Web Literacy
During our first 2 weeks blogging in school, the first thing that has dawned on me is that I could possibly be a bit of an internet geek, and that despite their capabilities with ICT, our students, and indeed colleagues, aren’t quite as clued up about the web as some of us. In fact, that’s not quite accurate, many of the pupils just inhabit a different areas of the web to those that I am used to.
So with this in mind I decided to write a little guide to a better web experience. A little biassed as it is towards my personal favourites of Firefox, Yahoo & Google I hope its of use to my pupils and anyone else who stumbles across it.
As a first major piece of writing I suppose I have put on the web it is difficult to know if it is pitched appropriately. I wanted to keep it concise, but also realise that to the uninitiated some tools on the web aren’t as intuitive as they could be (del.icio.us springs to mind).
Let me know what you think, and feel free to use it as you see fit.
Kelly, the blog is certainly starting to gain a little momentum in school. Originally it was planned only two of us would trial it to start with, that has quickly expanded to four! Other departments have also taken an interest also. I think we’ll let it grow for another couple of weeks and then take it from there.
Dan
Hello Dan, I visited the math blog and left a comment. I like that you have gond beyond the math blog to get your own going. As for being an internet geek, that is becoming something of a good thing in this day and age. I’d say that you have some insights that will definitely help you as we make the transition to a new societal structure of learning. I wouldnt’ worry that the kids inhabit a different paret of the web. If you really want to get into that, get yourself a MySpace account. Keep on blogging!
Kelly
Dan, forgot to ask if you have found your blog at school is inspiring other teachers or departments to get involved in such things?
Kelly
Dan,
Good luck with it. I hope you have a great success. I know that I am trying to introduce the staff to wikis. They are not overly anxious to get involved – actually they are a bit overwhelmed right now. We have two new initiatives on the go – PLC’s and reading with math soon to follow. We have just gone through a major amalgamation in our province and our new “super”divisions seem to be really keen on the PLC’s and the whole DataDrivenDecision-Making process. Right now we’re into SMART goals and Learning Plans. I feel like a lone voice sometimes. But, I keep on mentioning, sending reminders to administrators to check out the blog and the wiki.
Take care,
Kelly