Archive for March, 2009

Mar 29 2009

School 2.0 Bookmarks (weekly)

Published by maggiev under Bookmarks

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Mar 24 2009

Being a school librarian in the 21st century

Published by maggiev under School 2.0

This great article from Judy on how essential it is to embrace web 2.0 tools and a 21st century mindset to transform school libraries (see below). This is definitely a must read. I would love to know to what extend local librarians in South Africa are using social media tools like blogs, wiki’s, Youtube and twitter… to turn their libraries into havens for 21st century digital natives.

I am scheduled to do a talk on how librarians in South Africa can use blogs and micro-blogging in their libraries but have not been able to source local blogging librarians- so I either have a lot of advocacy to do with librarians or I haven’t yet dug deep enough! So if you are a local librarian and run a personal or school library blog, please let me know and if you are an global librarian 2.0, please leave a message of how you think blogs can assist librarians in creating a welcoming space for learners.

A Week in the Life of a New Media Teacher Librarian

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Presentations & Slid teacher librarian school library

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Mar 15 2009

School 2.0 Bookmarks (weekly)

Published by maggiev under Bookmarks

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Mar 05 2009

Is our future left behind in South Africa?

Published by maggiev under Uncategorized

In my ongoing persuit of getting teachers to embrace 21st Century social media tools in their classrooms in South Africa, I have mostly had to deal with severe resistance and antagonism. The best case scenarios have been amused interest, avoidance and lurking participation. The use of social media tools within school walls has mostly been banned, severely controlled or renegated for use by specialist teachers (CAT and IT). Huge amounts of money are still being spend on outdated “drill and practice” (and believe me I have also been there once) software.  School managements are “controlling” their learners’ social media habits by banning cell phones and social media networks like Facebook, under the pretence of caring for their learners’ safety.

So what am I saying?

I know about the risks. I know about privacy issues. I know about cyberbullying. I know about information overload (indeed). I know about time limatations, especially for our teachers. But this is the new world reality that we are supposed to prepare our learners for! The scary thing is that they are out there, without our guidance, embracing IT and incorporating IT into their very being in high definition colour and without constraint and thought. And yes, they are using IT at school under the tables and in their pockets. And yes, you can ignore IT, ban IT, firewall IT, suspend IT/them, but you are not going to stop them using IT!

So what is the answer?

There are no answers, only the persuit of knowledge for life. And our learners’ future will depend on how wisely and effectively they will be using the tools afforded to us in the 12st century and beyond. So yes, we can return to our blackboards/whiteboards/”interactive” whiteboards and teach the way we have been teaching for centuries, turning our backs on where they are now and where they will be in the future, but we will be failing our learners yet again. And this time we cannot even blame OBE, the digital divide, the government or for that matter, alien invasions. The problem lies squarely with us, as keepers of our learners’ future.

Solutions are never easy, they are brave, so….

  • Accept that learners are on top of the technology- ask them to guide you (teach you) in the use of the tools, while you add your wisdom and experience as an educator in facilitating subject skills, knowlege and values.
  • Instead of banning 21st century tools, use them actively in your classroom- get the kids to create and share their knowledge using their favourite tools.
  • As far as the inherent dangers of using these tools are concerned: Equip yourself with the know-how of using the tools- it is the only way that you will be able to protect and guide them
  • Go online, Mxit up, because what happens in real life, happens online, just faster and easier. So be there- you have to be!

So what can you do practically? Just a few ideas…

  • Learn one tool a month (Mxit, delicious/diigo, twitter, blogging, Facebook, slideshare) and go and lurk in their spaces.
  • Talk to the CAT teacher about how you can incorporate a new media tool into a lesson plan- once a month!
  • Think about how you can incorporate cellphones into your lessons
  • Read Steve’s blog on “Beyond the computer lab: Rethinking ICT for education”
  • ………..

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Mar 01 2009

School 2.0 Bookmarks (weekly)

Published by maggiev under Bookmarks, School 2.0

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

No responses yet