Building a Vision - Integrating Technology into the Classroom

What is "MY" vision for integrating technology into the curriculum? What is the "RIGHT" view for the Foote School?

Does my view work for my peers, administrators, faculty, students and others in the community? Is my vision strong enough to allow me to dive in with them no matter how rough the waters might be initially and swim the length they have to initially swim in order to generate some enthusiasm and build momentum? One thing I definitely believe is that I need to be right out front with them. If I'm not willing to try these tools out in front of a class or in front of my peers, how is it fair to expect them to do it?

I have a collection of great tools. (I think they are great.) I love using them. I get excited when anticipate how much others will appreciate these tools. Some are genuinely jazzed. Others are reluctant. I'm hoping to I share these with my friends, hoping they find the same joy and excitement when they try them out. But I need external validation. Even if I see it with my own eyes, I need others to tell me which tools work, which ones are fun and how easy they are for kids to access and use anywhere.

My first goal is to explore the following list of 21st Century Skills. Here are the 12 mentioned in ((the Walden University Article)) (( I wrote about )) recently.

21st Century Skills listed in the article:
1) accountability
2) collaboration
3) communication
4) creativity
5) critical thinking
6) ethics
7) global awareness
8) innovation
9) leadership
10) problem solving
11) productivity
12) self-direction

How complete is this list? Are any skills missing? How serious are the omissions? And which Web 2.0 tools support "sharpen the saw" as Stephen Covey puts it? Which do the best job of developing and enhancing 21st Century Skills?


As I thought about this, my mind drifted (luckily) to a related topic. I thought about connecting each of my favorite web 2.0 tools to the 21st Century Skills list. I imagined it might be fun to take a small sample of the tools love to use and jot down the numbers 1-12 from the list above next to each tool on my list so I could see which tool helped hone the most skills.

A) Khan Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, .... 10, . 12)
B) TED - w/ conversations. (1-, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
C) Google Apps. (2, 3, 4, 8-, 9?, 10, 11, 12)
D) Live Mocha. (1, 2, 3, . 5, . 7, . 9, 10, . 12)

Starting out, it was a lot of fun. Some snags began to make it more tedious.

E) Blogs (1, 2, 3, 4? . 10, . 12) 4? does everything provide an opportunity for "creativity?" "critical thinking?" ... It seems like a slippery slope leading to the claim that "any" web 2.0 tool with a good coach allows you to develop virtually any 21st Century Skill.

E) Blogs w/ coach (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ?, 12)
F) Twitter. w/ coach (same as E)
G) Texting. w/ coach (same as E)
H) Online Surveys.
I) Online purchasing.
J) Voice Thread (fun, 1, 2, 3, 4->
K) Scratch (...)
L) Online Brainstorming (...)
M) Animoto (fun?)


I As I add more of these tools to this list and think about how they align with these skills, I am getting less and less value out of the exercise. As a teacher, I could get just about any tool to help students improve their 21st Century Skills. Some of the skills seem redundant (collaboration & communication -- how can we collaborate without communicating?). Productivity -- couldn't I prove that almost any of these tools increases my productivity?)
How do we measure things like "global awareness?" Does immersion count more than in-depth research? Does in-depth research and immersion into one culture have more weight than an introduction to three different cultures?