Classroom 2.0 – Clarence Fisher

As I listen to Clarence’s presentation for the second time, more things start to sink in and I think about the journey I have been on in the last few years and the journey I can see people around me on.

Since attending ULearn I have continued to have conversations with others and I am now really focussed on the pedagogy. It’s fascinating for me, as I want to broaden my own knowledge and ideas. For me there has been a big shift in my thinking over the few months and now I know, more than ever that the pedagogy, the why am I doing this, is so central to what I am doing with my students and my class not just “the cool new tools”. (For some I know this sounds so simple – but it is all part of my journey!)

A key element of what Clarence talks about at the start of this presentation is the fact that it’s not about the fancy tools, not saying “oh, well i’m blogging” but about the future that we are preparing our students for and how we are preparing them. The why am I doing this? He talks about the way that we as teachers have to change the way we are teaching, the what we are doing in our classrooms, so that our kids are developing the key skills we want them to have when they are older.

As I look back through my journey and I continue to speak to others, there always seems to be a phase where one goes through using the fancy tools, blogging to say that they are blogging, podcasting because “it’s cool”. It seems to be a part of the journey that alot of people travel through before the pedagogy element is developed. And with so many amazing tools out there it’s hard to not do. So how does one shift from developing the knowledge of the tools available to the more structured pedagogical knowledge behind the tools. I’m not saying that this is a bad phase to go through, I can see that I have been there. But rather how can we shift teachers straight into thinking about the pedagogy and fitting the tools to the learning rather than tools because I can?

I know for me alot of that has been developed through being able to attend events such as ULearn and now the k12online conference and also having people around me to discuss all these elements. So if I have a network around me that can do that, how do we guide the others who can’t attend these conferences or have these opportunites to develop the pedagogical knowledge alongside the amazing tools? Or is the “here’s the cool new tool i’m using in my class” just part of the journey?

** FURTHER: Check out the entry and conversation on Simon’s blog Educating The Dragon

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