makingweb2teachers

How do we move teachers - K12 and college/university - into the networked world of web 2.0? Frankly, many of them are still struggling with using stand-alone computers, much less the Internet and Web 1.x.

Further, each of these audiences is different. K12 teachers are different from tenured university and college professors, who are different from part-time / adjunct instructors. What are the characteristics of each group that impact their receptivity to Web 2.0 concepts - and frankly how useful is Web 2.0 to them?

And is "Web 2.0" too big a term? Perhaps different groups - or subsets of each group - may have no use at all for some Web 2.0 ideas, but may find others absolutely indispensable.

Link to resource list

Disclosure: The results of this discussion may be included in a proposed book chapter for a forthcoming book on Web 2.0 in education. IF that happens, full credit for contributions will be given to the greatest extent possible.

[Nate Lowell] The largest obstacle looks like the fact that teachers don't USE web 2.0 for their own learning, so they can't see how to apply it to education. It's the same with all the technological innovations over the decades. you teach the way you're taught. You can't really teach people to learn by reading if you can't read yourself. Until you have a personal relationship with the technologies from a learning perspective, using them as a teaching tool is overwhelming.

[Heather M. Ross] I agree with Nate. I've been pushing the instructors that I work with to use social networking tools in their online courses, but I realized that I missed a step. I have to work with them to show them how to use it for their own learning before they can successfully implement the use of these tools in their teaching.

Another issue is the number of tools that are out there. Teachers/instructors/professors are already buried in work. We need to help them find the best tools that will integrate with what they're already doing, and we have to keep the number of new tools to a minimum as opposed to saying, "You need to try Twitter, Google Docs, blogging, wikis, and on and on" while we watch their eyes glaze over.

[Laura J. Little] There are certainly cultural differences between K12 and higher education faculty. I think that we might be more successful at encouraging teachers to try some of these tools if we are able to show them the problem that it can solve. For example, Googledocs is great from the collaborative standpoint. If we have faculty bemoaning the fact that they can't seem to get collaboration to work well (either with their students or with their colleagues), then we can introduce the workings of Google Docs and help them see how it can fit with their teaching.

When I'm pushing these tools, I tend to be more reactive. I listen for faculty to mention a problem or something they wish they could do, tehn I say, "Oh, I have a tool that I think might be able to help you out." I tell them about it and we (try to) work together to get it going. Also, listen to your innovators. Every campus has them. Their example is a great help to me.

[Nate Lowell] I agree with Heather on the number of tools - up to a point. One of the reasons they're buried in work is that they keep doing the same old thing. Sorry, I know that's an over generalization, but if you're voluntarily blinding yourself to new models, new ideas, and binding yourself to old actions, then you're never going to find away to clear it out. It's like the old chestnut about closets - "your stuff expands to the point where you run out of closets - plus 10 percent."

And I think I disagree with Laura, at least partially. If we wait for faculty to mention a problem -- especially a problem related to their teaching -- I think it's going to be too long coming. Yea, there's a few who'll complain about distance teaching until the cows come home, but for every one of them, there's probably five who hate it but just keep plugging, and another five who think that what they're doing is just fine because the grade spread is what it was when they taught the same course in the classroom, so they see no reason to change. It's true that if they're not willing to at least consider change, no amount of Mule-Skinner Mojo is going to get them moving in that direction.

It seems to me that the entry point for these people is professional development. If we can get them some compelling PD to participate in -- something like the EVO or WebHeads ESL groups -- where they're going to have fun, learn about some topic of interest to them and, not co-incidentally, use some of the web 2.0 tools to accomplish it, then we'll have an opportunity to engage the Luddites in some kind of discourse before they start throwing sabots.

[Corrie] I don't want to lob terms like Luddite too casually. People resist change because change *is* scary. It *is* threatening. If you went into a field (say, teaching English) partially because you knew that it (say, the works of Shakespeare) *wasn't* going to change, because you're not comfortable with change, then having people tell you you're a [insert uncomplimentary term] because change gives you the willies is counterproductive. Remember Vgotsky's scaffolds - we need to be able and willing to meet people where they are.

Nate's first comment is spot-on, though. We need to let teachers and professors see how these tools can help them do their jobs better/faster/more easily. Remember, everybody's favorite radio station is WIFM - What's In It For Me?