apps4class

I know that a lot of the people I get a chance to talk with on Twitter are using new and exciting tools on the internet all the time.  Some of us are experimental educators – it’s not that other people aren’t interested, but they are short of time or confidence when it comes to trying out new stuff.  But we are in the 21st Century and pedagogies are changing.  Web 2.0 tools are here to stay.  The opportunities to develop the teacher’s toolbox we are using in our classrooms in order to improve our pupils’ learning experiences are growing and there is a wealth of exciting educational opportunities that don’t necessarily cost the earth. Digital literacy is part of our curriculum, our children inhabit the digital world and even dinosaurs like me are regular visitors!

But if we are in danger of having a two tier system of education – those children who have plenty of access to the digital world and those who don’t – we are also in danger of having two different groups of educators – those who use web 2.0 to enhance their teaching and those who don’t.  Those of us who do have a responsibility to not just let our colleagues just figure it out or spend valuable time and energy re-inventing wheels. Sharing educational practices that help make our life easier or benefit the children in our care is important.   We learnt because others shared with us. Others will learn because we share with them.  Reinventing wheels for the sake of it isn’t pretty – it’s a waste of everyone’s time.

 There’s nothing quite like going and putting a new idea into practice straight away to embed it in our minds so it becomes part of our toolbox. But when those opportunities don’t arise, how often do we forget what we saw and just need a bit of a reminder to get us back on the right track? And those of us who are sharing  ideas with others are often looking for a place to direct them to that will enable them to quickly and simply find the reminders that will support them in the process of expanding their toolbox. There are many sites with lists of apps, tools and freeware. But now we need these lists with some support to get started with them and REAL valuable suggestions of how they can be used in class.

But any site that provides links, suggestions and “how to” guides is going to be impossible to keep up to date. Or is it? What if everyone who has found a new tool that could be useful in class has a place to make their suggestion? To show others how to use it? Then the site could be kept up to date – a collaborative, co-constructed site that is the sum of all the knowledge, rather than relying on just one person’s ideas and experiences. So that every wheel that has been invented can be shared rather than being re-invented.

Snowballs start small. Have you seen a snowball being rolled along the ground? It grows and grows, to such a degree that it becomes the body of a snowman. Sharing ideas and experiences of web 2.0 tools can be a snowball opportunity.  Maybe my suggestion for a learning application could be tweaked and improved a little by Fred, then Fred’s improved use could be tweaked and improved a little by Jo – then we can end up with a refined suggestion or many different opportunities for learning that are being shared widely.

@Joga5 shared his reflections on the need for teachers to be able to use technology to a sufficiently high standard to support the children they are teaching.  A site of this nature will support just such professional development, in my opinion. 

Watch out! It’s coming soon! It’s been started – by @janwebb21, @Ideas_Factory, @ianaddison – we’ll be publicising it soon and look forward to you collaborating with us so that it is a useful tool for all of us, for our colleagues and for the benefit of all the children we are teaching – a work in progress that will grow and develop as the range of tools we are all trying out grows and develops.

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