Module 12 of TEC-950 is focused on More Cool Web 2.0 Tools. The infrastructure is just now being put in place within our district to allow access to Web 2.0 Tools on any kind of consistent basis. I’m looking forward to the day when I see Augmented Reality (AR) in our classrooms being used by students. AR is intriguing to me for all its creative possibilities. But, we are not there yet as a system.

In the meantime, I want to see more blogging by students, teachers, and administrators within my district. Blogging is not flashy like AR but it is such a good reflection tool and provides another manner to demonstrate learning. The ability to add video, images, drawings to communicate ones thoughts does wonders to demonstrate learning and understanding. Blogging opens up a collaborative community to our teachers and students through commenting and gaining ideas from one other.

Mostly, blogging empowers the user to share their story publicly. As a coach who travels district-wide, I see amazing things happening in classrooms and I regularly talk with teachers who are exceptional in their daily work. These events should not be secret or hidden. They need to be shared with families, administrators, school board members, and the larger community so they know what’s happening in our schools. Blogging gives students and teachers a voice and allows them to control the story as opposed to having TIME Magazine be our voice. Teachers are not rotten or to be swept away. If blogging took off within our district it would create a type of augmented reality that would provide an alternative view that’s currently lacking on what is happening in our classrooms.