Now that there is unlimited potential to celebrate the work of students with their communities, what is the best way to manage this opportunity? In a word, the best way to manage this opportunity is carefully. Student must be careful and teachers must provide the scaffolded instruction that teaches students the best practices for web publication using available technology. While it is commonly held that there is certainly risk associated with web usage and with web publishing, the opportunities that exist therein are too vital and dynamic to ignore. November (2010) argues that as educators we “must overcome our initial response of blocking access with a higher-order set of skills that teach our students to use powerful communications tools to have a responsible global voice” (p. 32). Instead of seeing publishing technology as a risk, we need to view it as an opportunity to instill values and sound practices as well as an opportunity for students to access a broader audience for their work. This broader audience can include their families, communities or a truly global audience (November, 2010, p. 43). Through this broader audience students can interactively invite feedback from various and varied sources to which they would not have access if their work was not published on the web.
How can we create authentic work and relationships for our students to give them a deeper meaning in relationship to complex issues such as globalization and cultural sensitivity? In order to accomplish this, we need to NOT assume that our students can easily handle the influx of information in which they are inundated daily without support. Teachers need to assume that students require some assistance in the dissemination of information and the deeper understanding of that information in able to construct their own meaning of it. As November (2010) exemplifies, students can make cultural assumptions that might never be tested without collaborative technology that puts students in virtual face to face contact. The student of November’s example employed a cultural insensitivity that was not intentional, but a result of a lack of full cultural understanding of the students in the collaboration project (pp. 39-40). This can be addressed, if maybe not solved, by attempting to predict possible cultural misunderstandings and having discussions about the collaborating students’ culture to head off uncomfortable missteps. As to globalization, again, students need preparation and context to relate to, and connect with, when they are considering issues of global importance. Without tactile personal connections to the material, students may misunderstand or be culturally unprepared to construct meaning from the material. The Epals (2010) website is a rich resource for teachers to connect with classrooms around the world to collaborate on specific projects. One such project “The Way We Are” encourages students to come to the multi-cultural project with some background knowledge of the cultures of the students with which they will be working.
What are the emerging collaborative relationships? The new technology-based relationships for teachers are infinite. Teachers can collaborate with students, teachers within their schools across the curriculum, with legislators, with teachers around the world and with businesses and more. Through these dynamic collaborations, teachers can build relationships, build technology skills for themselves and their students and create shared learning environments that can be enjoyed across the globe. The diverse experience and culture that can be shared when learning is broadened to include virtual classroom space that spans disciplines and time and culture is a great benefit to teacher and student alike. Richardson (2010) advises that “[t]he collaborative environment that wikis facilitate can teach students much about how to work with others, how to create community, and how to operate in a world where creation of knowledge and information is more and more becoming a group effort (p. 69). Teachers can support the use of wikis to ensure the appropriate and just application of the technology to teach children to be collaborative learners. Further, students; understanding of the power of that jointly-acquired knowledge will serve them far beyond the classroom
References
Epals. (2010). The Way we Are. Retrieved June 14, 2010 from
http://www.epals.com/projects/info.aspx?DivID=TheWayWeAre_overview
November, A. (2010). Empowering Students with Technology. Thousand Oaks: Corwin
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for
Classrooms. Thousand Oaks: Corwin
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