Teachers, Administrators, School Leaders and others with a vested interest in education are quickly realizing that the face of education is changing. Students, beginning in the lowest grade levels are coming to school as digital citizens, yet the system has been slow to adapt. The 8 Things Course is designed to introduce you to the tools that can transform your classroom, school or district.
Modeled after the Learning 2.0 Project, created by Helene Blowers, the project will take you through 8 activities that will introduce you to the tools of the new Internet: Web 2.0 tools that are bringing our kids in touch with the entire world through social networking, wikis, video, and podcasting.
The entire course should take about 8 weeks to complete. Each week there is a new tool for you to learn about, experiment with, and use. You will track your progress and record your reflections in a blog that you create.
The focus of this course is not on designing curriculum for your classroom or on requiring you to integrate technology in your classroom just for technology's sake. This course is meant to allow you, as an individual, to explore some new technologies and to get a feel for what they are capable of doing. I want you to feel free to play and have fun first, and to think about what how you can use these 8 things with your students second!
Are you ready begin? Are you ready to learn? Are you ready to transform your teaching? If so, you are ready for the 8 Things!
Thanks to the Flickr user, Leo Reynolds, for the images in the introductory video.