Classroom 2.0
september 2007 - a reflection
dean groom www.cannedteacher.com

Discovery
• Where was my starting point
• What did I do to upgrade my classroom
• What effects on MY classroom
• What tools did I find effective
• What did I learn
• What will I do next

starting point
“90% or more of PMHS students have
published online and are living at least a
part of their lives digitally”
“take the skills and methods they select
as most relevant to them, and use them
to add relevance to their learning”

learnscope context
• find ways to engage n00b teachers in the
web2.0 discourse - gently
• foster the idea that our students are
creative and many tasks we ask them to
do are too simplistic, read only and lack a
creative dimension that they enjoy
• Deliver a tried and tested ‘roadmap’ for
n00b teachers to deliver Classroom 2.0

classroom upgrade
• live without Office ... find new ways of
doing simple tasks and move up.
• promote creativity and literacy as key
facets. Tell students I value these things
in their work
• Continuous assessment and feedback
• Encourage self-directed learning

classroom upgrade
• abandon CeNet as the knowledge
platform, use a wide range of Web2.0
tools instead
• Be open and personal. Include ‘out of
world’ tidbits. Post things that are out of
context - this makes me stuff ‘sticky’
• Encourage students to add personal
facets to their blogs

classroom upgrade
• Demand lesson on lesson journaling.
Make writing a consistent normal habit.
• Use email/comments as a primary
communication tool for 1-to-1
relationship building
• Tell students where we are going. Offer
them shortcuts to success.
• Find the fastest route to gratification

what effects?

what effects
• year 9 use it differently to year 11/12
• year 11/12 use it to make notes - focused
on their HSC note taking
• year 9 use it show what they are doing.
• year 9 less interested in factual notes and
more interested in experimentation and
discovery learning

year 12 effects
• makes them write and boosts literacy,
promotes note-taking
• centralises resources for them
• reduces ‘knowledge leaks’ - no lost
notes. Even poorly prepared students
can keep notes more effectively
• Allows peer knowledge sharing

year 12 benefits
• at home/in school journaling -
summarise classroom theory via journal
• they know everything I give them is
online for them to share ... more focused
students in theory discussion
• HSC VET means regurgitate facts, so
students focus on this in their work

year 11 use
• Cert 2 - project based learning methods
are easily facilitated using Web2.0
• Work placement - daily journals (no
fudging) - reflective students
• Demand literacy - make them write! VET
students are poor writers
• Allows student review of material for
slower or special need students

effect summary
• year 9 students adapt and engage very
quickly.
• spend less time learning how to use
things and more time learning why to
use things
• selects a range of solutions effectively
• Higher end Blooms accessed rapidly

effective tools

toolkit
• Wordpress - journaling and reflection
• Photobucket - photos, videos
• Slideshare - presentations
• Zoho - writing/application development
• Wufoo - form building
• Bloglines - Aggregator
• YouTube/Teacher Tube - video host
• Vodpod / Delicious - bookmarkin

What I learned

I learned
• Launch assessment tasks up front (PBL)
• Avoid pre-teach, assess (re-teach)
• Demand journaling! boosts literacy
• Give access to all MY resources all the
time
• Move fast - they will keep it
• Don’t bother teaching skills

guerilla movements
• give the kids the same tools in class that
they like to use at home.
• drop the firewall, let kids access rich
media and creative tools.
• appoint a select group of students to be
the advocates of change with special
projects that impact all KLAs.
• give students the best hardware when
they want it.

i learned
• teachers are too stuck in Teacher 1.0
mentality (I learned Office, thats
enough)
• teachers focus on regurgitate methods,
issuing ‘content’. Creativity is dulled.
• teachers are ‘holding out’
• teach the kids, they put upward
pressures on the curriculum to change

what i learned
• Ask questions that they can’t Google
• Fast tracks content - spend less time
learning skills, and allow more time to
learn about content.
• Cover more content faster and with
increased literacy and creativity
• Removes ‘boredom’ and classroom
behavior problems like magic

what i learned
• Your peers are probably not in your school.
Colleagues are suspicious of change - maybe I
can hold out to retirement the old way!
• students are the best advocates for change
• the system and curriculum is not designed
for Web2.0, you have to change the methods
of learning and assessment. Chalk and talk
is ineffective. Discovery Learning is better.
• PBL (social contructavism) is ideal vehicle

next steps
• keep working with pro-active staff to
consolidate methods/tools to establish
them as the norm. Tolerate the rest.
• Launch projects/assessments at the
outset - forget pre-teach methods.
• Add Second Life as a communication
and collaboration tool (expect massive
resistance and poo-pooing from staff)