Google is coming out with stuff very quickly. I know they have a lot of moeny to spend and they seem to be doing some real cool stuff. Check this out.
I think we are definately getting closer to Web 3.0. At that point I should be able to say “I want to drive along the coast for the first half of the trip, stop at a nice restaurant, and then have highway for the rest of the trip”. Google is pretty close with the newest application.
I heard about the Redistricting Game on NPR this morning and have spent a few hours checking it out. Very well done! Schools spend so much money on textbooks and I hope they start directing some of that money towards things like this.
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I am taking two courses this summer: Curriculum and Learning Theory. This will complete my courses for my administrative certificate. Next year is my internship year.
I have been reading a lot about change this week from Scott McLeod. I also wonder how much change is possible in today’s climate. As I reflect on the courses I take I realize that while the content might change year to year the delivery is almost the same as it has been for decades (paper-discussion-exam-group work). Administrators and teachers are rarely given the opportunity to learn in an interactive-global-visual manner. Is it impossible to think that our major universities could not develop collaborative projects for administrative students that connect students on a global stage, much like the horizon project?
A few years back our state added a technology portfolio to the requirements for the administrative certificate. It is basic stuff (insert chart into email, etc..) but it is OLD stuff. No blogs, podcasts, wikis. Much of its content is largely irrelevant today (list-serves?). Can a large bureaucracy adapt to change? Can a school?
If I teach web design next year I have a good idea of my objectives. But I have almost no idea what my tools will be. Tools are coming out so fast. The need to be fluent in google maps, weebly, wiki technology, and basic programming seems to be growing. How do I set up an environment where the newest technology has an opportunity to flourish and be tested?
So, as Scott says, is the knowledge of change possibly the most important skill in the modern educational environment?
I think most internet use policies in schools have this phrase “the use of the internet is a privilege, not a right”. Students can lose internet privileges. I am sure there are students who lose or damage books. I don’t think that they lose their reading privileges.
I haven’t quite been able to get my head around this. I know these policies were written in a time when internet use was less relevant. But still….
Are there more modern policies out there that people could share?
