However, if used as a resource with all students engaged in its development from birth, a wiki can become a powerful, sustaining resource for the content and knowledge being shared and expanded on in a particular educational learning initiative.

I have attempted the use of a wiki (Wayland Technology) for Professional Development resources in Wayland Public Schools: . However, because staff has not been involved personally from a course, I do not feel the engagement is at a level that is sustaining and productive.  Perhaps you can provide me with some insight into how I can further engage staff in the content and development of this professional development wiki. Or, perhaps that is not possible, as looking in from the outside is not necessarily a positive experience. Perhaps the best way to engage staff is to use this as a tool to support a Web 2.0 professional development classroom initiative. These are my thoughts and assessments of wikis. Make it QUICK, but make it meaningful and productive for the participant.

Too keep this brief, and easy to reference, here are some other important resources I stumbled on:

Google Search Resources for Teachers and Students and Infinite Thinking Machine - Search Like and Expert 

Expanding your NECC Experience

Will Richardson’s article about Wanted: School Chief Learning Officer  struck a special cord, as I am convinced that our focus needs to be on teaching and learning focused on “student centered, inquiry driven, lifelong learning”! Everyone is tired of hearing about project-based, student-centered, interdisciplinary 21st century teaching and learning initiatives, but that is what we need to focus on. My favorite quote along these lines is one from Gandhi:  “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

Cloud Computing

Book Glutton

Diigo

The Myth of the Digital Native covers some valid points that we need to focus the proper use of technology to meet the needs of teaching and learning. Students might think they know how to use the tools, but in reality, they need guided instruction to learn the right way to use them. After nine years teaching computers skills in a High School, I can attest to the fact that the need for guided instruction in the use of technology is paramount and should be an integral part of every classroom. The key here is first engaging the teachers in the use first, and then having them engage and teach their students technology that is embedded into the curriculum.

I see The Ripe Environment  is a great analogy that to grow and nurture our students we need to care for and tend to their educational teaching and learning needs that will help them grow and ripen as a 21st century fruit. If you visit  this blog you will find yourself caught up in another endless episode of reading and learning about where we are and where we need to be headed.

The read-write web has changed the way students are responsible as learners to access, manage, and produce knowledge. Teachers are no longer a sage on the stage but rather a guide on the side. There is no longer a need for rote memorization: now there is a need to guide students to find, assess and process the information out on the web and to become producers themselves of new content.

The need to read and write is even more important as we use the web to share and manage all this information. We all have become constant communicators where reading and writing is more a part of our lives than ever before. Web 2.0 puts the resources literally at our fingertips, along with the collaboration tools and the programs necessary to produce and share information.

I believe the change before us with Web 2.0 is paramount and equally exciting. I have used Wikis to connect my students, our teachers, to professional development opportunities that are web-based. We use Google documents to collaborate on work-related projects and to communicate via Email and chat. Google forms allow us to gather much needed data to learn about the needs of our educational community. And the use of Google Sites quickly allows us to post and share resources.

At times, I feel like I am on an educational roller-coaster. The ride is going extremely fast, parts are exhilarating, yet around a few corners there is a drop that appears to be quite scary. Hold on tight, as Web 2.0 is a ride we must all board to get us to the new challenges we face ahead with teaching and learning in the 21st century.

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
~Mohandas Gandhi