Social bookmarking is a new concept by name to me, but something that we have done at our school for a little while. All teachers at our school have a link to a public file where we can share resources and make files for all to look at and use. This is sort of the same idea as a social bookmarking. i really think that this concept has a great use in the teacher to teacher relationship. It is a great way to share information with fellow teachers. In one of the introduction it explained itself as "sort of" a file sharing system, as far as i can see it is close but still probably wouldn't be mu first choice for the teacher to teacher sharing. I would probably go with a a WIKI, a feel it is more versatile in its functions. The intermediate school district that I am a part of has one set up for math instruction and it is a great tool for teachers. Also with the WIKI you could link to your delicious site.
As far as the teacher to student, it would be great to have a professional delicious site that could have helpful websites for students for each section you are studying. For example in one of my classes we spend a lot of time going over the constitution and beginnings of our government, so an assignment could be to make a delicious site with as many relevant websites as they could find. Also as the teacher I could make a site that gives them study options for homework and other projects.
Switching gears to the Trends and Issues chapter that we had to read for this week. It was interesting to see the changes in the definitions throughout the years, the definition that stuck with me the most was most recent definition by the AECT. It states " Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources." There is a key word in this definition that I see myself doing in my future career and that is facilitating. That really is what I would hope to do. I would love to be up to date on the latest technologies and then facilitate and teach those to a staff so they can implement them into the classroom. I also love how it says improve performance, in my future endeavors I would to improve teachers use of technology but also the students, but in turn I hope to improve the performace of the whole district. The part the scares me the most from this definition is the managing of technological resources, I don't see myself as a guru on fixing hardware and software, I see myself much more as a leader and facilitator.
I also feel what you feel when it comes to facilitating. I almost see Institutional Design and Technology as being not only as a facilitator of instruction but also a facilitator of hardware and software issues. This is especially true in today's financial climate. I see our tech coordinator only finding time to focus on hardware and software issues and has no time to focus on helping teachers incorporate curriculum and technology in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteIt does sound like yur district is using social bookmarking and sharing resources and ideas amoung the teachers. I like to hear about cooperation, it helps me believe in the theory that teaching is a team effort. I also think a website for the students with sites selected, or reviewed by the teacher would be very helpful for assignments and projects.
ReplyDeleteI think the quote you chose on educational technology being the study of ethical practice of teaching and used to improve performance with use of technology. I think every district needs the facilitator to help teachers learn how to use technology to improve their performance and select appropriate technology for the district. I agree that they shouldn't need to be a guru to fix hardware and software as that would bog them down not allow them to train and experiment with technology.
Margie
Part of facilitating though is not simply "fixing things", in the case of all these tools we're using in many cases is the evaluation of tools and deciding on a common set that as a district you find useful to yourselves to cover all your needs. There is no value in simply having every teacher go out and decide what they think is cool or clever, because in many cases it would eliminate the collaboration ability of your teachers. It would also create a smaller knowledge base as your skill sets and the ability to teach and help one another would be greatly diminished. I think as a teacher you could definitely be of great use as a facilitator you would need to share your thoughts and ideas on what tools you feel are most useful and what ones you should put aside.
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