Web 2.0 Overview for Administrators

This is meant to be a little guide for administrators on the world of web2.0 and 21st century learning. Surf some of the links, read some of the articles, listen to some of the podcasts, and perhaps even create a few accounts. There is simply no better to learn about these methods and tools than to plunk around with them a bit.

Blogs to Read:

• Wesley Fryer's Moving at the Speed of Creativity - Wesley was a former 4th grade teacher and is now a professional development consultant for AT & T's education division. He leads workshops for schools and is a regular presenter at national/international conferences. His podcasts are located at his blog as well - his podcast series are an excellent professional development tool.
• Chris Lehman's, "Practical Theory...A View from the Classroom," blog. Chris is the principal at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia.
• Leadertalk-Leadertalk is a collaborative blog written by administrators from across the country (I believe there are a few international contributors as well). This is a great example of administrators sharing and dialogging about K12 education and best practices.
• Alan November's blog - Alan is our keynote speaker for our October 2008 mini-conference day on 21st century learning
• Darren Kuropatwa blog - Darren is an AP Calculus teacher in Manitoba, Canada.
• Dr. Tim Tyson's Blog - Tim is a school principal and maintains a wonderful blog resource.
• Cool Cat Teacher Blog - Vicki Davis is a teacher from Camilla, Georgia. She and her students have done some fantastic projects involving teachers and students from across the world. Her "Flatclassroom" project is an excellent sample of an effective global classroom project.
• Yahoo teacher blogs - a wonderful collection of some powerful classroom projects that involve collaboration and communication across ehey whau
  

All of these blogs have links to other blogs that the author reads on a regular basis. Take a look at the blogs that they link to.

Things to try:

• Read some of the blogs above...leave a comment on a few of the posts that you read.
• Join the Independent School Educators Network online Ning community. As of March 2008 the ISEN network has over 800 members from all over globe. This is a great tool for sharing and collaborating with other independent school teachers and administrators. After creating an account, join the group called, "Administration," which currently has over 55 members.
• Listen to Wesley Fryer's recent podcast from his presentation to Oklahoma superintendents and school principals. The title of his presentation is, "Let's Invent the Future...A Presentation for Oklahoma Superintendents." Click the little play button at the end of his post to listen.
  
• Listen to Women of the Web's "Super Administrators" podcast. "Women of the Web" is a weekly live webcast (Tuesday nights at 8:00 PM CST) and they have a wide range of show topics and guests. Vicki Davis (Cool Cat Teacher blog from above) is one of the hosts. In this particular episode they had a conversation with Chris Lehman, principal from Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy and Kelly Christopherson, a principal from Eston, Saskatchewan.
  

Videos to View:

• Karl Fish's "Did You Know 2.0" video
• Sir Ken Robinson's TED Talk
• Blogs in Plain English-3 minute overview of blogs...the creator has an entire series of short videos that explain other tools like wikis, google docs, social networking, etc.