Is our enthusiasm for web 2.0 technologies misplaced? I think that's the essential question Wesley Fryer was talking about in his post Luddite criticisms of technology and modernism on January 4. Wes, Miguel Guhlin, Ewan McIntosh and I are getting together tonight to discuss these 5 questions:

• 1. Is enthusiasm in the blogsphere for web 2.0 overblown, since the realities of the modern, accountability-driven classroom overpower individual drives for creative innovation?

• 2. Is there hope for systemic school reform in the United States? Elsewhere in the world?

• 3. Should schools repurpose their existing educational technology budgets, which largely serve now to support a traditional transmission-based model (pedagogy) of instruction? (And do something radical instead, like pay their teachers more?!)

• 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?

The planning for this event has been fantastic! Wes put together a wiki page for us to thrash out the details of our availability, what questions we would address and how we would structure the discussion. A brilliantly practical use of a wiki.

If you have any thoughts you'd like to share on these questions post them here before 10 pm central time tonight (that's when we're scheduled to "skype" together. I'll post a link to the podcast here sometimne after the show.

Back in October 2005 I was helping my niece with her math homework. Her parents and I got to talking and decided that I would continue to "tutor" her using a blog. It's called Ellie's Math Blog. Anyway, I just installed a Visitor Map on her blog because it's starting to get some hits from the US. I thought it would be really encouraging for her to see how people from across the world pop in on her blog to see what's going on. (Who knows, she might even learn some geography at the same time. ;-) You don't have to do anything other than visit for a second or two so that the city you're visiting from gets logged. No personal information gets recorded, just the city in which your ISP server is located.

Now if you really wanted to help her learn by leaving an encouraging comment ... well ... that would be outstanding! ;-)

I've recently done a couple of workshops on blogging and web 2.0 in education and I've got a few more coming up. As I talk to people about the powerful learning experiences these technologies foster I have a creeping concern that people are looking at blogs and other read/write tools as a panacea for teaching. While blogs have lightened my load in some respects I find myself spending my prep time in new ways; I'm not working less, I'm working differently. There are a growing number of people beginning to address this issue and I wanted to use this post to track the articles, blog posts and presentations that are having the greatest impact on my thinking in this regard. I'll probably continue to add to and update this post for a little while. Here's what I'm reading and learning about now ....

• » Learning Ecology, Communities, and Networks Extending the classroom
  by George Siemens (the "gardener" analogy is right on the money!)

• » Crash course in learning theory
  by Kathy Sierra

• » Learning Objects: RIP or 1.0?
  by D'Arcy Norman (read the article he points you to)

• » Connectivism and Web 2.0
  by George Siemens

• » Learning is Conversation
  by John Pederson

• » An Introduction to Connective Knowledge
  by Stephen Downes (listen to his podcast if you prefer)

• » Ubiquitously Connected and Pervasively Proximate
  by Will Richardson (be sure to read "Why Johnny And Janey Can't Read, and Why Mr. And Ms. Smith Can't Teach: The challenge of multiple media literacies in a tumultuous time" by Mark Federman)

• » informL learning presentation
  Jay Cross summarizes his thinking and learning over the last year

What I take from all the above is that the essential change brought about by the read/write web is not that teachers and students work less, teachers work differently to foster greater effort on the part of students. The read/write web doesn't make teaching and learning easier. Teachers and students have to think and work differently because the definition of teaching and learning is evolving.

I read this over at the Homeschool Math Blog. I think it's part of a chain letter but it's a powerful idea nonetheless — maybe something for the last day of the semester.

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name.

Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.

It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.

On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. "Really?" she heard whispered "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" and, "I didn't know others liked me so much." were most of the comments.

No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.

Several years later, one of the students was killed in Viet Nam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature.

The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin.

As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. "Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. She nodded: "yes." Then he said: "Mark talked about you a lot."

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.

"We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it."

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him.

"Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it."

All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home."

Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary."

Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: "I think we all saved our lists."

... you never know where your influence stops.

I love RSS! Some of you may have noticed the RSS feed from the MERLOT mathematics database in the sidebar of this blog. Every time I look in on my own blog I find out about the latest and greatest math resources from MERLOT. You can find MERLOT RSS feeds in other subject areas here (they don't make it easy (read about it here) but it's worth the effort) and learn how to make your own feed box for your blog here. (Thanks Alan!)

I just came across COUNTDOWN; a site with lots of math instructional videos. From the main page:

This professional development web site is devoted to the demonstration and support of effective mathematics instruction. Through the use of indexed video clips and related support materials, viewers can explore specific math concepts at their own pace. Whether you´re an educator brushing up on formulas, a fifth grader figuring out equivalent fractions, a grad student completing a methods assignment or a concerned parent seeking an "electronic" math tutor for your child...this site is a rich math resource available for your repeated use. The video clips found on this site have been edited from hour-long COUNTDOWN shows originally broadcast on Channel 21, the interactive cable access television network in Chicago. Each week, the television program introduces a different math concept through direct instruction and reinforces each lesson with literature, manipulative, activities and related computer instruction. Thanks to cooperative support from SBC, Chicago GEAR UP and Loyola University Chicago, the COUNTDOWN web site has the added benefit of being free. There are no fees or subscription charges for unlimited use of the instructional videos on this web site.

I know Clarence will like this one and my niece will too. ;-)

I received an email yesterday from one of the teachers who had attended my OLÉ & RML workshop in December. Mr. H teaches grade 8 math at one of our feeder schools. He's set up his own little blogosphere which he'll be introducing his students to next week:

The Main Portal:
Sargent Park's Grade 8 Math Zone

The Class Blogs
Sargent Park 8-16 Math
Sargent Park 8-17 Math
Sargent Park 8-41 Math
Sargent Park 8-73 Math

Drop by and leave him a comment -- I know he'd really appreciate it. ;-)

The way blogging fits into my instructional design has undergone dramatic changes between last semester and this one.

Here is a comparative list:

Winter 2005

Fall 2005

I post links to reviews, instructive animations and quizzes. I post blogging prompts often using images from flickr. Students post reflections on their learning. I had students do a Muddiest Point exercise on the blog once.

I post links to reviews, instructive animations and quizzes. I occasionally post blogging prompts. Not using images from flickr often enough. Students post reflections on their learning. We've done a few Muddiest Point exercises. I've been more explicit about ethical blogging and internet use. Students post links to reviews and other learning resources in the del.icio.us boxes. Students (and occasionally me) interact in the chatboxes. They often help each other out with homework. Students write a scribe post for each class every day — this has morphed into them essentially writing the textbook for the class in their own words. My AP Calculus class is using blogs to write their own digital story. Students have the option of writing an acrostic instead of a Blogging on Blogging reflective post. Students have the option of editing the textbook instead of writing a reflective post — this is another way to get them to reflect on their learning. ;-) I've used the blog to have the students communicate with a substitute teacher before a class I was away from. I've also used the blog to give an online class when I was away. I've got them learning problem solving by playing games I post to the blog each Sunday. Just before the holiday break I added a Visitor Map to each blog.

Now this wasn't all part of the plan back in September; the students pushed me and I added the functionality of chatboxes. Other teacher bloggers shared their work and frustrations, pushed me and gave me ideas. The students have really picked up on the pull vrs. push idea of learning. (One of them said so explicitly [Kristin_R].)

But all of this evolved over the course of our learning together. I'm wondering how I'm going to orchestrate it with my three new classes beginning in February. Here's what I'm thinking ...

Day 1: Discuss Sysiphus. The scribe posts begin.

Week 2: The chatboxes appear.
(Should I wait this long?)

Week 3: Begin digital story assignment with a larger class; students work in groups of 2 or 3. Deadlines must be VERY firm.
(Will this work?)

Week 4: Begin instructional video assignment. Make the deadline flexible to accommodate different groups having access to the equipment.
(I'm anxious about this one.)

Week 6: The del.icio.us boxes appear.
(Is this too soon?)

Week 9: The Editor's Initiative is introduced.
(This should be about half way through the course.)

Week 12: The acrostic post is introduced.
(Should I wait a little longer for this?)

I want to introduce the students to these tools carefully so as not to overwhelm them. Of course this "measured" introduction of tools may be too slow; some of them will have "graduated" from my classes this semester and may demand access to the entire suite of tools immediately — an interesting "problem" to have. ;-)

Looking back, that's an incredible amount of growth in they way I'm using read/write tools with my classes! And I've made no mention of a wiki idea I'm still playing around with. I wonder what the saturation point is? How much is too much? It looks like I'm doing a lot but actually I'm not — the kids are! It'll be interesting to see what changes and growth come out of working with 3 new classes of students. Many of them will be expecting the blog because it's become common knowledge in the school about what's going on in mine and Erin's classes. Some students have begun asking their teachers to start blogs for their classes. I know of a few teachers in my school and one of our feeder schools that have already created blogs for the new year. (Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see them.)

I think 2005 was the year of the blog. 2006 is shaping up to be the year of the edublog. ;-)