|
I think the problem with webpages today is information is changing all of the time. Media specialists need to be able to go to their web page and post that there is a book fair next month, for example, and that volunteers are needed. One cannot do this easily with a webpage. I would definitely say that the webpage is outdated. Now that people use I-phones and are checking their e-mail every hour, we are a generation that needs to know what is going on right now. People walk down the street while text messaging a friend or collegue. The strength of the wiki page is being able to put the information out there in real time.
I was talking to my husband, who is a graduation coach at a local high school, and he feels that having (if it were allowed) a wiki page for the counselors' office would be an awesome time saver now that his school has advisement everyday. The wiki would give teachers a place to go to access worksheets and handouts on a daily basis. From a counselor standpoint, this would be one place for them to post news for teachers about testing, changes in advisement, test review, etc. Teachers would not have to be running to their mailboxes at the last minute to see what the counselors have given them to do during advisement. It is a win/win situation.
The biggest problem is getting the people in the school districts that control the computer filters to see that wikis, blogs, podcasts and who knows what else is where education is headed. Teachers are having to change the way they teach every five to ten years because someone has reinvented the wheel; however, students really like and get excited about using technology. If our school districts and administrators could see that this is what we need to be doing to get our children actively involved in learning and the potential for increasing test scores, then maybe some changes will be made,
I was talking to my husband, who is a graduation coach at a local high school, and he feels that having (if it were allowed) a wiki page for the counselors' office would be an awesome time saver now that his school has advisement everyday. The wiki would give teachers a place to go to access worksheets and handouts on a daily basis. From a counselor standpoint, this would be one place for them to post news for teachers about testing, changes in advisement, test review, etc. Teachers would not have to be running to their mailboxes at the last minute to see what the counselors have given them to do during advisement. It is a win/win situation.
The biggest problem is getting the people in the school districts that control the computer filters to see that wikis, blogs, podcasts and who knows what else is where education is headed. Teachers are having to change the way they teach every five to ten years because someone has reinvented the wheel; however, students really like and get excited about using technology. If our school districts and administrators could see that this is what we need to be doing to get our children actively involved in learning and the potential for increasing test scores, then maybe some changes will be made,
“Teachers have to change the way they teach every five to ten years because someone has reinvented the wheel; however, students really like and get excited about using technology.”
This statement made me laugh. Not only because it is so true, but because of how I felt when I started the Media program last year. It had been 12 years since I’d been in school, and when I graduated from college, email was just becoming popular. None of my friends or I knew much, if anything, about the Internet or the Web. I’d never Google-d, bought anything off Amazon, or downloaded a thing. The only people I could email were other UGA students or teachers, because no one else I knew had email.
Flash forward 12 years, and look how much has changed. Everything is online. Classes, assignments, communication, and even research – everything is at my fingertips.
For a person who works in print, this was a little disconcerting. In fact, the biggest problem I had initially was not actually “handing in” my projects. Nothing was printed. Nothing was tangible or concrete. And I had never uploaded anything in my life.
I thought I’d made a horrible mistake.
Now, here I am, less than two years later, typing blog posts, teaching my mentor (who’s been a media specialist for more than 25 years in every level from elementary to law) about technology, and learning how to create wikis. I love every bit of what initially terrified me.
I don’t think I’m unusual, nor do I think I’m some kind of technology expert now. I still check two or three times to make sure my projects upload to CourseDen and that they are actually turned in correctly on the assignment tab. I’m still scared of screwing up the wiki and even this blog. But I’m no longer afraid to try new technologies. And I no longer believe something has to be printed to be real.
I overcame that hurdle, tore down that wall, took that step, opened that door – whatever cliché you want to use to describe the process. Technology is my now, and I’m going to learn everything I can about it.
The thing is; this is going to be a never-ending lesson. That’s why your statement means so much. That’s why I think you are so right about web pages. Web pages are the old web – Web 1.0 – and these days the world has moved on to Web 2.0.
But in the next few years, we could move on to Web 3.0. After all, technology is changing every day. It is getting smaller, faster, and easier. To keep up with it, you have to keep moving. It is a process, not a step. And I think web pages for schools and for media centers is nothing more than a step – right into a wall.
Yes, having a web page for a media center is wonderful – as long as it is current. And a lot of the web pages we looked at through our course notes were great. But a lot of the media center pages in my county are stagnant. They contain links to certain informational sites like GALILEO or homework help sites. They link students to the school’s catalog system and to certain authors’ web sites; but that’s it. And they probably haven’t been changed in months, if not years. There is nothing interactive and no reason for students or parents to return to the site, unless they need a particular link or to look up a book.
Like you, I think a technology in “real time” is more effective to communicate with teachers, students, and parents. Giving them up-to-date information seems like it would fit in our job description. Right now, the most effective technologies might be wikis or blogs because they are easier to update than web pages.
But like you said, in five years that could change. In five years, wikis could be passé and a new technology could be keeping everyone up-to-date instantaneously. And we, as educators (or future educators) have to keep up. We have to be part of the process, not stop at the first step. I learned this my first day in the Media program, and it is something I hope to keep learning.
Kristin, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said "information is changing all the time." Undoubtedly, just as we get comfortable with one technology, a new one emerges. It's enough to make anyone's head spin. Web pages that are not updated as frequently as they should be do not disseminate information to others quickly enough. We live in a fast-paced society, and the growing need for instant information makes wikis, blogs, and RSS feeds look very attractive, that's for sure. I remember when cellphones first came out when I was in high school. My boyfriend's father used this huge thing with a ginormous antenna to call family to say that his son had just won the two-mile run. We laughed when we went out because it had a mount in the car, and they were one of the only people who had one. I remember talking about it. Now, cellphones are dubbed "handheld devices" and they really are minicomputers. It's amazing how small these things really are. It didn't take too many years (early 90's) to get from a device larger than my cordless home phone to the ultra-compact iPhone. Not to mention that the 32 GB model has more memory than some desktop computers. All I can say about change, is "ride the wave before it passes you by." This is not a popular view with some people, while others are willing but scared, but you can bet I have my surfboard ready. Gosh, I love technology...
As for reinventing the wheel, at this moment I think that wheel appears to be going a little flat. There are always new strategies for teachers to implement, but we must equip teachers with the best tools to get the job done. This includes teaching teachers how to use them. Expecting teachers to use the latest and greatest techniques while keeping one foot in the technological past is both comical and sad. It is going to boil down to having someone open-minded and available enough to provide Web 2.0 resources to their schools convinced they will enhance, not hinder education. And for those schools who are really concerned about safety, a combination of educating students about appropriate online behavior and perhaps setting up these resources on the school's domain offers two alternatives to ignoring the fact that these things exist. That attitude won't last forever, and I already see schools trying to come on-board, but hopefully before the wheel is reconstructed once again, schools will realize how to make the Internet work for them.