After listening to your podcast and researching through other podcasts and blogs I found that even though we do a great job of technology in some respects we are still behind. We do not use any pieces of technology that are associated with the term web 2.0. I recently e-mailed my principal and told him ways we could use web 2.0ish technology in our classrooms… well virtual classrooms. I am still waiting for a reply but other teachers are ready to join in.

Another thing that I wanted to comment on is the teacher education programs. I taught in Korea as an ESL teacher for years and I came back and went though a masters program last year. During the program, when it came to technology and using it in the classroom there was only one other student besides myself that actually utilized technology for purposes of teaching. I also was the resident guru in the school where I student taught. When I went through the program I put together a podcast where students could listen and read with books on an iPod (an audio book via podcast). All of the teachers were amazed but they wouldn’t try it in their own classrooms because of the time involved. All this to say I don’t think that we are doing a very good job of getting student teachers to use technology in the classroom besides learning the office tools. During my program the only student teachers who using technology were the ones that were interested in technology (and that was very few student teachers k-high school) the rest of the student teachers could hardly start a VCR.

I see that you are in Maine. I am in South China for the month of July loving the fresh air and time on the lake. Thanks for your support. We will continue the conversation starting in September.

This is a podcast every aspiring administrator should hear. Change is such a common philosophy in education but the system lacks the training to support it. Thank you for the great conversation!

Thanks for the comments on Thursday evening. I thought that I should write a brief post to explain why I was suggesting to Andy that moving to a supportive school was not such an easy task. They are quite hard to find, especially if you are tied to a city as your spouse is not a teacher. (Quite common in Hong Kong.)

Posted a few words under Not all International Schools are the Same

Best wishes to all and especially hoping the relocation goes smoothly for you Jeff.

I look forward to seeing you both in Shanghai in September.

Paul