Journal #2

Breathing Fire into Web 2.0.
Hardman and David Carpenter.

This article is about an online system called myDragonNet (htto://dragonet.hkis.edu.
hk)that was developed by The Hong Kong International School. This system provides administrators, teachers, and students with a new way to communicate and organized their work. Hartman and Carpenter go on to describe in detail the three key componets of myDragonNet: classroom and group management, curriculum development and electronic porfolios and their application in the school setting.

1. How would having this technology in my classroom benefit my students?
It would benefit students by allowing them access to information that I have posted about our class, sports teams and clubs. This information can come in the form of multimedia resources, calendars or e-mails. They also can have access to an e-porfolio that represents who they are and their achievements. In these portfolios, kids as young as kindergardeners can display their best work. They can also turn in work for their classes and at the same time store it in their portfolio. Another advantage is that students can share their work in the form of artifacts or work by themselves and they alone control who access to their portfolio.

2. In what way would having the curriculum development help me be a better teacher?
The curriculum development makes it easier for teachers to create, store, standard map and archieve curriculum. For example, it has curriculum libraries that can be applied to every grade level. If a teacher wants to write the curriculum that applies to her classroom, all he/she needs to do is go into these libraries and will find the benchmaks and standards he/she needs to meet.