When I travel to conferences I often share our school's successes using 2.0 applications as learning tools to support information fluency (and the rest of our curriculum).
When I travel to conferences, I often discover how many schools are restricted from using any of those tools we now use regularly for reflection, improving writing, collaboration, communication, storytelling, creativity, sharing new knowledge. So I thought I'd use my new polling abilities to begin to help us understand the level of restriction in the field.
What should we do with this informal data? I am open to your ideas.
What I think we need to do is to share our models of effective practice with these new tools so that reluctant administrators begin to see the benefits--the potential these tools hold for new engagement, for richer learning, as well as the new energy they bring to many of us as teachers.
This is an equity issue. This is an issue librarians must fight if access to the tools for information and communication are to be truly democratically shared across our culture. We cannot stop at no.
I also though it might help to share the letter our District's Tech Director, Michael Wagman, wrote for parents that explains why we are excited about the potential for these new tools.
(Sorry for the size and resolution of the image below. I posted a copy of the document of on the Web to address the problem.)
May 15, 2008 In response to:2.0 Freedom: Assessing the issues Eric Bodwell commented:
Joyce:
I was about to fill out the survey, but I realized the results are mixed. Our tech people allow teachers to use some of these if they have a specific curricular goal. Others not at all and probably with good reason. Others I haven't seen blocked at all (yet). So, since there wasn't a spot for sometimes allowed or in some cases, I didn't fill it out. Just throwing in my 2 cents.
May 15, 2008 In response to:2.0 Freedom: Assessing the issues Lisa Gonzalez commented:
Hi Joyce,
I think the letter from your district's tech manager is a great idea. However, the letter is so small on the screen I can't read it. I tried blowing it up, to no avail. Would it be possible to post a larger version of the letter?
May 15, 2008 In response to:2.0 Freedom: Assessing the issues joycevalenza commented:
Lisa,
I put a doc version up for download. Hope that helps.
May 15, 2008 In response to:2.0 Freedom: Assessing the issues Yolan Mistele commented:
Joyce, You have definitely brought up a topic that is becoming the new battleground for intellectual freedom in schools and districts here in WI. I'm retired, but two of my co-workers have been dealing with the issue all school year. Sharing models of effective use of Web2 tools is a positive way to affect change.
May 15, 2008 In response to:2.0 Freedom: Assessing the issues Hattie Smart commented:
Joyce: I regularly read your blog, but this is the first time I've felt the need to comment. We have a 1:1 laptop program in our school, which is wonderful, but has caused many sites such as facebook, youtube, flicker, to be blocked. Recently other web 2.0 resources have been blocked as well, such as Glogster and ScrapBlog - I fear ToonDoo will be next. Students love using these resources and teachers are so willing to collaborate on 2.0 projects, but fear of lawsuits is driving the filters. I've heard more "lock downs" are coming for next year. The ironic part is, there is a huge push for 21st Century Skills!
May 16, 2008 In response to:2.0 Freedom: Assessing the issues missi baker commented:
Hi, Joyce, my fellow education consultants and I have tried to introduce these web2.0 tools in our workshops all over KY with little success since EVERYTHING is usually blocked. I had to ask each district individually to unblock my blog which I now use instead of an email distribution list. Some did; some didn't; many of the 'dids' still block all my pics and embedded videos. Frustrating. We are trying to get into meetings with district personnel and share the value of these tools. Please address this when you visit KY this fall at our library conference!
May 19, 2008 In response to:2.0 Freedom: Assessing the issues Leslie Poston commented:
My motto and my mantra in teaching information literacy and information ethics has been "the value of doing research is to share your findings with others." I drill this into the heads of my students. Web 2.0 has made "sharing" more real and practical than ever before. If students aren't learning the tremendously positive value of these tools in school, they're only getting part of the picture. Schools that are blocking these sites are hiding their heads in the sand, and by isolating students to "safe" content, are in danger of becoming irrelevant.
