I have read and written about school libraries that are using Web 2.0 technologies and are making the effort to stay current. It is a bigger task to get an entire school district to make the necessary changes to prepare students for the future. I recently read an article in the June, 2007 issue of Edutopia entitled “Fast Forward.” and the follow-up article “How To: Create a Web Site That’s a Learning Community. Five years ago Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township in Indianapolis knew they wanted to make some changes. They applied for and received a $5.9 million grant. Then they set out to meet the needs of the kids looking toward the future while focusing on student-centered teaching. It is obviously taking a lot of teacher coaches to make this happen. Being in the school now, I can see that initiatives only work if teachers and staff are adequately supported. The push is on critical thinking, cultural competency and a fluency in technology. There has been some resistance, but when one teacher learns something they are passing it along. The real push is in the lower grades and then district officials hope it continues and blossoms in the middle and upper grades. The hope is that students and parents will demand that what was started will continue as the kids grow older. A little peer pressure never hurt anybody!
The district website was developed by a group of staff members. They felt that this would be an integral step to help meet the needs of everyone. I tried to see what functions were on the site. You need to have a username and password to access the inner workings of the school and classroom options. The article does mention that teachers are able to post homework there as well as have discussion forums. Already, the staff has set up e-classes where students and parents can get information and share thoughts. This is definitely the start of something good. My new technological eye can see the promise and possibilities of blogs, podcasts, wikis, etc. The teachers have had a lot on their plates, but they can’t stop now. Things are still changing.
Though Information Literacy was one of the seven digital age literacies that guides the district, I was disappointed that no librarian was quoted nor mentioned. I know for a fact that this kind of initiative is going to be more successful with the school librarian’s help. My guess is that if there is an outdated collection and an old fashioned librarian at the school, things will progress extremely slowly. They have come a long way. However, I wonder how things will continue now that the grant monies have run out and the district is on their own?
I really enjoyed reading the article “Fast Forward” and your response about it. Lack of funding is usually the obvious obstacle we think about with technological changes and information literacy, however, as you’ve indicated– staff support (especially from the librarian) is equally important, as is an open mind-set to explore the possibilities!