Ed Week’s Digital Directions, Summer 2010

 

The new issue of Digital Directions: Trends and Advice for K-12 Technology Leaders, published by Education Week,explores how schools—and school leaders—are teachers and administrators are starting to embrace technologies they once resisted.

“It's an about-face worth noting,” writes editor Kevin Bushweller in the opening pages.

The cover story, "Social Networking Goes to School," highlights the most recent about-face in the world of K-12 educational technology: the use of social-networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and Ning for classroom lessons, school-parent communication, and professional development. It is a startling shift in direction for many schools.

In the story, Michelle R. Davis points out that just two years ago, social networking meant little more to teachers and administrators than the headache of determining whether to punish students for inappropriate activities highlighted on Facebook or MySpace. Now, teachers and students have a vast array of social-networking sites and tools—from Ning to VoiceThread and Second Life—to draw on for such serious uses as student collaboration on classroom projects and professional development.

Read the full issue…