I wish I could have kept track how many times I said the words “collaborate,” “construct” and “content” during my stay in Boston this week. It must have run into the hundreds without question. And there seemed to be a palpable excitement about blogging. It was pretty cool.
So today I read that Anne is collaborating to construct content. Go figure.
Now I’m thinking I can just set this up in weblogs. There will still be one student, one business partner but this gives a better way to open up the communication to the rest of the class, parents, and others. I pitched the idea to the principal. She liked it. Next up is to meet with the General Mills CEO.
I’m thinking that I could have two authors to a weblog to begin with with possibility of adding more. They could post pack and forth and students and educators could comment. I’m liking this more and more.
I thought one of the most interesting statements coming out of the conference was from a participant who wrote the following in the conference blog:
My first thought following the opening words of our keynote speaker was, “My God, classroom walls have become a hazard!” In the past, walls helped create an environment that promoted learning; now, walls are just one item in a long list of factors that inhibit learning. Walls in our classrooms, walls in our thinking.
It’s all about getting outside those walls. Everyone I talked to about blogs was thinking that way, talking about really “building communities” that extend far outside their own schools. I wish we could have had just one big brainstorming session at the end to really push each other’s thinking on it.
Hey Will, I enjoyed your talks.
I have a question
I have built my wiki (http://www.seedwiki.com/page.cfm?wikiid=6149&doc=Computer%20Graphics)
and my Blog (http://www.novemberlearning.com/blogs/JimRusconi/)
But despite what Kevin Costner says no one has come to play on my Field of Dreams. This is not a new problem for me. I tried to get the faculty interested in online meetings via message boards a few years ago. If ever I saw a real motivation to use a technology it would be to reduce the number of faculty meetings and increase the opportunity for real discussion on a faculty. I was able to convince the english and science depts. to have their Department meetings on-line but the interest waned almost immediately. (I think that the only aggreed initially because the wanted to help me out)
I know I will be able to get my kids to use these tools because I have the initial club of a grade to beat them up with. (I hope that once they start using them they will see the value and become more internally motivated.) I guess this is half rant and half question. Do you know anyone whos has used message boards for faculty communication?? It just seems to me that it would be a great collaborative too for teachers. Keep on mind tyhose walls separate teachers from each other as much as the keep kids from the outside world.
Is there a way to edit your posts. Most message boards I have used allow you to go back and fix typos.