Organic Learning

This is a post that has been sitting in my drafts folder for a few months. I decided to post it even though it’s older, because it documents my thinking and reflection on sharing the learning about Web 2.0 tools. The online Read/Write Web course I mentioned has already finished, and I am hoping that the teachers that took that class are beginning to enjoy the amazing opportunities for learning afforded them by the Web 2.0 tools they are using.

Here’s my post from several months ago…

I’ve been thinking about the online Read/Write Web course I’m about to teach on Blackboard. It’s a beginning course to allow educators to explore the new possibilities of Web 2.0. In reality, in this course, we just brush the surface of what is possible. I know from the previous time I taught this class (my first experience with being an online facilitator for my district), that the teachers came away overwhelmed and in awe of all they could do.

However, as I’m going to tell my new group of participants tomorrow in our initial face to face meeting, this course is like a key to a door that you will open. You can peek in, but to really go through the door, you need to do some learning on your own. I started thinking more about this after reading Will Richardson’s blog post, Diving in Part 2. Will talks about encouraging teachers to use the new Web 2.0 tools to fuel the fire for their own personal learning, whether that be about mountain hiking or education and pedagogy. Teachers often need to see the connection that connected learning has for their own personal life so that they can see how these tools can be useful for their students.

I’m eager to begin the journey through the door with the participants in my class.

Photo credit: Unlock by CoolFreaK on Flickr Creative Commons Search