Undoubtedly, there are many reasons why one signs up for a course – to complete credit requirements for a program of studies, to pursue an area of interest, to gain greater understanding and confidence in a particular discipline, to engage in professional dialogue with other educators or to even challenge one’s practice. In registering for EDES 501, I believe I was probably looking for all of the above.
The past three months have been enlightening, energizing, and challenging. At times, they have also been overwhelming, frustrating and discouraging. There has been much to learn and there will be even more to revisit now that the course has come to an end. In many ways, we have had the Web 2.0 tour, now it’s time to share our learning and really put our new skills into practice in our schools.
Key learnings of EDES 501
- Learning to learn… Students, both young and old, now need to be able to teach themselves. David Warlick uses the term “learning literacy” to describe what teachers really should be teaching in this new century… learning how to learn. As a course, EDES 501 is what I would call a value-added learning experience. Not only do you study about Web 2.0 tools, but the actual learning takes place from within the Web 2.0 environment itself. As a result, I have become a participant in this new culture, rather than an observer who simply reports her findings. In learning a new tool or application each week, we have also been putting our new knowledge into practice, to produce content that demonstrates our learning.
- Read/Reflect/Write/Participate Web… the new knowledge that I am a reader, a writer, a collaborator, an editor and a publisher for a global audience. In this “society of authorship” (Rushkoff), everyone has “the ability to contribute ideas and experiences to the larger body of knowledge that is the Internet” (Richardson, p.4). I approach my work with a new mindset because I know that others may be viewing and commenting on what I create.
- 21st century learners.. learn differently than I did when I was their age. Today’s learners are “digital natives” and depend on technology to keep them in touch with friends and to provide them with access to the information they need “on demand.” As these learners have different notions of intellectual property and copyright than the previous generation, it will be critical that they develop effective information skills in evaluating resources for authenticity and relevance
- New literacies… the emergence of new literacies gives renewed importance to the school library program. With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies, educators are realizing that students can be literate in many different ways. As the world becomes more global, we are recognizing alternative ways to communicate our thoughts. By acknowledging the validity of these new literacies, teacher-librarians can use Web 2.0 applications to appeal to different learning styles and empower students to become more engaged in their own learning.
- New cool tools… Web 2.0 tools provide equity, inspire creativity and promote collegiality. A great advantage to using these new tools is that it becomes increasingly difficult for students to plagiarize. My favorite Web 2.0 tools are the highly visual apps such as Flickr (in partnership with Picnik and Big Huge Labs) and VoiceThread.
- The gurus… Richardson, Warlick, Valenza, Johnson, Davis and de Groot. Throughout the course, it has been especially interesting to get to know those who are breaking new ground in the Web 2.0 environment. When I read through professional journals or preview upcoming conferences, I have a new interest in the names of authors and speakers I come across. Asking an expert for their opinion no longer seems unrealistic, as there are so many ways to connect and directly interact with a Web 2.0 guru.
- Nings… I found my alternative to Facebook and My Space. Nings are my thing and can provide me with a professional social network of colleagues that can help support my professional learning needs. Through the TeacherLibrarianNetwork, I will be able to keep up with my contacts locally, nationally and even internationally.
- Trailfires… Using Trailfires to scaffold learning is a new strategy that I think will translate well into my own teaching practice. These guided routes became an integral part of our learning each week.
- Teacher librarian as change agents… Teacher-librarians have the potential to provide leadership in navigating the Web 2.0 environment in our schools. The school library program is the perfect vehicle for teaching students how to become critical consumers of information in an online culture where everyone is a contributor.
- The generosity of reciprocity (paying tribute to my EDES 501 classmates)… Perhaps the most important learning that I will take away from the course is the power of the social network… especially one that you nurture from the ground up. The collaborative learning environment that we have built around our family of EDES bloggers is information rich and steeped in creativity. It is also a supportive and caring environment that shares successes and rallies to meet your needs. Here are a few of my favorite learning highlights generated from working in collaboration with my classmates:
- a custom bank of resources, web sites, tips and ideas collected by a team of superb researchers
- just-in-time learning and instructional support
- give-and-take of communal sharing
- hyperlinks that add a new dimension “to read through” to other sources
- clever title posts set the stage for blog content
- engaging blog formats (top 10 lists, videos, countdowns, abecedaries, Talkr)
- using photographs and other visuals to spark inspiration
- the excitement generated when an expert or academic blogger commented on a classmate’s blog posting
- sharing you Shelfari and social bokmarking sites
Challenges of EDES 501
- Time… I don’t want to dwell on time as a challenge or a lowlight of my learning in particular. I only mention it because it is a factor for everyone, not just me. In education, we often hear colleagues lamenting that there isn’t enough time for this or that. Sometimes it may seem that no one is as busy as you are, but the reality is… everyone is busy with family, school and coursework. I have learned that it is always important to be mindful that balancing time does become about me because everyone leads a busy life. As I grow older, I try to think less about time as an inhibitor to learning. I would argue that there is time for the things you need or want to do and it is simply a matter of deciding how you will spend the time you have. Decide how much time you are willing to commit and make the most of the time you have to give a particular activity. Sometimes I feel that I’m not always producing my best work, which can be personally discouraging… but rather it is my best work with the time I have.
- Learning to persevere… From within the vastness of the Web 2.0 landscape, it doesn’t take long for a “digital immigrant” to become overwhelmed. I will admit that there were times when I questioned whether or not this was the course that I needed at this time in my program. Learning to navigate this new environment hasn’t always been easy. Sometimes it was difficult to find what I needed in order to support my learning and other times there was too much material to investigate in only a week. Problem-solving and inquiry skills became my survival tools.
- Technology… There have been occasions when the technology has been frustrating. Moving back and forth from home (iMac) and the board office (Dell) poses certain challenges at times. The filter at work places limitations on what I can and cannot access from my laptop. I remember Mark Prensky’s article entitled “Turning on the Lights” where students confessed that whenever they went to school, they had “to power down.” Now that I have all these new tools at the ready, it is discouraging not to be able to use them with students and teachers in our schools… so it’s no longer only students that are being asked “to power down” at school, too.
- Wellness… Just a brief comment on the sedentary nature of online learning. In our group discussions we certainly touched on wellness issues such as information overload, but I think I would add prolonged inactivity, eye strain and addictive behaviour as Web 2.0 concerns, as well. Our Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum document in Manitoba identifies these possible heath issues associated with ICT. In the interim, I’m looking forward to being more active and shedding my EDES weight!
Reviewing the process
I came into this course with a very superficial understanding of the Web 2.0 environment, along with a little blogging and wiki experience from within our divisional portal. During the last three months, we have been immersed in the Web 2.0 culture. With a new tool to learn each week, we were challenged to build on our prior knowledge through research and experimentation.
The process has been an authentic exemplar of how new knowledge can be constructed collectively. Our partnerships in learning the course content have allowed us to explore new ideas, network with each other, and be both innovative and creative. It’s a demanding process to work through, but the rewards are invaluable. As we come to the end, I personally feel more confident in my understanding of how I can use these new tools in both my personal learning, and my work with our divisional library staff. I appreciate that the process has required that participants create their own examples of how they might use these new tools. I now have a collection of blogs, wikis, podcasts, social bookmarks and voice threads that I can draw on for teaching and inspiration. In true 21st century style, the process encourages us “to own” and design our own learning by making it “interactive, social and relevant” (Together for learning: transforming school libraies in Ontario).
What’s next?
- In the Short Term
- My immediate plans include continuing this journey on into January 2009. I have registered for EDES 545 and I look forward to part two in the new year.
- I will continue to blog, but I plan to focus my blogging efforts from within our divisional portal. At this point it is more valuable to be able to connect with my own library colleagues through my blog. I hope to use what I have learned in a context that is authentic for our school library staff division-wide. It’s important to use the tools we have through our portal and use them with a purpose. I hope to not only model blogging for the sake of blogging, but as a tool for professional learning.
- In collaboration with two other divisional coordinators, we are in the process of negotiating Doug Johnson to speak to all our teacher-librarians in Winnipeg. He has accepted our invitation and now we are looking for a date next fall which is very exciting.
- Next week I begin co-planning our Manitoba School Library Association SAG conference for October 2009. The theme – New literacies for the 21st century – which couldn’t be more timely!
- My immediate plans include continuing this journey on into January 2009. I have registered for EDES 545 and I look forward to part two in the new year.
- Over the Long Term
- Over the long term, I think it will be valuable to look for opportunities to advocate for a loosening of the reins in terms of our divisional filter and proxy server. I believe that time will come as we begin to outgrow the confinement of the portal
- To empower our school library staff to become leaders and guides in mining the possibilities of the Web 2.0 environment for teaching and learning
A final note of gratitude
In closing, I would like to thank Joanne and all my fellow bloggers from EDES 501 for such an enriching and productive learning experience. Despite the collaborative nature of our work as instructional partners, teacher-librarians can also lead a very solitary existence within their schools when it comes to professional learning… so I am especially grateful for the opportunity to discuss these new ideas with all of you and learn from your weekly blog postings. The resources we have discovered and shared are a more comprehensive collection than anything we might have assembled on our own… and there you have it… the power of the social network, working in collaboration.
An important part of my current teaching assignment is to plan professional development experiences for our school library staff – both library assistants and teacher-librarians. Over the past year and a half, I have come to understand how much our school library staff values the opportunity to network together, share common experiences and learn from each other. The Web 2.0 culture is precisely the new learning that I need to foster among our school library community. I know that they are ready to embrace what lies ahead. It is certainly a very exciting time to be working in school libraries.
When I registered for this course, I wanted to increase my understanding of the Web 2.0 environment and develop confidence in using a few new tools… but there was so much more than I initially imagined. It has been truly inspiring to have worked with each of you and I thank you for sharing the workload and maintaining such a high level of excellence.
With sincere thanks,
katkin