Everywhere, Everywhere Web 2.0, but not at our school. It's blocked!

Blog post from my old site. I've changed directions with my blog so here we go with a new refined goal with this blog.

This summer our school district brought in Will Richardson to talk to all of the school Instructional Technology Specialist, Media Specialist and more importantly the district IT people. Richardson was here for two days and showed us lots of cool things, he peaked our interest in the possibilities and made some great points about using Web 2.0 tools and even the why we should be using them in k-12 education. It appeared to me like the school Instructional Technology Specialist and Media Specialist bought into the what he was saying, but I’m not sure the district IT people were sold on the whole idea. On the surface it appeared as if they agreed with his premise but in the end almost all Web 2.0 tools are blocked in our schools. So with that in mind what are we to do?

Since the summer I have been spending my time online reading blogs, wikis, articles, participating in online conferences and webinars trying to see what is going on out there in the world of education with Web 2.0. To be honest I’m still not sure how to do all of this in the school setting I am operating in now. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are good things going being done in schools and classrooms with Web 2.0, Ning, and Vicki Davis’ Flat Classroom Project to name a couple. But for the most part, teachers are not utilizing these tools nor do they show the real desire to do so. How do we get past the “cool factor” and move to the “relevance factor”? Web 2.0 tools are cool and have the potential to change the way teachers teach and students learn, but how do we show teachers the relevance of using these tools in their classrooms to enhance learning and participation by if we can’t get the sites unblocked at school?

I’m going to use this blog to talk and think my way through the process of the best way to help teachers incorporate Web 2.0 tools into their classrooms. And along the way share some stuff about what I am reading and learning online. As well as things I am questioning.

Come along for the ride. Let’s see where we end up.