Digital Eyes

This is a question that comes up all the time. As we purchase classroom tools and design professional development and rewrite curriculum, are we moving in the right direction? This is a tough question. In my mind, there are two main philosophies about the Classroom of the Future: Instructional and Educational. Instructional means the tools that allow teachers to instruct in more engaging, interactive ways. This might include a Smartboard, document camera, projector, soundfield, any other tool that the teacher uses predominantly to deliver instruction. These are powerful tools, but they are limited by the fact that it is mostly the teacher who uses them. Many of our teachers are working hard to design lessons using these tools that are more interactive, including students in the lesson more. I have seen how effective these tools can be in engaging students of all ages. Educational means tools that allow students to construct their own learning. The most obvious example would be student ...

We have been talking a lot recently about Web 2.0 tools. There are many new classes being offered that focus on Web 2.0 tools. Why? What's the big deal? Web 2.0 tools are web based tools that allow users to both read the content AND participate in the creation of the content. For this reason, they are often referred to as the Read/Write Web. These are powerful tools that allow users to author to a truly global audience, receive feedback from the public, collaborate with colleagues without regard for time or space, and access works in progress from anywhere they have an Internet connection. In addition, many Web 2.0 tools offer up to the moment information on a variety of topics. For all of these reasons, Web 2.0 tools have an important impact on education. They allow teachers to collaborate with other teachers around the world. They allow teachers to quickly and easily collect information that is relevant to their classroom. They allow students to write in meaningful ways and share...