Bit By Bit

Reflection on:

Personal Professional Development
“Planning the 21st Century School”

by
Chris Lehmann
Marcie Hull

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What a great presentation! More fuel for the fire, and has me thinking about so many things. My favorite quote is, “What’s at the core of School 2.0 is CHANGE.” The film points out that the push is not about the technology but about “a recognition of how we must DO school differently.” This goes back to what I blogged about yesterday, that the technology is an opportunity to better achieve goals that we’ve had for so many years.

The end of the film is of a teacher (?) talking about his worry that it’s always the technology that is being pushed, and that we aren’t really looking at the problems (he sites inequities in education as an example). I think this perception is more the majority than the minority, and again, the discussion has to (and I believe will) evolve. Technology is one impetus to change in education, and not a bad one! Its evolution is so fast, so drastic, that it is hard to not notice it… hard to hide from it. So, if it can be used as a vehicle for change — talking about teaching and learning differently — then it seems to me that we are indeed living in exciting times, filled with hope and possibility.

When I think of the term, “School 2.0”, I guess the last thing I’m even thinking of is technology. I think the expression, “2.0” has become a tagline or slang for “renaissance.” At its very least, it is acknowledging change and an awareness of that change. When I look at the evolution of “Web 2.0”, I am incredibly hopeful for I mostly see it as a global change towards more collaboration, open source, and community. Multitudes of individuals have voice where none was possible before (think: blogs), and people are able to work with larger communities and shuck off the limits of isolation (think: “k12 Online Conference”).

My hope is that these same qualities that we see happening with “Web 2.0” (this societal shift) is also present when we talk about “School 2.0” — that the term “2.0” is also representing a “renaissance” of collaboration, open source, and community. As the film points out, schools need to change to “reflect the wider world”.

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