Back To School-The 23 Things Project

Over the past few days I have been writing about ways to get your year started off right. I gave some resources on introducing your school or district to social media. I also gave some advice to school leaders and administrators as we move education into a more digital age. Today I want to introduce a Professional Development opportunity that I have been working on over the summer.

Schools and districts are having to become more creative when it comes to professional development. With tightening budgets and staff reductions we all have to find to do more with less. Even though we are having to make cuts we still need to do what we can to introduce technology to our classrooms and students.

My goal is to infect every classroom, around the world with technology. But I can't be everywhere at once. (I have a hard time managing my day-to-day life!) Its hard for tech. trainers and regular folks to teach and learn about all the great tools available for classroom use.

To meet this need I have created an 8-10 week professional development series called The 23 Things Project. Originally developed by Helene Blowers, the goal of the project is to introduce teachers and other school leaders to a wide variety of Web 2.0 tools and their potential uses in the classroom.



Participants work each week, completing activities and reflecting in a blog that they create and maintain throughout the project. The idea here is that work is self-directed, with videos, web resources and personal experiences that help participants gain an understanding of how to use the tool and how it can be used in the classroom, with the ultimate goal of each tool being use with students. Topics include:

Blogging
Wikis
Social Bookmarking
Twitter
eBooks
Customized Search Engines
Photo Sharing
RSS/Newsreaders

I am putting all this online for anyone to use any way they see fit. Maybe you are a teacher who wants to learn more about Web 2.0 tools or maybe you are a school leader/administrator that wants to bring these tools to your school or district. Or maybe you are a technology trainer who is looking for another way to get the message out. Who ever you are or whatever you do The 23 Things Project is there for you to use to change the way you teach.

So I encourage you to visit the project and see what it is all about. If you have any questions about how you can use The Project in your school or for yourself don't hesitate to contact me!

The 23 Things Project


Thanks to Elizabeth Farmer for creating the Logo.