Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

6.9.11 | Teaching can be a frustrating field—especially these days, as legislators call for cutbacks and everyone has a new idea for educational reform. The timing couldn’t be better for a new community for educators to converse with each other about personal and professional growth.

Steve Hargadon, the social learning consultant for Elluminate/Blackboard Collaborate and the founder of the Web 2.0 Labs, has just launched Teacher 2.0, an independent Ning community for educators to explore their interests and passions and to build a network of support.

In a post announcing the launch, Hargadon writes that he sees Teacher 2.0 as “a place to support teaching as a profession and to share professional opportunities.” He continues:

[M]ost of all, I think it can be a place where teachers can help build a community together during a time of potentially dramatic change in how education is both being viewed and carried out. The dramatic changes in thinking about teaching and learning that are being precipitated by the Web are also bringing dramatic reform movements and dialogs that often portray the teacher as the problem and not the problem-solver. My modest hope is that Teacher 2.0 becomes a place of empowerment for teachers and the profession.

Though Teacher 2.0 was just announced on June 7, there are already close to 2,000 registered members. Some early suggested ideas by members include the development of professional learning communities, a personal coaching section, local workshops on using web tools for building a personal learning network, and regular postings of online learning opportunities for teachers.

In addition, Hargadon plans on offering webinars with guest speakers on topics such as:

* How do you identify your career interests and opportunities?
* What can you do to re-engage your passions in your work?
* How do you use the Web to build and participate in personal learning networks?
* How do you start building your own personal or professional presence on the Web, and what kind of work opportunities come from doing so?
* How do you build—and start sharing—your professional talents in webinars, at workshops, or at conferences?

There are also opportunities for in-person gatherings. The first-ever Teacher 2.0 workshop will be held in Sacramento on Friday, June 17.

The latest addition to Web 2.0 Labs builds off the popular Classroom 2.0 Community, which focuses on the use of social technologies and the web in the classroom, and Library 2.0 Community, a community-supported network for librarians. Web 2.0 Labs also includes the Future of Education Interview Series and the Global Education Conference.