In many ways, I consider myself to be a “digital explorer” within the faculty and culture of Bolles, sailing off to places I’ve heard about…. full of the “spices, exotic trinkets, and gold” of the digital world.  I made a longer voyage of this type as a crewman in a team bound for Atlanta.  We too had heard of the fabulous bounty that awaited our landing and the cultivation of the resources, and of all the wonderful riches we would be able to share with our students and faculty. That ship skirted the rocks of lack of time, missed directions, and too much food for thought.

I’m confident this 2nd voyage will be filled with crew that become the messengers of the benefits of Web 2.0, eagerly sharing their visions and voyage maps with others.

I must admit I was completely astounded by David Warlick’s “a day in the life of Web 2.0″; the school he described seemed much more like something out of science fiction.  Reading about  teachers, students and administrators all using each others content and ideas, building something electronic that engaged and excited everyone in the community, was incredible.  It’s so far removed from my school culture of autonomy, territoriality, and independence that it seems unattainable.  Our traditions, academic successes, and classroom conservatism makes the bridge to Warlick’s school miles long, so long that I wonder if our digital natives will ever feel comfortable and able to bring their world to ours.  I think not as their GPA’s, AP scores, and the colleges they get admitted to will keep that demon at bay. I’ve pondered at great length wondering if our students will ever find their culture so out of place here they won’t want to enroll and choose to go somewhere else.   Will they become engaged and excited learners?  Will the world in real time become part of their classroom experience?  Will they ever get past the powerpoint presentation and be able to experience the value and vibrance of sharing their ideas with students round the world?  Or is all that going to happen only on their social networking pages the school restricts?  Time will tell, and we will be the carriers of that change.

Web 2.0 tools have changed my professional practices.  This year I created several wikis designed to elicit information and collaboration from teachers on different campuses, or students who didn’t have free time within their day to attend meetings.  Part of my purpose was to find more efficient ways for groups to communicate, part was to expose others to a tool that they might find useful.

These tools can support my own learning because I know there is too much information out there for me to search for it.  These tools allow me to let the information come to me, working non-stop if I can ask the right questions.