Say you were teaching an undergraduate course focused on the integration of technology in the classroom, and you wanted to expose students to THE key literature in the field regarding emerging trends in the field. And, I’m not meaning a dry journal article somewhere … but something new, that motivates, that disrupts … that can demonstrate the potential of new, social technologies on education.
Allright … I admit it … I’m teaching the course in question, and I’m looking for some good ideas.
What would you have them read? What’s most important to you?
I’d love to hear from you out there.
Not sure how you’d define “key” or even “literature” but here’s three places I’d want students to look at.
From a teacher walking the walk, I’d have them read Clarence Fisher’s blog: http://remoteaccess.typepad.com/remote_access/
No one is more transparent and open about the use of technology in his classroom.
From a philosophical perspective, David Warlick offers some great insights.
http://davidwarlick.com/2cents
David is great at tying technology and the changing nature of information and literacy.
A new one that has great potentional is from the District Administrator called the Pulse:
http://www.districtadministration.com/pulse
It’s a collaborate effort among some of the best thinkers in education. It’s tagline reads: The DA Pulse, Education’s Place for Debate, where you can talk back and add your voice to the hottest conversations in education today. Not strictly technology but a good mix of writers.
David Thronburg is also one worth considering, another advocate of open source. He doesn’t blog but his presentations and books are listed on his site.
http://www.tcpd.org/Thornburg/Thornburg.html
Good luck.
They’re not exactly zeroed-in on ed-tech but in terms of emerging trends go you can’t go wrong with
Wired.com
Slashdot
or
Digg.com
I am teaching a similar class. I have played around with having them read the following but up to this point I have brought the info to them, not had them buy the books themselves:
Blogs,Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson
Classroom Blogging: A teacher’s Guide to the Blogosphere by David Warlick
Raw Materials for the Mind by David Warlick
I have never had my pre-service teachers by textbooks (only taught at college level for 1 year) due to the ever changing technology environment. Warlick provides a great foundational knowledge base though for a lot of current and up and coming technologies. I am also utilizing relevant podcasts and blog as course material. I have also set up an Elgg site and a Wiki for them to use during the class and after the class is over. I really am a proponent for giving them tools that will assist their pre-service and actually teaching environments once the class has ended. Still evolving and would like to hear how you are structuring your class.