Technology+&+Leadership+Book+Summary





**// Web 2.0, New tools New School //**** s ** By Gwen Solomon & Lynne Schrum

Remember, the Jetson's? Everything in their world was automated using technology. With a click of a button, George Jetson's automobile would start up instantly and take him where he needed to go. He would click another button and a video would pop up on his console giving him the highway news traffic report. Jane, his wife, would click another button and a machine would automatically vacuum her house. She would click another one and //poof//, dinner was done in an instant. Well, we are actually using this technology nowadays even though it was thought of more than thirty years ago. Who would have thought you could click a button to start your car engine while ten feet away?

Those technological advancements have come to fruition. Our world is so different today than it was back then. Actually, in some ways, today we represent that mode in which the Jetson's lived. As result of the advances in technology, we need to prepare our students to handle their world when they are in control of it in their adult existence. Technology is having a huge impact on the changes occurring nowadays and it is affecting our children even more so. "In the future, //how// we educate our children may prove to be more important than how //much// we educate them (Binder, cited in Friedman, 2005, p. 302)." (Solomon & Schrum, 2007, p10) We have come to the point where students expect everything automatically and instantly, just like the Jetson's. Students want everything instantly with a touch of their finger and one click.

They are self-interested and self-directed; they network with peers and expect to be engaged, even entertained, at all times. This is the reality evident in classrooms around the country. The days of "Open your textbook to page 35" are over. That textbook is outdated, print is suspect, and there's only one opinion, that of the author. (Solomon & Schrum, 2007, p118)

The challenge ahead is to equip educators with technology resources and professional development so they can in turn teach the technological skills the students need to stay ahead of the technological race. This type of teaching and learning needs to start at a very early age. We are in a race to keep our students educated and marketable so they can compete for jobs against other students in other countries as they become adults. This is where Web 2.0 will help the learner stay on top of the market place and be competitive. However, this is only going to work if educators are willing to use the tools effectively and productively for engaging our student learners with the way they know how to process information for retention.

Web 2.0 consists of several facets of communicating information from wikis, blogs, podcasts, instant messaging, social networks, digital storytelling, photo and video sharing. It has become a major lifeline and education tool for today's scholar. This is how students absorb information and apply it to their daily lives. This is how they will learn information at their schools and apply it to their environment. Out with the old, in with the standard. Heavy use of technology with constant multitasking is now the standard. It is imperative that //all// educators, not just technology leaders, are integrating use of technology for learning into their classrooms on a daily basis. It has to be every single day, not just the "special projects" we save for the end of the grading period. Our students need it and our success as a nation demands. Welcome to Orbit High School.([])* *See Jetson's Video link on my wiki page (YouTube).

Here is the link for the YouTube Video: []