Thing 23 Post

I have learned so much about the possibilities of the digital world and education this summer. Way back when I got my masters in Educational Technology you were supposed to learn how to program, but I managed to avoid this by writing the script for the big group project. Now the technical aspects are more or less hidden and the content is the focus, which has opened up the web to practically everyone. I am excited about students conducting real research and creating sophisticated projects. PowerPoint is no longer the gold standard, as far as I am concerned. And students do love working on computers.
But I have concerns about the digital divide; about re-teaching digital natives who might have picked up bad habits (cut n paste plagiarism, for example) and especially how education always seems to lag behind the real world when it comes to computers. And what happens to developing brains that are constantly being stimulated?

Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/technology/25brain.html?src=me&ref=technology

I am most interested in using Delicious and creating screencasts for library and research procedures and all kinds of web 2.0 booktalks and developing a library wiki and/or blog. I especially want to collaborate with teachers who also took this journey this summer (Lori, Terri, Vita???) and others. I think that I want to try pilot programs instead of waiting for mass acceptance, if that makes sense. Even in the digital age, sometimes baby steps are the best way to proceed.

I will continue to learn about Web 2.0 by reading listserves and looking at Delicious and finding more wikis to join. I also want to learn more about graphic design because it is so important in this visual medium. This was a fantastic learning opportunity and perhaps the best professional development that I have ever participated in. Thank you 2.0 for Web 2.0!