Technology+and+Leadership+Summary

Ekena Wilkins Classroom 2.0: Technology and Leadership Summary

The blog that I’ve been following is called Classroom 2.0. It is a user-friendly social-networking site created by educational technology Steve Hargadon that is open for to anyone in the education field to join, however, members must provide authentication of education affiliations to avoid spamming and other privacy issues.

Over 700 special interest or local groups to join based on your content area or expertise. Would be a great tool for departmental or district use for collaborating and evaluating. I’m automatically a member of Classroom 2.0, which is the largest group on the site. The group is for teachers using web 2.0 tools in the classroom. There are several hosts of the site, including Jane Krauss who co-wrote the textbook for this course, as well as Jeff O’Hara, co-founder of the educator social networking site Edmodo.com.

There are opportunities to improve your technology skills on this site, since many of the hosts post blogs about integrating technology in the classroom. Also, members have the option of attending webinars that offer development in specific areas on a daily basis. There are several types of forums to view on the site that range from twitter safety to using androids in the classroom, to effective detention policies. I like reading the blog posts because they are brief, often humorous, and very helpful. There is a plethora of blogs to choose from, and most of the posts include reliable facts, or discussion-sparking claims.

As I’ve been following this blog site, two particular blogs stuck with me. Carlos Mendoza III had an interesting blog post in June that deals with the ethics of technology use, which we are discussing this week. Mendoza writes that another colleague, Adam Cohen, gave insight to the “rules” behind students’ right to make fun of or speak negatively of their teachers on the internet during a forum discussion on this topic. He writes, “Essentially, the rulings say that free speech allows students to be rude and mocking as long as they are neither threatening nor disruptive to educational activities. Nonthreatening online mocking that is off campus and not during school hours is allowed,” (2011). This post was beneficial because many teachers run into issues with Facebook privacy or rude comments made by students on their pages. I even know my mentor teacher caught a student tweeting about her just last semester and had to address it with her in person. This blog gave insight to the rights and restrictions behind “venting” on the internet—something many educators and students need to be mindful of.

I also found a blog post by Cara Snyder interesting. It dealt with the concept of digital natives and immigrants, which is also a topic we’ve been studying throughout the course. She posts, “I…see the extreme merit in teaching students the fundamentals of why things work and patience of solving a long multi-step problem without instant gratification,” (2011). He then goes on to defend the argument that teachers need to be able to have the flexibility to teach their own content without having to spend an overly substantial amount of time on teaching technology as well.

Of all the things I’ve noticed while following the site, I see a pattern of teachers posting questions about classroom management, technology intergration, and personal teaching philosophies that involve technology or the absence thereof. I have really enjoyed following Classroom 2.0 thus far, and hope to keep learning more about technology via the site.

Resources: C Snyder. (2011, May 30). Teaching in the digital age. Retrieved from []

C Mendoza III. (2011, June 25). Educator musing: students have a right to mock teachers on facebook?. Retrieved from []