Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
Posted by sunnywilliams on January 20, 2007
When I was in Atlanta this past weekend, I took a trip to my favorite bookstore and spent several hours looking over the shelves at the books. I came across a book whose title, Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, intrigued me. I haven’t finished it yet, but it addresses the impact of the many tools available today for collaboration on leadership, businesses, research, and life in general. The authors stress that the world is becoming a place where only the connected will survive. They also say, “We must collaborate or perish-across borders, cultures, disciplines, and firms and increasingly with masses of people at one time.” They talk about the use of Web 2.0 as being the “Wisdom of Crowds.” I love that term and am excited about all it implies. Even though I grew up with computers in my home and in my classrooms and feel pretty confident that I can do about anything with a computer, I am learning terms that I have never heard of by reading the book–peering, tagging, “new public squares,” and blogosphere.
In talking with students, it is obvious that they are more comfortable with these concepts than we realize, but as a school and as a system, we are stretching ourselves so we can meet the changing needs of our students. We have time built into our schedule for classroom teachers to collaborate with each other daily to design lessons for students. We have SharePoint which allows students to collaborate via discussion boards in a safe environment. We are developing the Middle School Resource Room wiki so our teachers can collaborate with others world-wide to improve what we are doing with students. We have many conversations brainstorming ways to integrate technology more fully into our classrooms. Professional learning opportunities on technology integration are provided regularly. I read the blogs of other principals to find out things they are doing with their students that we might also do or to find out what other schools are struggling with. We then have ongoing discussions via our blogs.
I have to say that I am very proud of our teachers at HTMS who are stretching themselves in the area of technology. Many face the challenge of not only integrating technology into their classrooms but also learning the technology themselves.
February 20th, 2007 at 10:25 am
i think it’s great that you are so advanced in the area of technology, but please don’t forget that you are dealing with a community that is not. You talk about all this stuff and the vast majority of us stand there with our hands in the air saying,”What?” I am not an “old person” by the standards of the world (as long as 35 is not old), and I don’t have a CLUE what most of this stuff is or how you are proposing to use it.
I will agree that the communication between the school and the home has gotten better with the STI system and the teacher websites, but only because of the information that is posted there. I have busted my butt this year to make sure my child has the assignments that are listed on the teacher websites….I check that website, not him.
The majority of parents are not going to give their 12 year old unlimited access to a computer. That is the equivalent of handing them a box of matches and a can of gasoline and saying, “show me what you can do with this.” I know that the TCS technology department has done everything they can to safeguard the computers that our kids are using at school, but you have to understand that the average home computer does not have the same safeguards. Our kids are being attacked from every direction by all kinds of “bad people” and they are not mature enough to resist the temptation to explore, so it is my job to protect them and that = limits.
I read about all the “exciting” things that are going on regarding technology, but there are kids that are not ever going to be able to have the kind of access that you are proposing at home. As a parent, I won’t allow it. This is middle school and these kids are still just that, kids. I am not going to give my child the keys to a car at the age of 12…nor am I going to give him the keys to the information superspeedway at the age of 12. In my opinion it would be equally dangerous.
These are just a few things that I think have been overlooked in all the excitement regarding Trussville’s new direction in education.
Thanks
a very concerned parent!
March 2nd, 2007 at 12:15 pm
I disagree with the previous comment. I too am a parent that is concerned. I am concerned because I want to be sure my child has the resources that she needs to compete and enjoy this “new direction” the world has already taken. My child has her own laptop and while I monitor her internet activity , I am constantly learning all the wonderful ways she uses the computer. Instead of saying I do not understand the terms she uses or the new technology, I listen and learn for myself. Why should we hold back our kids because it something we do not understand. The rest of the world will be learning and using all these awesome technology. Anything can be dangerous if you do not monitor and teach your children the “rules of the road”, but what is more harmful is not allowing your child to learn them with caution. We should not be a stumbling block to our childs succesful and happy future.I know where I moved from in Texas we had parent meetings on teaching your children internet safety. Perhaps if parents embraced this as a way of life it would be beneficial, because wether you like it or not this is the world our kids live in. Do not sheeter so much that by doing so you actually inflict more harm.