We have Vision software throughout the school and a well developed filtering system that is controlled by the school network manager. We have also been testing the waters by opening formerly blocked sites like YouTube for projects to get student feedback on their use. Our network managers are very flexible and knowledgeable about web 2.0 as is our entire library staff.
In Reinventing Your School’s Library, I really found the ideas for principals to be very useful. While I understand that principals are swamped (our Executive Director certainly is), I think what these strategies do is allow the administration, network management, and library services to collaborate. I have been attending Educational Technology meetings throughout the summer and have been pleasantly surprised how excited and responsive our network manager is about the AAR strategy. I made a research strategy sheet based on QUEST technology rubric (p. 42) and I’m going to use the Global History of Ideas classes to help me refine the rubric and suggest ways to add variations. We are big survey monkey users and it’s easy to create individual rubrics so we have reflection data that we can archive and make available. While the text focused on principals, we redesigned some of the ideas so they can be incorporated with our own leadership structure which involves curriculum directors, department chairs, instructional advisors and program coordinators.
The key to providing a safe environment for the use of many Web 2.0 tools is education. Educating administrators and teachers about the effective use of filters, if deemed necessary for use in the school, is one element of safe but open access. When administrators and teachers are exposed to the beneficial aspects of these tools they become more open to their incorporation into the curriculum. Students also need to be educated about responsible, ethical use of myriad aspects of the online environment. They can obtain this knowledge through effective coaching by experienced professionals in the school environment.
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Comments (2)
lspear@ghchs.com said
at 12:41 pm on Aug 5, 2008
We have Vision software throughout the school and a well developed filtering system that is controlled by the school network manager. We have also been testing the waters by opening formerly blocked sites like YouTube for projects to get student feedback on their use. Our network managers are very flexible and knowledgeable about web 2.0 as is our entire library staff.
In Reinventing Your School’s Library, I really found the ideas for principals to be very useful. While I understand that principals are swamped (our Executive Director certainly is), I think what these strategies do is allow the administration, network management, and library services to collaborate. I have been attending Educational Technology meetings throughout the summer and have been pleasantly surprised how excited and responsive our network manager is about the AAR strategy. I made a research strategy sheet based on QUEST technology rubric (p. 42) and I’m going to use the Global History of Ideas classes to help me refine the rubric and suggest ways to add variations. We are big survey monkey users and it’s easy to create individual rubrics so we have reflection data that we can archive and make available. While the text focused on principals, we redesigned some of the ideas so they can be incorporated with our own leadership structure which involves curriculum directors, department chairs, instructional advisors and program coordinators.
Heather Neidenbach said
at 3:51 pm on Jul 7, 2008
The key to providing a safe environment for the use of many Web 2.0 tools is education. Educating administrators and teachers about the effective use of filters, if deemed necessary for use in the school, is one element of safe but open access. When administrators and teachers are exposed to the beneficial aspects of these tools they become more open to their incorporation into the curriculum. Students also need to be educated about responsible, ethical use of myriad aspects of the online environment. They can obtain this knowledge through effective coaching by experienced professionals in the school environment.
You don't have permission to comment on this page.