Creating the Vision: You Need to Know the Trends

Before an innovation such as integrating technology into the curriculum can be successfully implemented, there must be a clear vision. This vision must be shared with all stakeholders. So, how do you go about creating that vision? The responsible team must have some background knowledge: knowledge about the current trends, skills necessary for the twenty-first-century learner, and state and national standards are among the many topics.

Let's look at some of the current trends. Have you kept up with what the digital natives are doing with technology?

What do you know about the Web 2.0? How is it different from the Web of the twentieth century?

Users of the World Wide Web's first-generation interface push and pull information: Someone puts information on the Web, and others go to the site and read the information. Very little, if any, collaboration or interaction takes place.

Users of the Web 2.0 participate in mass publishing such as blogs, podcasts, vodcasts (video podcasts), wikis, tagging, social bookmarking, and other forms of social networking. (Wikipedia is a twenty-first-century online encyclopedia on which both articles and current events are continually updated.) Collections of photographs are shared on sites such as Flickr.

Google has become more interactive with the advent of the many services such as maps and directions, shopping assistance, specialized tools such as video searches, searches in scholarly papers, and translators.

To see examples of some of these trends or innovations, link to Mimi Gilman's post Classy Blogging, visit Bob Sprankle's podcast, and view my bookmarks tagged for leadership.

So, how are you incorporating some of these trends into your vision? Have most of these innovations been blocked from student use? Are your students participating by creating podcasts, shared bookmarks, and blogs? Are your teachers participating in any of these innovations? Share your experiences in this blog.