Teaching 2.0

Blogs, wikis, social networking sites—these and other online tools are rapidly becoming as familiar to students as pens and pencils. Now, a new EDC Web workshop is helping teachers keep up by enabling them to learn more about safe and effective use of these tools in the classroom.

Called “Learning and Teaching with Web 2.0 Tools,” the workshop is being offered as part of a five-state initiative funded by the AT&T Foundation to build teacher capacity to use these tools. It is part of EdTech Leaders Online (ETLO), EDC’s nationally recognized online learning program that has provided professional development training and workshops for teachers since 2000.

“The workshop teaches teachers to integrate Web 2.0 tools into their curriculum and use them to collaborate with other educators,” says EDC’s Barbara Treacy.

Teams of five teachers (from Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia) received ETLO training as online facilitators of the workshop. These newly trained facilitators are now offering the workshop to cohorts of teachers in each of their states. These cohorts will be trained on incorporating online tools into their curriculum, including identifying ways to help their students use these tools safely.

“These tools have power in the classroom, they have educational uses,” says Treacy. “We’re building capacity in several states at once with online training, and generating enthusiasm within those states to expand opportunities for professional development using online tools.”

“Learning and Teaching with Web 2.0 Tools” is part of a catalog of 50 online workshops offered to K–12 educators by ETLO.