Real easy. Yes or no. In terms of education as we know it, the Web (of the Read/Write flavor) changes everything.
Defend your answers.
Comments
dave cormiersays
wow, great question Will. I went a little ranty, but i think i’ll leave it the way it is, seems fresher that way.
No. I probably spend 50 hours a week helping and convincing people to join the web 2.0 version of education. I don’t think the fact that the tech and the chance for connectivity exists changes very much. It offers a possibility for more. It offers many, many cheaper options for the best things that were done before. It saves trees…
I guess it comes down to ‘what is your everything?’. For me, everything includes the military model of the classroom that a large portion of the educational consumer community is expecting, and actually seems to want. That a large portion of the ‘middle adopters’ feel comfortable with. And by military model, i’m refering to more than the classroom organization, and more even than tranmission style teaching, but the programming inherent in the system. So much of the reprogramming i’ve seen in education is ‘rock rounding’. Sysiphus gets up the hill quicker, maybe he rolls the rock down the other side, fact remains, he’s still pushing a rock up the hill for nothing.
Until the ‘hearts and minds’ of the middle adopters are turned to understand that education as it is generally understood is simply a means of thought control, there will be no ‘change of everything’. I don’t know what they’re going to say when they find out, maybe they want the control, maybe they don’t.
I think the publishing, the connectivity, the content, the availability of perspective and a bunch of other things all make the web a stunning place. I also think that the educators that are using it for those things were finding ways to do this before. Maybe not as well. Maybe not as cheaply. Maybe not as easily.
The web is a very good tool for combatting the apathy and the fear that contributes to the ‘old’ style of education. And I will continue to wield it like a cudgel. But it’s the system that is the issue. Large administrations that know that the possibility of negative publicity does not compare with high scores on national exams. (the ‘well what are they going to put on their blog’ argument) The desire for clean grading rubrics. For ‘fairness’ in assessment. blah blah. rant over. comments?
Bob Irvingsays
I’ve been saying this for several years now, and I still believe that the web will change everything. But I’ve also seen the resistance to change in education, and I sometimes wonder if this should be amended to “The web will change everything… except education.”
After all, look at all the changes that the factory model of education has withstood so far: electricity, TV, immigration, economic ups and downs, wars, and now even the near disappearance of factories themselves from North America! It just keeps rolling along.
Though I may sound totally hopeless, I am not. I am so encouraged by many of the young teachers I have met, who take the digital landscape for granted and use it all as a matter of course. And there are others who have adventurous spirits and a willingness to do what is best for their students, even if it means some “learning discomfort” on their part. I applaud them. But systemic change is going to be a long time coming, I’m afraid.
I started my teaching career 30 years ago. A few years ago, I took some time off to take an IT degree and work in private business. This experience gave me some valuable insights into how “the web” was changing everything. There aren’t many businesses left who have decided to ignore the web and conduct “business as usual”. And the demands on employees to learn and upgrade their technical skills in order to do their jobs (or keep their jobs) proceeds relentlessly. Then I re-entered the teaching field. What a difference! Education may be the only field where employees can still conduct “business as usual”.
My response has gotten ranty as well, I’m afraid. My hope is that the changes wrought by the web will someday be so obvious that they will no longer be able to be ignored by educational establishments. I do think that will happen, and I hope in my lifetime! In the meantime, I will continue to stay on “the bleeding edge” and evangelize for the integration of technology in education. I will celebrate every victory, large or small. But I don’t have any illusions about widespread change anytime soon.
C Kaminskisays
YES, Yes, and yes
I believe that the read/write web is currently in it’s infant stages when making a direct correlation to education. The change will be evolving and dependent upon those who are at the forefront (i.e. Will Richardson, Alan November, Tim Lauer,etc.) to stay convicted to the development, awareness, and promotion of the read/ write web as a tool for breaking the barriers of student success.
Thomas Freedman, “The World is Flat” shows us how the world has become flat and gave us examples of key events in history that mirror this flattening process. My belief is that the read/ write web will have a direct impact on flattening schools, classrooms, and educational communities as a whole. It changes the way that students learn and peers being informed of this process. It is also my belief that students will gain the needed skills to survive and become fearless leaders in a global economy. The way we do business as a society has changed dramatically. It is our responsibilities as educators to provide our students with the necesssary skills to embrace this change. The read/ write web, a changed curriculum, and informed educational communities shall be the vehicle.
“We are entering the age where to understand something is to see how it isn’t what it is.” (David Weinberger)
If the web “is” what we have experienced over the past 10 years of “web in education”, it changes very little. What we have experienced has simply been the warm up act to something much larger.
Here’s an example of how it changes everything. In the district where I work, we went from having 0 students open-enroll to online schools to 18 students open-enroll in a single year. The district calls it “open enrollement” or “declining enrollment”. That really isn’t what it is. The students and parents know it as “The teachers we find are better than the ones we are given.”
Back in college, we used to play “register for the classes of the teachers you like”. The toys of Web 2.0 will enable us, our students, and our parents to expand that pool to pull from.
It will take time, but it will happen.
Tom Hoffmansays
The web can’t change everything until all students and teachers have web access in schools and at home, more or less all the time.
Jimsays
I would really, really like to say “YES.” However, the non-social Internet for the most part has not changed the way instruction is delivered. It is still used in whole class situations or in libray research to produce the same projects and reports students did with paper ten years ago. There is a group of alpha geeks leading the charge, but I don’t think we will reach the tipping point for a long time.
The issue of access is huge. Equipment and connectivity when and where it is needed is a long time off.
jim
Will Richardsonsays
Tom…I agree, until everyone is tapped in, the change is only going to happen for the lucky. But I’d be really interested in knowing what you think should that ever be the case, or for the kids and teachers that do have access now. Revolutionary or no?
Karen Stearnssays
Yes, it changes everything. I agree with much of what’s already been said here. There IS resistance. I supervise ELA student teachers and even many of the tech-savvy ones don’t make the connection between their ELA pedagogy and technology’s potential to radically alter it. The same old persists.
But I do see technology’s offering a significant opportunity to decenter the classroom. The most important change is that the teacher is or should no longer be the authority. Knowledge is no longer (it never was) fixed and therefore cannot be “delivered” by a delivery system, Friedman’s Globalization 1.0 teacher. Now every student can and needs to be his/her own teacher.
That’s pretty scary for a lot of folks who are drawn to teaching because they perceive it as a space that offers some opportunity for control.
Greg Ulmer says that “all the practices used to conduct schooling are relative to the apparatus of literacy.” He adds to orality and literacy the phenomenom of “electracy.” Check Ulmer’s book, “Internet Inventions: From Literacy to Electracy” if you haven’t already. He’s in Gainesville (U/Fla.)
Karen Stearns and the Tech class at SUNY Cortland
KES
Jillsays
hmm…very interesting question.
I think that rather than changing EVERYTHING, which is very generalized, i think that it ENHANCES it. It brings reading and writing to a whole new level. Instead of merely handing in an essay or doing homework on a worksheet, the web requires students to engage in a community as students, sharing their work together and collaborating as a group. It brings the classroom together as it has never been before.
and unfortunately, the web CANNOT enchance education as we know it when teachers do no try to impliment them into classrooms. The web does have the potential to enhance, but educators need to take advanage of this, otherwise it never will be used to it’s VERY LARGE potential.
-Jill
Katiesays
I completely agree with this statement. As a matter of fact, yesterday I was on AOL Instant Messager and was reading other people’s away messages when I came across one that said, “You know you live in 2005 when you put your PIN number into the microwave or you stop talking to old friends just because they don’t have a screen name or you’d rather look for the television remote for fifteen minutes than push the buttons on the television.” It just shows that technology has no only been a major part of our practical life but also it has influenced education now more than ever. Students are able to read entire books online, or participate in an online discussion for class. I could not imagine what I would do without technology in schools. Even the simple tasks such as figuring out grades, or taking notes would take much longer and is not as effective as if you had technology to help out. Not only all this, but the idea that teachers can give their students more information on anything they need during class, it just amazing. However, the only quam I have with computers taking over enducation, would be the lack of personal interaction between students and teachers. I feel like the students would interact less with one another since their assignments would be done on a computer rather than completing a group project outside of school.
jennifer Baumgartensays
I feel the web does change everything. Im in a computer technology in the classroom class right so as I rite this. A few weeks ago my answer would have been NO, but in the few short weeks I have been in this class my answer has changed. There are so many possibilities of different things on the web you can bring into the classroom. For example blogging, I feel this is a great way for students to leave their opinion on anything for their classmates and teachers. Its also a good way to let people know something you wouldnt normally say in class. There are also endless resources on the web and gives you an opportunity to get endless amounts of information more then you can get from just a classroom setting. If you combine classroom setting with the interet the students will learn and discover much more. You can have a class without the web but in my opinion its a mistake and your depriving yourself and students from learning so much more.
Lynsey Pottssays
Yes! The web does change everything. In our class Technology in the Classroom, we have been discussing this topic all semester. Thomas Friedman in his book, The World is Flat, calls todays era Globalization 3.0. The world as we know it, is becoming continually smaller, or as Fried puts it “flatter.” We take advantage how quickly we now can get in touch with someone great distances away through email, instant message, blogging, or other on-line forums. The growth of the web has made this possible.
Kristisays
I totally agree with you, Tom. I think it’s always a good thing to remember that we can try to think of a million ways to use technology to make education a better experience for students, but until EVERYONE has the ability to be able to go home to his or her own computer, it’s not really fair to expect all students to be able to achieve the same level of understanding or mastery.
Abbysays
Change is happening!! It is going to take a while for busy teachers to transfer their usual methods of teaching and use the materials. Incorporating technology into the classroom is very time intensive. The information needs to be inputed and formatted from transparancies to other mediums. This takes time, and teachers are busy as it is. “all we need is just a little patience” (Guns & Roses).
Abbysays
starelasays
The Web Changes Everything? Yes or no cannot answer this question because everything means anything. I agree that the web changes reading and writing in many ways. Thomas Friedman references this in his book ,The World is Flat. The whole concept of this book is that the advancement of the internet is responsible for one of the fastest decacdes of connection. Friedman discusses the value of having free information available to the masses in such an easily accessible manner. That is one of the ways that I believe the web has changed “everything” – information can be read and compared and analyzed with the click of a mouse. Writing becomes easier from all angles. The technique of commas and bibliographies no longer needs to be committed to memory because there are hundreds if not thousands of websites that create a bibliography for you or that correct the grammar and punctuation of a writing piece. The process of hypothesizing and innovation is made easier by the availability of previous works on a subject. Students can take ideas from others and respond to them instead of finding their own starting off point. So yes, I believe that the web changes everything; but where does everything end?
Anthonysays
I agree that technology is changing the way teachers conduct their business in the classroom. However, the access to these computers and these technologies are not open to every student, or even ever teacher. I wouldn’t say that i am reluctant to change the way i would approach teaching, Yet, until the technologies are as widespread as print, i would say that a mix of the two (Technology and Tried-and-True methods) is the only relevant option. There is no doubt that technology has already changed the classroom environment, yet these changes are not “Extreme” enough to state that there are changing everything…..
Anthonysays
starelasays
Dave Emkesays
As a current student in English education, I am definitely inclined to say “yes.” The idea of the read/write web changing education seems to be the basis for everything we are learning. However, as previous commenters have already said, that “yes” comes with qualifiers.
The web has changed education in some facets. Teachers are integrating things like blogs and wikis into their lessons, with communication devices like e-mail and instant messaging already having been long inundated. These methods are definitely beneficial to the learning environment for the students, as welcoming their digital lifestyles into the classroom helps keep them from falling prey to boredom.
However, there is definitely resistance everywhere we turn. Since we are in a transitional phase, we up-and-coming teachers face an interesting dichotomy. We were all brought up in “traditional classrooms,” and now we are preparing to teach in a “virtual classroom.” We are, in part, tech geeks. We are also, probably in equal part, traditional learners. We’re at a crossroads. Some of us are cruising through. So of us are at an impasse.
So the question then becomes, which style of teachers will get the jobs? Of course, we believe we are all going to get jobs. If that’s true, though, the dichotomy will just continue and the difference in learning styles will continue to grow. Then, it becomes an issue of “survival of the fittest.” And if biology class has taught me anything, I know that the more adept creature is the one that will live on. So, eventually, the web will take over as the educating method of choice.
As Friedman said in The World Is Flat, you have to get up in the morning and start running. If you’re the slowest gazelle, you’re going to be the first one eaten by the lions. Those old-style teaching gazelles are being eaten as we speak, and it’s only a matter time before they become extinct.
OK, that was a long answer. To sum it up: “yes… eventually.”
Mariasays
Of course the Internet changes everything about education; from the way students research to the way educators formulate lesson plans. These days students are more willing to incorporate the Internet and technology into their education, and increasingly educators as well will see the growing need for the Internet. The internet provides for shortcuts as well. While the original ideal usage for the web was to create a haven for information, today the internet is home to hundreds upon thousands of websites devoted to summarized books (Cliffnotes, Sparknotes etc) as well as previously written essays. Students have little trouble accessing fully finished documents instead of the research that would facilitated them in their own learning.
Yes, the web has certainly changed the face or flavor of education. Before you used to have to find a really smart kid to buy your paper off of…now you have no idea who that paper on Hamlet is coming from.
AnaRod84says
Yes. I believe that the read/write web has the potential to change everything in terms of education. However, I feel it has a long way to go. In an ideal world we would think that everyone is open to using web tools in the classroom, but there will always be people behind everyone else. Money is also an issue, not everyone has the resources to use the web in the education field. I feel that teachers have the power to influence change. I feel that if one teacher in every school brings technology into the classroom, they can probably make a small impact on others by sharing what they know. The web can change everything, but it will take a huge effort. Teachers need to pull together and change the way education is presented. We have the power and we need to not only pay attention to these changes, but know how to incorporate them into the classroom. The web will change everything in education as we know it if we allow it to.
Ana
Rachaelsays
As a future teacher, and as a current student myself attending classes at SUNY Cortland, the web already has and will continue to change everything- hopefully. Don’t take my current stance as too forceful, I know that it will take a long time for the changes that the internet has created for other areas, to reach the classroom. However, as a student with a passion to become a teacher, SUNY Cortland requires me to take a course on technology in the classroom. If the change has not happened already, it doesn’t mean that it never will. In fact, teachers prepare students for the present and their futures and no one can doubt that the world is changing. When my father went to highschool he had to spend days in the library in order to find the available information that he needed. Now, a student with a book report can go home and find biographies, websites, foundations and even sparknotes if they wanted. Information is right at our fingertips and cannot be ignored. While reading The World Is Flat, Friedman talks about the future of accountants changing because they are now outsourcing tax forms to India to be completed. In the future, accountants will need to aquire more skills in order to be useful. This will eventually be similar for teachers. Students are now able to be taught through virtual classrooms from professors around the world: technology in the classroom due to the web is already in progress. As an educator, pleading ignorance to an important resource that has possibilities to help us do our jobs and change student interaction and levels of active teaching, wont be allowed for much longer. If it is, it is an incredible injustice to our students who will have access and experience with these new technologies whether teachers choose to address them or not. The web changes everything. If it doesn’t, teachers need to reevaluate their roles as guiders to the future. How can we ask our students to prepare the tools today for the skills we will need tomorrow if we don’t?
Jessica Loomissays
Rather than yes or no, I would say that it MUST change everything, and yes, it will change everything, eventually, but I agree with Jim in that we are far far far away from the tipping point. But we have to change, and those of us who are “alpha geeks” must not only fight for this change within our classrooms but within the system at large. As our world changes, as global economies shift and the job market drastically changes (I am currently reading Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat”), education must change. Sadly, education is of low priority in this country, and I believe we are going to be shocked in twenty or thirty years from now to see how far we’ve fallen behind. Students must be leaders and co-teachers and co-explorers in the classroom, experience the breaking down of walls and borders thanks to the Internet, and become literate with all forms of media.
Megansays
How can it not be changing education? The internet is becoming a major aspect in the lives of so many. And it’s not like the invention of the automobile in the fact that even if someone isn’t able to have the internet personally, he or she will have access to it through schools, libraries, cafes, hotels, etc.
There are some schools that may be doing the same things that they have been doing for the past thirty years, but they will soon HAVE to get on the technology bandwagon. The college students being educated today to become teachers are native to the technology boom. We are going to have to teach our students through the Web because it is what we know and what they know. The Web make information so much more available to students. This allows for more advantages and disadvantages in education. This alone is reason that it is changing education.
A student can go to sparknotes now in order to past the comprehension test on the novel the next day in school. Teachers have to start being more creative in the teaching process to make it more challanging for the student. A research paper can easily be done through information on the web. It is necessary for a teacher and student to know what is fact and what is fiction on the web. This too changes everything.
If the Web isn’t changing education, it is going to be a major disadvantage for those who aren’t on up on the technological evolution. I’m a secondary English education major and my peers and I are learning the advantages and disadvantages of the Web in the classroom. There are so many things that are available and are in use at schools. There’s no denying the response to the Internet.
WILL the web change education? With out a doubt. The change may not be as prevalent now, but if things keep moving in the same direction (and classes like this one are still being offered) we will have no choice but to CHANGE! Today students who are majoring in education are learning how to teach WITH the web. Like Friedman says, “you better start running now.” Classrooms are changing, maybe not as rapidly as we would like, but they are none-the-less. Those of you who are saying no to this change will be left in the dust when those of us who support this inevitability stream ahead. The fact remains…the next generation will dictate the future, and it seems to me that the next generation is far more technologically advanced then we ever were. They are the ones who will be changing the face of eduaction.
Kate, SUNY Cortland senior
carasays
Mr. Irving,
I am a pre-service teacher, no spring chicken, and I’m only just becoming accustomed to a digital environment. I’ve seen technology at work in the classroom, both very well and a poor substitute for the teacher. Some educators are innovative and some aren’t. I believe if parents, sudents and teachers are seriously interested in how technology can enhance an ELA curriculum there will be hope for the read/write Web.
I think what can truly speed up and improve the process of the read/write Web is for teachers to introduce it to their classes. An introduction of parents, especially those who are concerned with their children’s extracurricular activities on the computer. Class blogs are start. This may get kids interested in blogging and then they could become a part of a larger community. It would be great for teachers and students from all over blogging together.
In J. Martin Rochester’s book, he tells a joke that I find disconcerting. “How many teachers does it take to change a lightbulb?” Ans: Teachers? Change?”
Mr. Martin, you have been teaching for 30 years, which is impressive. Your other pursuits have made you aware and open to the Web, which is more impressive. You are now passing that on to your students. Between tenured teachers and teachers who are meeting Tech requirements in institutions of higher education, ELA classrooms have a chance to bring this new literacy to the forefront and with it the read/write Web.
jen drakesays
jen drakesays
Fire didn’t change everything, the invention of the wheel didn’t change everything, and neither did the printing press. What changed “everything” was the ingenious ways in which these tools were applied in a variety of situations. The Read/Write Web on its own will not change “everything” either. The teaching of literacy, or ELA, or whatever we will be calling it in ten years, will evolve as new teachers who have grown up “digital natives” enter the profession committed to using the best tools available to help their students.
It is my hope that, as Gunther Kress suggests at the end of Chapter One of his book Literacy in the New Media Age, all of us in this first transitional wave will take time for some serious reflection on the appropriate uses of this new technology in conjunction with other classroom strategies. The Read/Write Web affords us some fantastic new tools for collaborative learning, publishing to an audience, and connecting the classroom to the outside world- but it’s not the only exceptionally useful tool in the box. I love my cordless drill driver, but sometimes a hammer and nails are the right choice.
Diana Damesays
I believe the web has the POTENTIAL to change everything. If every school had the teachers and resources dedicated to providing their students with better technology, the educational field would be a whole different ball game. Yes, we are getting there! Slowly but surely, schools are realizing the potential of the Web in the class room. I feel it takes dedicated teachers to get it started and keep it going. The Web is eventually going to encompass almost every aspect of our class rooms and this, contrary to popular belief, is NOT a hinderance! We have to realize that kids are on the internet every day. It is up to us to tap into that resource and guide what our children are learning about! As teachers, this is a god-send. Think of it this way: any kind of information you need is at yours, as well as your students’, finger tips! That is very exciting and it has added a new dimension to why I want to teach!
Diana Dame
Will Richardsonsays
Ok, so if you made it down this far, I just want to clarify that this wasn’t a class assignment, although how cool is it that a pre-service class found it and decided to chime in?
What kind of change is that??? And Cara, I don’t know who Mr. Irving is, but I really like the joke.
Lemonsays
I want it to, yes, but no, it hasn’t. Most of the classrooms I’m in look the same as my school experience, but with a couple dusty PC’s off to the side.
Can it? Absolutely.
Should it? Absolutely.
Will it? Eventually.
It will require some changing of the guard and a system of teacher preparation that models the use of technology in common everyday instruction, not just as a part of great, elaborate instructional units that no one has time to plan.
We have a growing number of “digital natives” in our teaching ranks, but even they are immigrants to digital instruction. As some of the earlier replies have suggested, most of the changes needed to accommodate the read/write transformation are not electronic, but systemic.
Joan Vinall-Coxsays
Yes it changes education, but more than that, it changes everything.
On education – how much can people now learn on their own, using the web? Wikipedia gives me answers. Blogs give me discussions. Open Source and Open Access give me tools. Websites put up by teachers and/or educational institutions give me advice on writing, on assessing information, on using common software. The web is the perfect tool for the autodidact. In fact, if employers start paying more attention to what people can actually do than to their diplomas and degrees, the education business could be in trouble.
I have taken courses where I learned little from the teacher, but found that the text and discussions were valuable. (So reading and blogs can replace classes.) I have taken tech workshops where I was taught (sort-of, who can remember all the details crammed into a few hours?) – tech workshops where I was taught some elements of the tool, but not how to use it for my purposes. (A paper manual and playing with the software for real purposes was the learning environment I needed, and it was cheaper!) Sharing an office can mean sharing expertise; learning communities can happen anywhere and they are a great learning medium.
And then there’s everything else. The web is a multi-media environment where (almost) everybody can play. Software often comes with some very user-friendly aspects or versions, like Paint in Window’s Accessories or iMovie in Mac’s OSX. Webcams and worldwide contacts are as real as the digital divide. Speaking of which, there’s increasing talk of $100.00 computers, and other possibilities. And schools and libraries offer access, and online accounts such as Furl, Flickr, and Writerly free us from the constraints of one machine and/or one ISP. This is a newer and more powerful communicative tool than the printing press IMHO.
And the social aspects – I know of dating and marriages that exist because of the web.
And work – what about the stories of call centres on other continents?
And so much more, good, bad, and impossible to see the importance of yet. So “Yes! The Web Changes Everything!” I just hope education can catch up, for the sake of our institutions, and for the sake of our youth, who need the “digital immigrants” to take leadership and pass along the “legacy content”.
Joe Luftsays
Considering that most people in the world – including many students and teachers – are a long way from having this type of access I think the answer is no. It depends who the “we” is in the part of your question “as we know it”. If “we” means people like the folks reading this blog and responding the answer is undoubtedly yes.
Additionally, for a student who is somewhat disaffected by their prior school experience and doesn’t feel particularly connected to school, face-to-face relationships and relationships with peers and adults will always be tremendously more important than anything else – including technology. I’m a big fan of this stuff too (admittedly not to the degree you are), but when I see teachers who have incredible impact on their students not all of them need technology to have that kind of effect. It may change everything for some educators but it doesn’t necessarily have to change everything for all of them.
Important? Yes. Revolutionary/disruptive/whatever-you-want-to-call-it? Yes. Necessary to some degree? Yes. Does it change everything? No.
Tom Hoffmansays
Clearly, the volume of responses here indicates that the time is ripe for Will to open “The Weblogg-ed Cafe.”
For me, there is no doubt that the web is a revolutionary learning tool, but it doesn’t “change everything” I believe about teaching and learning. In fact, it changes nothing I believe about teaching and learning. I already believed in progressive education, critical thinking, using programming, simulations, collaborations with the community & around the world.
Also, regarding the many “The World is Flat” references above. One thing that people miss is that the entire transformation that Friedman describes took place among a generation of people who had no specific training or education to prepare them for those changes. People always have and always will adopt to whatever technologies enable commerce on the widest scale possible. It is other forms of collaboration that are tricky.
Janice Friesensays
This is SO true. However, things are changing slowly even in education. Five years ago college professors could still ignore the web, but now they are starting to use it for their own research (and to prove the plagerism of the students!) It isn’t much, but it is a beginning.
One issue is the limits that many teachers have in using the web 2.0. Currently many of the teachers that I am in contact with have blogs blocked at their schools.
Janice
Janice Friesensays
Dave,
What you describe as happeing to new teachers has been happening for many, many years (at least 28 that I know of). Most new teachers are mentored by someone and end up learning a teaching “style” that is from the past generation of teachers. Most administration is even further behind in their vision for education. This is partly because they tend to be from the “older” era of education and partly because the pressures of testing and NCLB tend to push them in this direction. It is tough to be a new teacher and do something different.
Janice
Tom McHalesays
Well, changing everything is a pretty large order. As an English teacher most of what I teach remains the same, but the way I do it, the materials I have available, and the opportunites I am able to offer to my students has and will change radically. So is this a yes or no vote? No matter. This has certainly evolved into an interesting discussion among passionate professionals. Something that certainly couldn’t have happened before the internet. So maybe this is a yes vote after all.
amy bowllansays
Hi Will,
Happy Thanksgiving. I have to preface my response by saying how “grateful I am to you” for getting me onto the BlogTrain.
I think to answer your questions it’s important to REACH the parent community and educate them on the Wonders of the Web. Right? It’s so important to ensure that parents are clear with what schools are trying to do to impact learning and take it to the Global Communities.
Best to you and yours as you crinkle and frolic through the next life of the leaves,
wow, great question Will. I went a little ranty, but i think i’ll leave it the way it is, seems fresher that way.
No. I probably spend 50 hours a week helping and convincing people to join the web 2.0 version of education. I don’t think the fact that the tech and the chance for connectivity exists changes very much. It offers a possibility for more. It offers many, many cheaper options for the best things that were done before. It saves trees…
I guess it comes down to ‘what is your everything?’. For me, everything includes the military model of the classroom that a large portion of the educational consumer community is expecting, and actually seems to want. That a large portion of the ‘middle adopters’ feel comfortable with. And by military model, i’m refering to more than the classroom organization, and more even than tranmission style teaching, but the programming inherent in the system. So much of the reprogramming i’ve seen in education is ‘rock rounding’. Sysiphus gets up the hill quicker, maybe he rolls the rock down the other side, fact remains, he’s still pushing a rock up the hill for nothing.
Until the ‘hearts and minds’ of the middle adopters are turned to understand that education as it is generally understood is simply a means of thought control, there will be no ‘change of everything’. I don’t know what they’re going to say when they find out, maybe they want the control, maybe they don’t.
I think the publishing, the connectivity, the content, the availability of perspective and a bunch of other things all make the web a stunning place. I also think that the educators that are using it for those things were finding ways to do this before. Maybe not as well. Maybe not as cheaply. Maybe not as easily.
The web is a very good tool for combatting the apathy and the fear that contributes to the ‘old’ style of education. And I will continue to wield it like a cudgel. But it’s the system that is the issue. Large administrations that know that the possibility of negative publicity does not compare with high scores on national exams. (the ‘well what are they going to put on their blog’ argument) The desire for clean grading rubrics. For ‘fairness’ in assessment. blah blah. rant over. comments?
I’ve been saying this for several years now, and I still believe that the web will change everything. But I’ve also seen the resistance to change in education, and I sometimes wonder if this should be amended to “The web will change everything… except education.”
After all, look at all the changes that the factory model of education has withstood so far: electricity, TV, immigration, economic ups and downs, wars, and now even the near disappearance of factories themselves from North America! It just keeps rolling along.
Though I may sound totally hopeless, I am not. I am so encouraged by many of the young teachers I have met, who take the digital landscape for granted and use it all as a matter of course. And there are others who have adventurous spirits and a willingness to do what is best for their students, even if it means some “learning discomfort” on their part. I applaud them. But systemic change is going to be a long time coming, I’m afraid.
I started my teaching career 30 years ago. A few years ago, I took some time off to take an IT degree and work in private business. This experience gave me some valuable insights into how “the web” was changing everything. There aren’t many businesses left who have decided to ignore the web and conduct “business as usual”. And the demands on employees to learn and upgrade their technical skills in order to do their jobs (or keep their jobs) proceeds relentlessly. Then I re-entered the teaching field. What a difference! Education may be the only field where employees can still conduct “business as usual”.
My response has gotten ranty as well, I’m afraid. My hope is that the changes wrought by the web will someday be so obvious that they will no longer be able to be ignored by educational establishments. I do think that will happen, and I hope in my lifetime! In the meantime, I will continue to stay on “the bleeding edge” and evangelize for the integration of technology in education. I will celebrate every victory, large or small. But I don’t have any illusions about widespread change anytime soon.
YES, Yes, and yes
I believe that the read/write web is currently in it’s infant stages when making a direct correlation to education. The change will be evolving and dependent upon those who are at the forefront (i.e. Will Richardson, Alan November, Tim Lauer,etc.) to stay convicted to the development, awareness, and promotion of the read/ write web as a tool for breaking the barriers of student success.
Thomas Freedman, “The World is Flat” shows us how the world has become flat and gave us examples of key events in history that mirror this flattening process. My belief is that the read/ write web will have a direct impact on flattening schools, classrooms, and educational communities as a whole. It changes the way that students learn and peers being informed of this process. It is also my belief that students will gain the needed skills to survive and become fearless leaders in a global economy. The way we do business as a society has changed dramatically. It is our responsibilities as educators to provide our students with the necesssary skills to embrace this change. The read/ write web, a changed curriculum, and informed educational communities shall be the vehicle.
http://www.novemberlearning.com/blogs/design/
Let’s mix the conversation.
“We are entering the age where to understand something is to see how it isn’t what it is.” (David Weinberger)
If the web “is” what we have experienced over the past 10 years of “web in education”, it changes very little. What we have experienced has simply been the warm up act to something much larger.
Here’s an example of how it changes everything. In the district where I work, we went from having 0 students open-enroll to online schools to 18 students open-enroll in a single year. The district calls it “open enrollement” or “declining enrollment”. That really isn’t what it is. The students and parents know it as “The teachers we find are better than the ones we are given.”
Back in college, we used to play “register for the classes of the teachers you like”. The toys of Web 2.0 will enable us, our students, and our parents to expand that pool to pull from.
It will take time, but it will happen.
The web can’t change everything until all students and teachers have web access in schools and at home, more or less all the time.
I would really, really like to say “YES.” However, the non-social Internet for the most part has not changed the way instruction is delivered. It is still used in whole class situations or in libray research to produce the same projects and reports students did with paper ten years ago. There is a group of alpha geeks leading the charge, but I don’t think we will reach the tipping point for a long time.
The issue of access is huge. Equipment and connectivity when and where it is needed is a long time off.
jim
Tom…I agree, until everyone is tapped in, the change is only going to happen for the lucky. But I’d be really interested in knowing what you think should that ever be the case, or for the kids and teachers that do have access now. Revolutionary or no?
Yes, it changes everything. I agree with much of what’s already been said here. There IS resistance. I supervise ELA student teachers and even many of the tech-savvy ones don’t make the connection between their ELA pedagogy and technology’s potential to radically alter it. The same old persists.
But I do see technology’s offering a significant opportunity to decenter the classroom. The most important change is that the teacher is or should no longer be the authority. Knowledge is no longer (it never was) fixed and therefore cannot be “delivered” by a delivery system, Friedman’s Globalization 1.0 teacher. Now every student can and needs to be his/her own teacher.
That’s pretty scary for a lot of folks who are drawn to teaching because they perceive it as a space that offers some opportunity for control.
Greg Ulmer says that “all the practices used to conduct schooling are relative to the apparatus of literacy.” He adds to orality and literacy the phenomenom of “electracy.” Check Ulmer’s book, “Internet Inventions: From Literacy to Electracy” if you haven’t already. He’s in Gainesville (U/Fla.)
Karen Stearns and the Tech class at SUNY Cortland
KES
hmm…very interesting question.
I think that rather than changing EVERYTHING, which is very generalized, i think that it ENHANCES it. It brings reading and writing to a whole new level. Instead of merely handing in an essay or doing homework on a worksheet, the web requires students to engage in a community as students, sharing their work together and collaborating as a group. It brings the classroom together as it has never been before.
and unfortunately, the web CANNOT enchance education as we know it when teachers do no try to impliment them into classrooms. The web does have the potential to enhance, but educators need to take advanage of this, otherwise it never will be used to it’s VERY LARGE potential.
-Jill
I completely agree with this statement. As a matter of fact, yesterday I was on AOL Instant Messager and was reading other people’s away messages when I came across one that said, “You know you live in 2005 when you put your PIN number into the microwave or you stop talking to old friends just because they don’t have a screen name or you’d rather look for the television remote for fifteen minutes than push the buttons on the television.” It just shows that technology has no only been a major part of our practical life but also it has influenced education now more than ever. Students are able to read entire books online, or participate in an online discussion for class. I could not imagine what I would do without technology in schools. Even the simple tasks such as figuring out grades, or taking notes would take much longer and is not as effective as if you had technology to help out. Not only all this, but the idea that teachers can give their students more information on anything they need during class, it just amazing. However, the only quam I have with computers taking over enducation, would be the lack of personal interaction between students and teachers. I feel like the students would interact less with one another since their assignments would be done on a computer rather than completing a group project outside of school.
I feel the web does change everything. Im in a computer technology in the classroom class right so as I rite this. A few weeks ago my answer would have been NO, but in the few short weeks I have been in this class my answer has changed. There are so many possibilities of different things on the web you can bring into the classroom. For example blogging, I feel this is a great way for students to leave their opinion on anything for their classmates and teachers. Its also a good way to let people know something you wouldnt normally say in class. There are also endless resources on the web and gives you an opportunity to get endless amounts of information more then you can get from just a classroom setting. If you combine classroom setting with the interet the students will learn and discover much more. You can have a class without the web but in my opinion its a mistake and your depriving yourself and students from learning so much more.
Yes! The web does change everything. In our class Technology in the Classroom, we have been discussing this topic all semester. Thomas Friedman in his book, The World is Flat, calls todays era Globalization 3.0. The world as we know it, is becoming continually smaller, or as Fried puts it “flatter.” We take advantage how quickly we now can get in touch with someone great distances away through email, instant message, blogging, or other on-line forums. The growth of the web has made this possible.
I totally agree with you, Tom. I think it’s always a good thing to remember that we can try to think of a million ways to use technology to make education a better experience for students, but until EVERYONE has the ability to be able to go home to his or her own computer, it’s not really fair to expect all students to be able to achieve the same level of understanding or mastery.
Change is happening!! It is going to take a while for busy teachers to transfer their usual methods of teaching and use the materials. Incorporating technology into the classroom is very time intensive. The information needs to be inputed and formatted from transparancies to other mediums. This takes time, and teachers are busy as it is. “all we need is just a little patience” (Guns & Roses).
The Web Changes Everything? Yes or no cannot answer this question because everything means anything. I agree that the web changes reading and writing in many ways. Thomas Friedman references this in his book ,The World is Flat. The whole concept of this book is that the advancement of the internet is responsible for one of the fastest decacdes of connection. Friedman discusses the value of having free information available to the masses in such an easily accessible manner. That is one of the ways that I believe the web has changed “everything” – information can be read and compared and analyzed with the click of a mouse. Writing becomes easier from all angles. The technique of commas and bibliographies no longer needs to be committed to memory because there are hundreds if not thousands of websites that create a bibliography for you or that correct the grammar and punctuation of a writing piece. The process of hypothesizing and innovation is made easier by the availability of previous works on a subject. Students can take ideas from others and respond to them instead of finding their own starting off point. So yes, I believe that the web changes everything; but where does everything end?
I agree that technology is changing the way teachers conduct their business in the classroom. However, the access to these computers and these technologies are not open to every student, or even ever teacher. I wouldn’t say that i am reluctant to change the way i would approach teaching, Yet, until the technologies are as widespread as print, i would say that a mix of the two (Technology and Tried-and-True methods) is the only relevant option. There is no doubt that technology has already changed the classroom environment, yet these changes are not “Extreme” enough to state that there are changing everything…..
As a current student in English education, I am definitely inclined to say “yes.” The idea of the read/write web changing education seems to be the basis for everything we are learning. However, as previous commenters have already said, that “yes” comes with qualifiers.
The web has changed education in some facets. Teachers are integrating things like blogs and wikis into their lessons, with communication devices like e-mail and instant messaging already having been long inundated. These methods are definitely beneficial to the learning environment for the students, as welcoming their digital lifestyles into the classroom helps keep them from falling prey to boredom.
However, there is definitely resistance everywhere we turn. Since we are in a transitional phase, we up-and-coming teachers face an interesting dichotomy. We were all brought up in “traditional classrooms,” and now we are preparing to teach in a “virtual classroom.” We are, in part, tech geeks. We are also, probably in equal part, traditional learners. We’re at a crossroads. Some of us are cruising through. So of us are at an impasse.
So the question then becomes, which style of teachers will get the jobs? Of course, we believe we are all going to get jobs. If that’s true, though, the dichotomy will just continue and the difference in learning styles will continue to grow. Then, it becomes an issue of “survival of the fittest.” And if biology class has taught me anything, I know that the more adept creature is the one that will live on. So, eventually, the web will take over as the educating method of choice.
As Friedman said in The World Is Flat, you have to get up in the morning and start running. If you’re the slowest gazelle, you’re going to be the first one eaten by the lions. Those old-style teaching gazelles are being eaten as we speak, and it’s only a matter time before they become extinct.
OK, that was a long answer. To sum it up: “yes… eventually.”
Of course the Internet changes everything about education; from the way students research to the way educators formulate lesson plans. These days students are more willing to incorporate the Internet and technology into their education, and increasingly educators as well will see the growing need for the Internet. The internet provides for shortcuts as well. While the original ideal usage for the web was to create a haven for information, today the internet is home to hundreds upon thousands of websites devoted to summarized books (Cliffnotes, Sparknotes etc) as well as previously written essays. Students have little trouble accessing fully finished documents instead of the research that would facilitated them in their own learning.
Yes, the web has certainly changed the face or flavor of education. Before you used to have to find a really smart kid to buy your paper off of…now you have no idea who that paper on Hamlet is coming from.
Yes. I believe that the read/write web has the potential to change everything in terms of education. However, I feel it has a long way to go. In an ideal world we would think that everyone is open to using web tools in the classroom, but there will always be people behind everyone else. Money is also an issue, not everyone has the resources to use the web in the education field. I feel that teachers have the power to influence change. I feel that if one teacher in every school brings technology into the classroom, they can probably make a small impact on others by sharing what they know. The web can change everything, but it will take a huge effort. Teachers need to pull together and change the way education is presented. We have the power and we need to not only pay attention to these changes, but know how to incorporate them into the classroom. The web will change everything in education as we know it if we allow it to.
Ana
As a future teacher, and as a current student myself attending classes at SUNY Cortland, the web already has and will continue to change everything- hopefully. Don’t take my current stance as too forceful, I know that it will take a long time for the changes that the internet has created for other areas, to reach the classroom. However, as a student with a passion to become a teacher, SUNY Cortland requires me to take a course on technology in the classroom. If the change has not happened already, it doesn’t mean that it never will. In fact, teachers prepare students for the present and their futures and no one can doubt that the world is changing. When my father went to highschool he had to spend days in the library in order to find the available information that he needed. Now, a student with a book report can go home and find biographies, websites, foundations and even sparknotes if they wanted. Information is right at our fingertips and cannot be ignored. While reading The World Is Flat, Friedman talks about the future of accountants changing because they are now outsourcing tax forms to India to be completed. In the future, accountants will need to aquire more skills in order to be useful. This will eventually be similar for teachers. Students are now able to be taught through virtual classrooms from professors around the world: technology in the classroom due to the web is already in progress. As an educator, pleading ignorance to an important resource that has possibilities to help us do our jobs and change student interaction and levels of active teaching, wont be allowed for much longer. If it is, it is an incredible injustice to our students who will have access and experience with these new technologies whether teachers choose to address them or not. The web changes everything. If it doesn’t, teachers need to reevaluate their roles as guiders to the future. How can we ask our students to prepare the tools today for the skills we will need tomorrow if we don’t?
Rather than yes or no, I would say that it MUST change everything, and yes, it will change everything, eventually, but I agree with Jim in that we are far far far away from the tipping point. But we have to change, and those of us who are “alpha geeks” must not only fight for this change within our classrooms but within the system at large. As our world changes, as global economies shift and the job market drastically changes (I am currently reading Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat”), education must change. Sadly, education is of low priority in this country, and I believe we are going to be shocked in twenty or thirty years from now to see how far we’ve fallen behind. Students must be leaders and co-teachers and co-explorers in the classroom, experience the breaking down of walls and borders thanks to the Internet, and become literate with all forms of media.
How can it not be changing education? The internet is becoming a major aspect in the lives of so many. And it’s not like the invention of the automobile in the fact that even if someone isn’t able to have the internet personally, he or she will have access to it through schools, libraries, cafes, hotels, etc.
There are some schools that may be doing the same things that they have been doing for the past thirty years, but they will soon HAVE to get on the technology bandwagon. The college students being educated today to become teachers are native to the technology boom. We are going to have to teach our students through the Web because it is what we know and what they know. The Web make information so much more available to students. This allows for more advantages and disadvantages in education. This alone is reason that it is changing education.
A student can go to sparknotes now in order to past the comprehension test on the novel the next day in school. Teachers have to start being more creative in the teaching process to make it more challanging for the student. A research paper can easily be done through information on the web. It is necessary for a teacher and student to know what is fact and what is fiction on the web. This too changes everything.
If the Web isn’t changing education, it is going to be a major disadvantage for those who aren’t on up on the technological evolution. I’m a secondary English education major and my peers and I are learning the advantages and disadvantages of the Web in the classroom. There are so many things that are available and are in use at schools. There’s no denying the response to the Internet.
http://www.engedstudent.blogspot.com
WILL the web change education? With out a doubt. The change may not be as prevalent now, but if things keep moving in the same direction (and classes like this one are still being offered) we will have no choice but to CHANGE! Today students who are majoring in education are learning how to teach WITH the web. Like Friedman says, “you better start running now.” Classrooms are changing, maybe not as rapidly as we would like, but they are none-the-less. Those of you who are saying no to this change will be left in the dust when those of us who support this inevitability stream ahead. The fact remains…the next generation will dictate the future, and it seems to me that the next generation is far more technologically advanced then we ever were. They are the ones who will be changing the face of eduaction.
Kate, SUNY Cortland senior
Mr. Irving,
I am a pre-service teacher, no spring chicken, and I’m only just becoming accustomed to a digital environment. I’ve seen technology at work in the classroom, both very well and a poor substitute for the teacher. Some educators are innovative and some aren’t. I believe if parents, sudents and teachers are seriously interested in how technology can enhance an ELA curriculum there will be hope for the read/write Web.
I think what can truly speed up and improve the process of the read/write Web is for teachers to introduce it to their classes. An introduction of parents, especially those who are concerned with their children’s extracurricular activities on the computer. Class blogs are start. This may get kids interested in blogging and then they could become a part of a larger community. It would be great for teachers and students from all over blogging together.
In J. Martin Rochester’s book, he tells a joke that I find disconcerting. “How many teachers does it take to change a lightbulb?” Ans: Teachers? Change?”
Mr. Martin, you have been teaching for 30 years, which is impressive. Your other pursuits have made you aware and open to the Web, which is more impressive. You are now passing that on to your students. Between tenured teachers and teachers who are meeting Tech requirements in institutions of higher education, ELA classrooms have a chance to bring this new literacy to the forefront and with it the read/write Web.
Fire didn’t change everything, the invention of the wheel didn’t change everything, and neither did the printing press. What changed “everything” was the ingenious ways in which these tools were applied in a variety of situations. The Read/Write Web on its own will not change “everything” either. The teaching of literacy, or ELA, or whatever we will be calling it in ten years, will evolve as new teachers who have grown up “digital natives” enter the profession committed to using the best tools available to help their students.
It is my hope that, as Gunther Kress suggests at the end of Chapter One of his book Literacy in the New Media Age, all of us in this first transitional wave will take time for some serious reflection on the appropriate uses of this new technology in conjunction with other classroom strategies. The Read/Write Web affords us some fantastic new tools for collaborative learning, publishing to an audience, and connecting the classroom to the outside world- but it’s not the only exceptionally useful tool in the box. I love my cordless drill driver, but sometimes a hammer and nails are the right choice.
I believe the web has the POTENTIAL to change everything. If every school had the teachers and resources dedicated to providing their students with better technology, the educational field would be a whole different ball game. Yes, we are getting there! Slowly but surely, schools are realizing the potential of the Web in the class room. I feel it takes dedicated teachers to get it started and keep it going. The Web is eventually going to encompass almost every aspect of our class rooms and this, contrary to popular belief, is NOT a hinderance! We have to realize that kids are on the internet every day. It is up to us to tap into that resource and guide what our children are learning about! As teachers, this is a god-send. Think of it this way: any kind of information you need is at yours, as well as your students’, finger tips! That is very exciting and it has added a new dimension to why I want to teach!
Diana Dame
Ok, so if you made it down this far, I just want to clarify that this wasn’t a class assignment, although how cool is it that a pre-service class found it and decided to chime in?
What kind of change is that??? And Cara, I don’t know who Mr. Irving is, but I really like the joke.
I want it to, yes, but no, it hasn’t. Most of the classrooms I’m in look the same as my school experience, but with a couple dusty PC’s off to the side.
Can it? Absolutely.
Should it? Absolutely.
Will it? Eventually.
It will require some changing of the guard and a system of teacher preparation that models the use of technology in common everyday instruction, not just as a part of great, elaborate instructional units that no one has time to plan.
We have a growing number of “digital natives” in our teaching ranks, but even they are immigrants to digital instruction. As some of the earlier replies have suggested, most of the changes needed to accommodate the read/write transformation are not electronic, but systemic.
Yes it changes education, but more than that, it changes everything.
On education – how much can people now learn on their own, using the web? Wikipedia gives me answers. Blogs give me discussions. Open Source and Open Access give me tools. Websites put up by teachers and/or educational institutions give me advice on writing, on assessing information, on using common software. The web is the perfect tool for the autodidact. In fact, if employers start paying more attention to what people can actually do than to their diplomas and degrees, the education business could be in trouble.
I have taken courses where I learned little from the teacher, but found that the text and discussions were valuable. (So reading and blogs can replace classes.) I have taken tech workshops where I was taught (sort-of, who can remember all the details crammed into a few hours?) – tech workshops where I was taught some elements of the tool, but not how to use it for my purposes. (A paper manual and playing with the software for real purposes was the learning environment I needed, and it was cheaper!) Sharing an office can mean sharing expertise; learning communities can happen anywhere and they are a great learning medium.
And then there’s everything else. The web is a multi-media environment where (almost) everybody can play. Software often comes with some very user-friendly aspects or versions, like Paint in Window’s Accessories or iMovie in Mac’s OSX. Webcams and worldwide contacts are as real as the digital divide. Speaking of which, there’s increasing talk of $100.00 computers, and other possibilities. And schools and libraries offer access, and online accounts such as Furl, Flickr, and Writerly free us from the constraints of one machine and/or one ISP. This is a newer and more powerful communicative tool than the printing press IMHO.
And the social aspects – I know of dating and marriages that exist because of the web.
And work – what about the stories of call centres on other continents?
And so much more, good, bad, and impossible to see the importance of yet. So “Yes! The Web Changes Everything!” I just hope education can catch up, for the sake of our institutions, and for the sake of our youth, who need the “digital immigrants” to take leadership and pass along the “legacy content”.
Considering that most people in the world – including many students and teachers – are a long way from having this type of access I think the answer is no. It depends who the “we” is in the part of your question “as we know it”. If “we” means people like the folks reading this blog and responding the answer is undoubtedly yes.
Additionally, for a student who is somewhat disaffected by their prior school experience and doesn’t feel particularly connected to school, face-to-face relationships and relationships with peers and adults will always be tremendously more important than anything else – including technology. I’m a big fan of this stuff too (admittedly not to the degree you are), but when I see teachers who have incredible impact on their students not all of them need technology to have that kind of effect. It may change everything for some educators but it doesn’t necessarily have to change everything for all of them.
Important? Yes. Revolutionary/disruptive/whatever-you-want-to-call-it? Yes. Necessary to some degree? Yes. Does it change everything? No.
Clearly, the volume of responses here indicates that the time is ripe for Will to open “The Weblogg-ed Cafe.”
For me, there is no doubt that the web is a revolutionary learning tool, but it doesn’t “change everything” I believe about teaching and learning. In fact, it changes nothing I believe about teaching and learning. I already believed in progressive education, critical thinking, using programming, simulations, collaborations with the community & around the world.
Also, regarding the many “The World is Flat” references above. One thing that people miss is that the entire transformation that Friedman describes took place among a generation of people who had no specific training or education to prepare them for those changes. People always have and always will adopt to whatever technologies enable commerce on the widest scale possible. It is other forms of collaboration that are tricky.
This is SO true. However, things are changing slowly even in education. Five years ago college professors could still ignore the web, but now they are starting to use it for their own research (and to prove the plagerism of the students!) It isn’t much, but it is a beginning.
One issue is the limits that many teachers have in using the web 2.0. Currently many of the teachers that I am in contact with have blogs blocked at their schools.
Janice
Dave,
What you describe as happeing to new teachers has been happening for many, many years (at least 28 that I know of). Most new teachers are mentored by someone and end up learning a teaching “style” that is from the past generation of teachers. Most administration is even further behind in their vision for education. This is partly because they tend to be from the “older” era of education and partly because the pressures of testing and NCLB tend to push them in this direction. It is tough to be a new teacher and do something different.
Janice
Well, changing everything is a pretty large order. As an English teacher most of what I teach remains the same, but the way I do it, the materials I have available, and the opportunites I am able to offer to my students has and will change radically. So is this a yes or no vote? No matter. This has certainly evolved into an interesting discussion among passionate professionals. Something that certainly couldn’t have happened before the internet. So maybe this is a yes vote after all.
Hi Will,
Happy Thanksgiving. I have to preface my response by saying how “grateful I am to you” for getting me onto the BlogTrain.
I think to answer your questions it’s important to REACH the parent community and educate them on the Wonders of the Web. Right? It’s so important to ensure that parents are clear with what schools are trying to do to impact learning and take it to the Global Communities.
Best to you and yours as you crinkle and frolic through the next life of the leaves,
Amy Bowllan