Languages from a Distance

Just to recap an idea that I attempted to convey at the ACTFL conference last week, Web 2.0 is way more than all of the cool tools that are available on the internet. If cool tools were all there is to Web 2.0…how significantly less exciting it would be as a concept!

For teaching, Web 2.0 is nothing short of r e v o l u t i o n a r y because it provides us with a whole new organizational approach* centered around a number of important ideas. You’ve heard them before, things like: tags, categories, comments, collaboration, read-write media, participatory media, ’shots of content” , student-created reusable content, easily-accessible and navigable content. Oh, did I mention the word content here?

Web 2.0 is a state of mind. Om.

Don’t worry- I’m not lost up in the clouds here. I very much realize that there are many questions and a great deal of nitty-gritty work ahead of us if we are to get to that point where students can have learning at their fingertips as a Web 2.0 approach should allow.

One important question is: how to balance it all as we move in the direction we want to go? How to make the switch from our old construct with its legacy CMS to a a new one that not only includes a more modern CMS (like Moodle or Blackboard) with more built-in, read/write architecture but also allows branching out to exciting stuff on the web? I’d like to address these questions in the coming months as we go through this process in our program.

*Btw…if you would like to see an example of the new organizational approach that I’m talking about, have a look at a typical blog… ours if you like: der Bahnhof. It’s still a young platform for us and many pieces are missing, for example: student commenting hasn’t materialized yet. But we’ll get there.

Arrived back home late last night. The weather is rainy and cold …but I have my coffee.

As stated during our presentation I am posting a url for Tom Welch’s site: www.twelchconsulting.com  It is always great to be able to work together with Tom. The Virtual Learning Magnet project is an awesome endeavor that I’m looking forward to hearing more about.

Lots of good impressions from the conference. I enjoyed presenting even though we had to introduce and discuss technology sans  the technology….

Above all though, it was great talking to so many interesting people afterwards. In the next days I will make some posts relevant to the discussions I took part in.

I was struck  how everybody seems hungry for ideas about how we can better reach our students  in the DL  format. It definitely can be challenging!  But there are many success stories that we need to constantly remind ourselves of. Here is one.

Idea: Perhaps we could compile a list of such stories that anyone could access with the click of a mouse.  In DL we are helping break down geographic barriers that have been obstacles to learning for too long.  I think that we need to continue working on getting the word out about the inspiring stories of many of our students.  Let me know if you have a story that you would like to share!

I’m using this mindmap below for the ACTFL conference on Saturday November 22 to represent the current transformation underway in the Distance Learning German Program at KET.  Enjoy!

Click here for a full view.