre-Cal 30S, AP Calculus AB

What If Your Blog Was Gone?

OLÉ (Darren's workshop)

Ellie's Math Blog (Darren's Niece)

Remote Access (Clarence Fisher's blog)

Island Bloggers at the ECML (Scotland)

Luddite Literacy (Wes' podcast)

The Impact of the Gutenberg Printing Press

Korean blog list

Levels of Technology Implementation (LOTI)

Dr. Chris Moresch Ed. D.

Assessment For Learning site

Assessment is For Learning (Scotland)

Scottish Schools Digital Network

Ewan's pilot project (MLFE)

Guidelines for ethical behaviour online (from Darren's classes)

John Pederson's blog post - 2006 Online Edublogger Conference

Ewan's students podcasting

Bob Sprankle - Room 208 (Grade 4, USA)

Ewan's Jordanhill U. presentation

David Muir

Pong

Time For Knowledge and Wisdom

Oversold and Underused by Larry Cuban

Writely

Open Source Applications (Free): Open Office, Think Office

TECSIG (Technology Special Interest Group - Texas)

NCLB, Title II Part D

My Access

Integrated Learning Systems

SuccessMaker

PLATO Learning

Compass Learning

Read/Write Web Reading List by Will Richardson

Alan Levine’s blog: CogDogBlog, a recent workshop

Brian Lamb’s blog: Abject Learning, some wiki based workshops

Modern Foreign Languages Environment (MFLE) (Scotland)

Redefining Literacy by David Warlick

Darren Kuropatwa’s blog: A Difference
Ewan McIntosh’s blog: edublog
Miguel Guhlin’s blog: Mousing Around
Wesley Fryer’s blog: Moving at the Speed of Creativity
Our skypecast planning and idea wiki

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8 comments

  1. My interest in these topics has heightened since January 1. As part of a newly formed school division, there is quite a buzz and excitement around the possibility of real change. I've been utilizing many of your postings and ideas and others to advance the concepts of Web 2.0 et. al to the decision makers of our school district. I think many are listening. I'm trying very hard to present the right mix of innovation and ideas that will realistically be considered as vehicles of change.

    Listening to the podcast, I'm almost audibly shouting "AMEN!" to much of the discussion. For me it's going to be a very important 6 months of work as we begin to lay out the principles and values that will shape our new school division. Your contributions to my learning is appreciated.

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  2. Anonymous13/1/06 22:13

    Likewise Dean.

    This is an exciting time to be restructuring a school division. I'm honoured to hear my work and writing has been helpful. Keep us up-to-date on your blog, I always look forward to reading your blog postings; I'm one of your most avid readers. ;-)

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  3. I just finished listening to the podcast, and I continue to be amazed and impressed that educators from around the world, in different disciplines, and with different interests are all saying very similar things about what needs to happen for students to be successful. I am part of a group working with the Alabama Best Practices Center and 21st Century Schools, and we are grappling with the same questions and concerns. I am sharing the podcast and links to all of your blogs with the group, and I am sure we will use this as a resource as we determine how to excite teachers in Alabama about the potential of educational technology.

    I especially liked the discussion about merging curriculum and technology. I agree that technology is there to enhance curriculum. It loses its meaning when it is isolated from the curriculum. I could also identify with your concern for teachers who are overwhelmed by the demands of high-stakes testing.

    I appreciate the four of you taking the lead and sharing your thoughts with the rest of us. Keep up the good work!

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  4. It is quite a thrill to have stimulated some discussion across the globe with our conversation last night, Darren. I return your compliments on how professional and excellent the discussion was. I am still kind of amazed all the technology worked as well as it did! Always good to have a positive initial experience with a new technology, skypecasting a conference call is no different. I didn't chime in on this during the talk, but I think your idea about mentor teachers serving as coaches to other teachers for technology integration is THE BEST MODEL for more broadly encouraging ICT integration. I understood what Miguel was saying about campus technology teachers in Texas getting more caught up in technology rather than pedagogy, but I think it is that focus that needs to change, rather than the idea chucked out. I also agree that we need to merge curriculum and instruction with technology, rather than treating technology as a separate discipline and topic. The lesson of using campus-based teachers to mentor/coach others really came through in a video I created several years ago about Lewisville ISD, which is in the Dallas area. Of course the issue of systemic educational reform is multi-faceted, and no single approach is sufficient. The leadership / vision piece is also critical. And giving teachers EXPERIENCES with these tools and working to let students be the grassroots voices who demand more uses of these tools are also on the right track.

    Looking forward to our next conversation!!!

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  5. Anonymous14/1/06 11:54

    Mrs. Simpson: Thanks for the positive feedback. I'm glad you're able to use our chat to help others move the discussion forward.

    You folks in Alabama have started on some really exciting work. I think we're going to see many examples from your district of students and teachers using technology in pedagogically meaningful ways.

    Wes: Your enthusiasm is contagious. Thanks for including me as a node on your network. ;-)

    I think we see eye-to-eye on these issues:

    (1) Historically in edtech the technology has driven the pedagogy -- it really has to be the other way around.

    (2) We need to put these tools in the hands of the students!

    (3) We need models to learn from. Master teachers who focus on pedagogy first, technology second. Who have the technological knowledge to leverage technological solutions for enhancing pedagogy. Who freely share the wealth of that knowledge in a global learning community.

    (I feel like saying: "I have a dream!" Kind of appropos for this weekend. ;-))

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  6. Anonymous15/1/06 10:10

    Thanks Ewan! I updated the show notes.

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  7. Darren,

    Can you expand a bit on the areas of disagreement?

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  8. Anonymous15/1/06 21:46

    Hi Dean,

    For the most part I think the four of us didn't have any disagreements.

    There was one point in the discussion, when we were discussion question #3 about repurposing edtech budgets, I had misheard Miguel, spoke up and said "But we don't have technology integration." When I went back to listen to the podcast a second time to make the shownotes I realized that we were saying the same thing. I said as much when the "mic" was turned over to me.

    At the end of the conversation though, we had a genuine disagreement. Specifically about how to orchestrate teachers professional development in connection with the read/write web. (See mine and Wes' comments above.) Miguel didn't feel this would be an effective format for PD. I think it will have a powerful impact on current and future teachers. I also have some ideas about teacher training but maybe we should save that for the next podcast. ;-)

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