I decided to focus on the way I will be delving into the blogosphere, rather than focusing on my students. Ultimately, I would prefer to include them, but my administration stands in the way. For various reasons, they have decided that allowing students to blog in an authentic manner would be rife with issues of safety and security. Collaboration is a no-no in our district. Unless you count collaborating with a classroom down the hall or in another district school. They have purchased (for a pretty hefty price) a package where students and teachers can blog, create wikis and websites that are self-contained and closed to the outside world. No one wants to use it.
I'm optimistic that between the ammunition I will gather from this class, and the changes to the NJ Core Curriculum Standards I might have a chance of actually using blogs for their intended purpose. Only time will tell!
Wow, reading this I am very reassured by the direction my district is going in with technology. If we close our students off from the outside world, they are never going to learn and experience from people on the other side of world or country. I hope that you do get enough ammunition from this class to change the perspective!!!!
ReplyDeleteValerie:
ReplyDeleteWe use Blackboard in my district, so I need to find the happy medium between having students do their work in that restricted environment and just being out there on the web. Any suggestions? Up until this point, everything has been placed on BBoard, which is great for sharing within the class, but not for the rest of the world.
Cindy Goldbach
Valerie,
ReplyDeleteHonestly, my county is the same way. It's very frustrating, and I voice my opinion to anyone who will listen. We did move to Google email and are using Google docs this year! Would starting with the package they purchased show that these can be used responsibly? I will have to check it out to see what its features are.
Sherry, They chastised a teacher for using Google Docs with his students last year, saying it was a security/safety issue that the district didn't want to be held responsible for any "issues" resulting from it. So instead they spend over $50,000 to upgrade to the new Office and students still don't have email accounts. Ridiculous, right?
ReplyDeleteWith all the talk of national common core standards and college readiness standards, one would think that administrators all over the country would be tripping all over themselves to integrate Web 2.0 into their districts!
ReplyDelete