Check out this amazing story of how Rye Country Day School used technology to keep them going while they were closed due to a case of the H1N1 virus. Fred Bartels shares how a Ning he set up for his school took on a life of its own during the closure.Here is a summary of what happened (written by Fred).
We had an interesting experience with a forced closure this week related to possible H1N1 cases. The closing was initially announced as being for two weeks, but after one day being closed, new CDC recommendations allowed us to reopen. (All our students with the flu are doing well.)I think this is a great story of turning adversity into a learning opportunity. Fred's Ning had a true pedogogical purpose and thus it thrived. I think that is the key to most technology successes. As Chris Lehmann
For most of one day, we all thought we would be closed for two weeks, so we started to quickly ramp up possible solutions for keeping courses moving forward. ...As luck would have it, we had created a school Ning a few days before the closure. We viewed it as just an additional communication/collaboration tool should we ever happen to be forced to close. The Ning was basically a shell with only three members. I sent out an email to faculty about 8 pm on the evening of the closure annoucement, letting them know about the ning site, and suggesting that for some things -like discussions- the ning might be a good optional resource. By 4 pm the following day the Ning site had over 200 members, 30 course groups, and a very rapidly developing sense of community.
says, "Effective technology is like oxygen, ubiquitous, necessary and invisible." I will be interested to learn how the ning continues to function now that school is back in session.
To learn more, check out the ISEnet ning, where Fred shared his experience as the day unfolded
Image source: Helicopter Rescue Training from koert michiels' photostream on Flickr
To learn more, check out the ISEnet ning, where Fred shared his experience as the day unfolded
Image source: Helicopter Rescue Training from koert michiels' photostream on Flickr
2 comments:
That is a great story! I'm glad there were some people who refused to have their lives disrupted by the Swine flu/H1N1 virus. Thanks for signing up for the #NECC09 Tweet-Up!
Can you believe that people spend most of their waking on the net. It use to be the television, now it seems as if the internet is taking precedent. For this reason all school should be up to speed with technology. Teachers aught to be educated on its use and use it in their classrooms. As you have just proven, technology is quite useful and effective in our education system
Post a Comment