Today, I’ve spent a great deal of time exploring with an interesting social networking tool called Plurk and joining in conversations with other educators who share my enthusiasm for Web 2.0 tools. If you haven’t checked out Plurk, it’s an interesting twist on microblogging with user comments posted in a timeline style…
Rather than have comments and replies show up in a linear fashion, they are “threaded” beneath the original comment:
Needless to say , it takes a little getting used to…
I’ve become a big fan of Twitter and how it can help connect teachers with others outside the walls of their classroom and see the same potential for Plurk. In fact, there are so many ways for teachers to build personal learning networks (PLNs), that the hardest part is deciding just how deep you want to dive in!
The collaborating is easy during the summer months, when most teachers use their own internet connection and home computer to spend time honing their skills and strategies for the next school year, but I wonder what will happen come fall when the classroom doors close and district networks block so many of these tools. It seems a shame to me that teachers aren’t allowed to take full advantage of their PLN when they need it most for just in time help. I feel so fortunate to be part of a very progressive school where the philosophy is to block only that which is dangerous or inappropriate and to teach students and teachers to use tools appropriately. I know too that many don’t share my good fortune.
But, lately, I’ve been noticing another trend during trainings with other districts- the number of teachers (and increasingly students) who have access to web enabled devices like the iPhone where the school network can be entirely bypassed to get to the data you need regardless of district filtering policies. It seems that it’s going to be more and more difficult to solve the problem of inappropriate use by simply hoping that blocking sites will keep kids and teachers in the school-sanctioned sandbox. If districts continue to think we don’t need to teach students (and teachers) how to use these tools because they can’t get to them at school, I’m afraid they’re going to be in for a rude awakening.
There’s an iPhone-sized crack in the walls of the classroom…and the learning is pouring in…
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June 27th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Excellent blog post Michelle. The next few years will be very interesting in how these “blocked sites” are handled in school. I couldn’t agree more with the fact that we need to teach both students and teachers how to use these new tools. Thanks for the thoughts and help the past few days.
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