This week was spent digesting an amazing workshop on 21st Century Skills with all of the administrators in our district. The participants included everyone from the Superintendent, principals, and curriculum leaders, on down to department heads and technology leaders. The focus was on how kids learn today and how we need to begin to make change happen now. The presenter became my new hero. Everything he said validated my feelings and personal goals for education today. In the days that followed there has been much discussion on where we are headed in terms of 21st Century skills, technology purchases and long-term goals. Do we purchase more interactive white boards, or are there cheaper alternatives that offer the same results? Do we purchase new textbooks or move toward 1:1 computing and online information? Can we really consider 1:1 computing allowing students to use whatever devices they already have access to at home? How much should we block or deny access to our students when what they really need is to learn how to navigate the world they are living in?
I have recently discovered the value of PLNs online and am immersed in the sharing that is going on in the clouds. I could feasibly spend every waking hour following leads to blogs, articles, wikis, videos and lessons displayed for all to see on the internet. Sadly, I now spend most of my free time on Twitter and following everyone else's lead. I have "tweeted" a few things, as I feel it is important to try and contribute as much as I take away, but feeling very inadequate at this point.
Most recently, I have discovered Diigo. I was just discussing better ways to share articles and information with staff and co-workers. Everyone is inundated with emails and the old way of forwarding a link to an interesting article is fast becoming obsolete. I think Diigo may be the answer! I have transferred all of my Delicious bookmarks with their tags and notes over to Diigo and that worked great. I have found a few interesting people to follow and joined a few groups. I can tell that I will soon be addicted. Here is a link to a video that helped me understand the concept.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlqfJsmjcOs
Froot Loop Conspiracy Theories
4 days ago
5 comments:
Great first post Jennifer! I like your honesty about feeling inadequate amongst your PLN peers. I would venture to guess that 90% of us feel the same way, so it's important to remember that and not get caught up or repressed by those feelings.
Keep up the great work!
I just recently shifted to Diigo as well- even though I have it set up so that my bookmarks also go to Delicious.
I like the idea of creating groups, especially for my district's administrators and teachers. From what I read, Delicious is where educators go to 'find' good sites and Diigo is where they go to organize and share them. So far that has worked for me. Like you I'm still learning, but also love the features of Diigo.
Happy exploring,
Dodie
Hi Jennifer -
Enjoyed your post.
Who was the presenter?
Thanks...
Thanks, Bill! The presenter was Jonathan Costa who is
Director of School & Program Services at Education Connection. I'm in Danbury and Ed Connection is or RESC. I noticed that we're almost neighbors. I live in Trumbull and work in Danbury. You're in Westport?
As someone whose company creates free products to help school librarians find and share great content with their students and teachers, I spend a lot of time talking to teachers and reviewing school Web sites. My sense is that there a fraction of one percent of educators are totally impression in developing and teaching 21st Century Skills, and the other 99+% have a lot of catching up to do, and you are at the vanguard of that wave. So there is no reason for you to feel inadequate in the least. A first step in the right direction is realizing the superiority of some marvelous, newer tools, such as Diigo. Visit us at DulcineaMedia.com and we'll let you know about many more.
Post a Comment