Learning Aloud

I am presenting at the North Dakota Teaching and Technology Conference on Tuesday. I am using the conference to discuss a new project that consists of a resource I have written (Meaningful Learning and the Participatory Web) and a portal (Participants’ Portal) intended to encourage and organize the contributions of teachers and other educational professionals.

I have been interested in the participatory web as a tool for professional development for several years and have been trying to find a way to facilitate the sharing of resources. Cindy and I have been involved with pre-service and professional development activities for years as authors, classroom instructors, workshop facilitators, and project collaborators. If you keep your eyes open while engaged in these activities and afterwards, you have the opportunity to see a number of great ideas implemented in classrooms. The ideas come from all levels – some interesting ideas from undergraduates who have yet to teach, but are comfortable with technology and great ideas emerging from the long-term experiences of practicing teachers and sometimes shaped by exposure to a new technology tool. The participatory web should offer ways to share these ideas.

The reality is that it is challenging to create a mechanism for sharing. It would seem that one part of the problem is “the launch”. Why would anyone bother to contribute time and creativity to a site that is only a promise? The world is filled with good ideas, but someone must take the first step (and perhaps the second and third). We have decided to go first. We have created a resource we hope is helpful to educators. We are offering this resource and access to a portal to ND teachers. The site offers more than a promise and we hope we can interest some teachers in sharing their experiences in response.

Within the last couple of weeks, I have written several posts focused on textbook costs and suggested I thought it was time to try some new ideas. The project I describe here is related to a broader agenda. We are trying to imagine teacher development and support in a broad and interrelated way. Sharing resources can occur in many ways as long as it understood that we should not expect to receive something for nothing. Sometimes it may be most appropriate to share money in order to receive assistance from someone else willing to contribute time and greater professional experience. Perhaps there may be some other mechanisms through which useful examples and resources can be traded to buy down the costs of the entire development and in-service system. After we have had the opportunity to introduce our project and see what response we can generate, we will offer additional comments.