Podcast307: The Challenges of Integrating Web 2.0 in Missouri Schools by Bob Martin

This podcast is a recording of Bob Martin’s presentation at the 2009 COSN Conference in Austin, Texas, on March 11th. Bob is a technology leader for MORENET, a nonprofit providing a variety of technology services (including connectivity as an ISP) for over 500 schools in the state of Missouri. MORENET is part of the University of Missouri. Over the past year, Bob and others at MORENET have led a series of roundtable discussions with a variety of educational stakeholders in Missouri, talking about the issues surrounding the use of web 2.0 technologies in schools. Through their research, which Bob summarized and synthesized in this session, MORENET leaders have identified significant disconnects between the vision of educational technology and school change leaders regarding web 2.0 technologies, and the framework / outlook of many other educational leaders in schools who have and continue to enact policies which (in many cases) obstruct the effective use of web 2.0 technologies in the classroom. Many thanks to Bob and others at MORENET for conducting and sharing these research findings. We need more dialog about these issues in our schools, and organizations like MORENET are ideally situated to catalyze these conversations to get school leaders thinking differently about the ways communication and collaboration tools are being leverated (or not utilized) by students and teachers in their schools today.

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