Thursday, July 14, 2011

Web 2.0 Technologies in the Classroom

Recently I had the opportunity to attend the ISTE conference in Philadelphia which as a bit overwhelming!  There was so much pertinent information regarding technologies but most was how to implement the tools in the classroom.  I was able to attend a few sessions that had the same message which was it have a purpose for using the tool and not just use them.  We cannot forget about the pedagogy of teaching and what teachers need to do to assist students in their progression of curriculum.    There was the idea call TPACK which stands for

Technology
Pedagogy
Content
Knowledge

The philosophy is as follows, “a way of thinking about the knowledge teachers need to understand to integrate technology effectively into their classrooms (Mishra & Koehler, 2008).” Teachers who exhibit best practices with technology are “creative, flexible, and adapt ways in which they navigate the constraints, affordances, and interactions within TPACK framework. (Mishra & Koehler, 2008).”
As I begin to review my notes from the conference I am going to research this ideology of thinking as I feel we need to continue focusing on content but also engage students in a collaborative way of learning!

It is an exciting time to be an educator!!