School 2.0 - Assignment 11

Anyone who has been reading my blog knows that I am amazed about using technology in a way that opens the world to students. You also know that I am somewhat fearful, hesitant, worried, and though much older than most of you, I am still willing to learn.

After visiting School 2.0, I am filled with wonder. We say that technology is another way for students to learn. We have heard that we in America are behind our European and Asian counterparts. The implications of School 2.0 reach far beyond a school system. My first reaction was that I had left Earth and was now on another planet. (I am now thinking that will be a possiblity some day. It probably already is and I don't know about it yet.) Every stakeholder in the community must be invested if this concept is to take off.

I just returned from vacation in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Along the way in the service areas and hotels, I took advantage of their "wireless" connections. I never really paid attention before now. It seems that every major stakeholder would have to have access to the internet. I know that some of the students I have taught did not have computers in their homes, so it means that for them to be "effective" learners in this technological age, they need the community at large to support them by providing connections easily accessible to them.

Is our part of the world able to financially invest? Who will do the education necessary for a school 2.0 to happen? What about our schools in the city? When I taught at School 28, we had one computer - in the main office - no place else in school. I know that there has been some improvement but our city is a long way off from being "wireless."

I would like to see everyone in our community work as collaboratively as the map of school 2.0 demonstrates. I wonder if we could even get everyone in our schools to agree that this is an important model to look at. I don't know if I would change anything about this vision of tomorrow's schools. In some ways, I am relieved that I will be retired when, if this happens in our corner of the world.