July 23, 2007
Some teachers at my school are participating in a class that we are creating called “Self-Directed Learning”. Each person can pick an area of interest and build their own learning. We’re expecting kids to be able to do this without a whole lot of tools so the goal of the class is to become comfortable with the process as adults so we can better grasp how kids construct knowledge. Already, this R/W Web class is a model in self-directed learning. It helps to have a facilitator who is comfortable with this sort of format-one who can say, some people who want to work with the instructor in the front of the room, everyone else could work at the back of the room or out in the hall. People are tucked into their computers and multi-tasking to the max. Not every instructor/teacher is ok with this.
For my class, I’m self-directing myself to learn about web 2.0 tools!
July 26th, 2007 at 1:14 am
Hi, Steph, I couldn’t imagine what I would do for a project for this class–so many ideas and so little time! But, when you presented your blogspace on Tuesday, I could see how a little work this week could really solve a multitude of time eating problems once the school year is underway. I hope you will have some time Thursday to drift over to the station to the far left at the front of the room tomorrow and show me in a little more detail how you designed the space and how you plan to monitor it. I’m really into professional development in a big way and would love to gather a community of teachers for mutual support. I really have come to enjoy the conversational aspect of blogs. I see this as opportunity to be social and reflective at the same time.
July 26th, 2007 at 8:50 am
I’d love to show you more about using the ning network Laura! It was really easy to set up and great that it isn’t blocked at school. Let’s talk today about getting something set up for your school. ~Steph.
July 26th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Steph, this ning for professional development is a terrific idea. The first reaction from administrators seems to be that because it’s on the Internet it will be open to sabotage. This tool keeps the conversation inside and hopefully will create a forum that is exciting and relevant enough to keep teachers in the conversation.