Episode 6

Introductions

Justin Hardman and Chris Betcher joined David and Jeff.

|Essential Question|

How to expand the learning community to the parents?

Jeff> Look at your technology vision and plan to include the development of a school portal that provides the tools to make the components of your plan a reality.

David> See his recent post that focused on two themes. One being that schools should use their portal to build on current practices that are already in place to connect parents and expand the learning community. Making information access and communication digital definitely enhances communication opportunities. A second theme is to invite our corporate parents working in 21st century information-rich jobs to our schools to share their experiences and expectations what skills they want their employees to have. Their real world experiences can help in the shifting process as teachers connect what they are teaching to the real world assessments their students will be experiencing.

Take Away from the Discussion:

-The recent breakout of a virus in HK reminds us of the importance of schools having the capability to go virtual with a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

-Sharing of the myDragonnet online learning platform with three components: classroom management tool, curriculum mapping tool and electronic portfolio. Justin has many insights to share.

-Wetpaint as a very useful wiki provider.

-Value of individualization in developing VLEs by having a programmer on school staff.

|Blog Posts of the Week|

Jeff: Planning for 21st Century Technologies

David: Jonathon's Blog on VLEs

Chris: Clay's Wedding Always Learning

Justin: E-Framework Electronic School

|Sign Off|

-Next show is Thursday March 20th. Catch it live at 7:00 PMShanghai time.

-Our guest will be Jeff Nugent from the Virginia Commonwealth Univeristy. Check out his Techne blog.

-Essential Question for the show: How do adults learn?

-Don’t forget to post Web sites/blogs to the SOS Del.icio.us bookmarking site that support our upcoming EQ.