So I haven't been following one edublog exactly... but the 2008 Edublog Awards were recently given and I found this one known as the Generation Yes Blog (this blog appears to have the aim of empowering students with technology). It's an blog run by three people, and the entries here seem especially timely, particularly the one on the new Secretary of Education and... the one on Web 2.0 applications!
This Web 2.0 entry is the second part to a two-parter. The first part dealt with the problem of schools or districts basing their plans on Web 2.0 technology that is free and then the company failing, which would then be a huge problem. Therefore, Syliva (the blogger of these entries) came up with ten questions/ideas to consider before choosing a particular Web 2.0 application.
In particular the questions that rang true to me was: "Is it great? Would you pay for it?" and "How big are they?" I noticed, as Leanne and I searched for the application we were going to use for our webinar, that many sites offered two differing levels of membership (paid and unpaid). There are all sorts of neat gadgets out there, but if schools, teachers, and districts want to integrate these for the long term... there are many dimensions to consider, and at the bottom line is still money and motivation.
2 comments:
J, have you read Vicki Davis's blog? Check out what happened when Google Lively shut down.
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2008/12/in-google-we-trusted-and-now-our.html
Amazing student response, and quite applicable to what you posted here. You're right--money and motivation are key, especially in times like these.
Interesting post, Jennifer, and I'm really glad that Abbi responded and shared Vicki's post. My thought would be that it might serve us to be mindful of the fact that many of the creators of these web 2.0 tools that intrigue us as teachers didn't necessarily design them with teachers in mind. I think of a favorite tool of mine called Voice Thread (for linking images thematically and discussing them) that was designed for family scrapbooks, but has now developed "Voice Thread for Educators" and adapted versions of its tool that are friendlier for classroom use. This happened because teachers started using the tool and made contact with the tool's designers to let them know about it. I'm thinking that if we find tools that we like, we probably do ourselves a favor to let the service providers know. Establishing these kinds of relationships can sometimes bring unexpected benefits, and providers need to know that their tools are being used because this knowledge can provide crucial evidence that they're meeting a need which can help to sustain their service (and their energy for doing so!)
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