District Administration - September 2007 - (Page 68)

ONLINE EDGE • Will Richardson From MySpace to SchoolSpace Teaching kids the social networking skills they need. T HIS FALL, THE 45,000 STU recent Wall Street Journal article, for instance, foundation for networks and communities dents in the Seattle Public School reported that IBM has over 400,000 part- of learners to grow and sustain the practice system will be encouraged to create and full-time employees participating in its of lifelong learning. and publish pictures, videos and other own in-house social network called “Blue work to their personal Web pages, where Pages,” as well as tens of thousands using Not Just “Sugar” they’ll even be able to create communities blogs and wikis. The folks in Seattle seem No question, most districts have a right to move into these waters with trepidation. to be on top of these shifts. of “friends” online. Concerns for student safety are paramount, Sound like MySpace? Close. It’s and there are new lawsuits and threats “Medley,” a component of a new social at every turn. The developers have built learning network being rolled out by in many levels of moderation to create a the district in an attempt to bring the “safe harbor” for student work, and they potentials of Read/Write Web tools to are exploring student connections with students in a more managed environment. schools in Africa, China and other parts Named “L3rn,” the network is the next of the world—all of which have been step in a process that started over two “This project is really helping us make motivated by the new realities of a Webyears ago with an initiative to put grades, a paradigm shift in the way we approach infused world. As one of the lead developers attendance and homework information learning,” Pierson says. “We are really on the project, Lindell Anderson, wrote online for parents and students to access. “What we found is that our kids were starting to push the diﬀerent pedagogies on his blog, “Incorporating Web 2.0 for education isn’t ‘sugar to help the medicine giving access to all of that information to that go along with the use of these tools.” And that’s the important point here. go down,’ it’s speaking the native language others by posting their logins online,” says Ramona Pierson, head of the district’s While many schools have begun to and honoring the digital world-view of a department of educational technology. embrace the tools of the Read/Write Web, technologically ﬂuent generation.” Helping teachers become more ﬂuent in “They were breaking the rules because few have begun to really consider the they wanted to keep tabs on one another. pedagogical shifts that go along with them. the pedagogies of networked environments So we started thinking about how we It’s now easy to publish student work and is one of the top priorities as the project could let them share information in a to communicate more eﬀectively with rolls out. The district has a team of coaches parents and community members, but that are not just doing the “how-to,” but learning context.” the real shift comes in the connections helping educators understand the uses of and conversations that grow around what the tools for their own learning as well. And Listening to Students Finding that students would want to be we can publish. Those artifacts build the Pierson and her staﬀ are doing community more transparent and connected is not presentations at every turn. Finally, the unusual in a world where much of our district is working through the process of RESOURCES students’ time is driven by social, online releasing the code via open source. The L3rn Public Site interactions. Today, when our kids put a L3rn is no doubt a push in the envelope www.l3rn.org premium on knowing more about each for school districts. But for students in L3rn Video other and knowing it faster, it’s no surprise Seattle, it’s just another step in making tinyurl.com/ytjwnz the kids were pushing the district to move schools look more like the world many of Lindell Anderson’s Project Blog in that direction. them already know. DA l3rn.blogspot.com L3rn (pronounced “Learn”) is an More on IBM attempt to prepare students for the tinyurl.com/22h3w2 Will Richardson is a contributing editor for networked, globally connected world when District Administration and The Pulse: Seattle Public Schools they leave the educational system, the one Education’s Place for Debate, www.seattleschools.org www.districtadministration.com/pulse. that is actually already here in many ways. A What is surprising is that the district listened. 68 September 2007 District Administration http://www.l3rn.org http://tinyurl.com/ytjwnz http://l3rn.blogspot.com http://tinyurl.com/22h3w2 http://www.seattleschools.org http://www.districtadministration.com/pulse

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - September 2007

Cover
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Curriculum Update
Inside the Law
District Profile
Administrator Profile
District Buying Power 2007
X-Factor Student Achievement Awards 2007
We've Got Mail
Supporting New Teachers
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
New Products
Problem Solution
Computer Literature
Research Corner
Online Edge
Supervisor’s Opinion
Speaking Out
Calendar of Events
Understanding the Times

District Administration - September 2007