Daily Archives: October 11, 2006

Maybe in order for the Web 2.0 in Education tipping point to happen, those of us at the sparsely populated end need to jump up and down a bit to get the platform moving!

I just found out that a workshop I had planned and offered for teachers here in Adelaide has been cancelled due to a lack of numbers. Whether that is due to timing, lack of interest or whatever, it is a little bit disappointing from my point of view. The momentum I thought might have been there after the Web2 Showcase hasn't happened although all is not lost - hopefully, Al's workshop will still have a good attendance - but my efforts at getting more local teachers on board and blogging has lost some of its traction.

All is not lost however and this little setback may be great fodder for my next venture as part of the K-12 Online Conference. I sent in a submission at the end of last month for the strand of Overcoming Obstacles and received an e-mail the other night from Wesley Fryer confirming that my online presentation/workshop titled "No Teacher Left Behind - The Urgency Of Web 2.0" had been accepted. I'm not an expert but I feel that it was a topic worth exploring and I could certainly leverage my Learning Network to put together a resource that might help to provide a way forward and to shed some more light on the many obstacles that schools and educators face when using Web 2.0 tools for learning. I've set up a wiki (almost standard procedure these days!) to house my stuff and anyone can check it out and add to it (if you are a wikispaces member) or email me any ideas and links that you think might fit in with my theme.

The changing information landscape of the 21st Century demands that our students develop new skills of information literacy and become knowledge producers as an integral component of their learning. But what of the professionals charged with these students' education? Can they be convinced of the need for personal change to keep pace with their students' world? Are they even aware of the exponential changes taking place? How would they get started in their classrooms?

This online presentation will explore some of the barriers faced by educators seeking to improve and influence their colleagues’ perceptions of the internet, and Web 2.0 in particular, as a vehicle for learning. It will pull together various resources that could be useful as starting points for discussion and explore some of the concerns and trepidations of average teachers struggling already with a heavy workload. This presentation will use this wiki as its base and seek to leverage the online Conference participants to help create some possible answers and resources for those of us who recognize the need for our colleagues to be at our sides, providing best practice for our digital age students.

I suppose I now have some time to spend at the K-12 and I don't have to postpone my double booked doctor's appointment. Oh, and I can make that council meeting at my son's primary school....