VanishingPoint

I hope that everyone had a great day today.  It was nice to be back in the hunt for knowledge at the ICE Conference again.  For me today was an Administrator Academy on Collaboration and Networking Resources.  Overall, the session was not bad but it had great potential to move the conversations well beyond what took place.  I posted a link to my session notes on the Participants Group, but I will also add it here.

http://notebook.zoho.com/nb/public/sweidig/book/3946000000023213

I came away with more questions than answers.  Now while David Warlick would relate that that is a good thing, (and I often agree) in this instance I didn’t feel that way.

The session focused on two main “tools” (wikispaces and class blogmeister) for both the delivery of hands on practice (wikispaces) and the awareness of the second one (class blogmeister). Unfortunately, for me the session was far too one sided.  There were a few times that the participants really came forward with strong discussions bringing a myriad of viewpoints to bear on a topic, but this was more the exception than the rule for the session.

There is no one at fault for this neither instructor or participants.  We all worked well in the framework which the session was designed, and part of the design was to get individuals to use these tools… but it did feel silly at times a with 15 people sitting in a room NOT talking, but typing to each other in a threaded wiki discussion forum…

Please feel free to review my notes, but I wwould also love to get your thoughts and feedback on some of the questions that I am still struggling with wrapping my brain around like:

~ What are the implications for learning?

~ What are the implications in opening up conversations with PARENTS and students as well as OTHER classrooms around the world?

~ What are the concerns that should be raised when teachers act outside the district walls using web 2.0 applications and resources…?

~ Should administrators create a sense of transparency in their practices through using blogs to create a communication vehicle with parents and the community at large?

~ What is the role of web 2.0 in the “new” view of Professional Development?

~ How can we leverage technology to (in essance) give time back to teachers? Unfortunately, this is not the perception of technology for educators… what are the collective thoughts around shifting this paradeigm for teachers?

Ok That is just a few of the questions still rattling around in my brain tonight. Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

Scott

[Cross-posted at http://myiltce.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1239424%3ABlogPost%3A10314]