Originally posted: February 21st, 2007 [Update: Fieldfindr on Ning-October 3rd, 2007]
Here is an idea that has been brewing in my mind for a while:
| FieldFindr A space where teachers can meet global citizens who have skills that they are willing to contribute to a class. |
| Teachers can find people in a field of interest that they are working on in their class. Volunteers can tell teachers their field of interest and also tell teachers how they would like to help a class. |
The site could be sort of a combination of Warlick’s HitchHikr and MySpace or Facebook. (In a way it is more of a matchmaker site.)
You can sign up and log in as a teacher, or as a willing contributer (Volunteer) in you field of interest.
Basically Volunteers create a profile listing talents and skills. Then they set up a time-line of when they would be interested in helping with, or presenting to, a class. Then teachers can contact volunteers who have profiles of interest.
There could be an opportunity for volunteers to contact teachers too, but I think this should be done through a contact page like this, rather than by direct e-mail.
Here is a mock-up wiki that I built to give you an idea of what I mean. (Yes, I know the profile pictures are a bit big, but they were easy to format that way.)
Below the mock-up profiles, I created a space where interested contributors to a classroom could actually post their information. Teachers can find prospective volunteers by searching a particular field/subject.
However, I believe that there is a need for a fully committed portal site that is dedicated to:
CONNECTING TEACHERS TO GLOBAL CITIZENS THAT ARE WILLING TO SHARE THEIR TALENTS WITH A CLASS.
At a dedicated portal:
Tag searches could easily be set-up. (See my ‘Super Tags’ post [coming soon])
Teachers could find other teachers to help them.
Positive relationships between business and education can be formed.
Success stories could inspire teachers hesitant to explore web2.0
Retired teachers or field experts can be tapped into.
There is so much opportunity for collaboration! (I came up with this list in about 3-4 minutes… and I’m sure you could add to it:-)
Once the site is set up, the opportunities and possibilities are endless!
Again, just off the top of my head, here are some kinds of volunteers we can easily tap into…Especially if we had a portal to help us do so.
• A musician or poet who is willing to judge a performance or contest.
• A Researcher willing to share new ideas in their field.
• A Math tutor who offers after school assistance on a forum. (Time differences could actually be an advantage here.)
• A dance instructor could teach ballroom dancing at a local high school.
• A retired teacher giving a video tour of a Boreal Forest or a desert he lives close to.
• An art gallery tour from half-way around the world…
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A similar idea originally came to me a few years ago after seeing this award winning Timebank Commercial.
It came to me again a few months ago when I read this David Warlick Post where David is talking about Will Richardson‘s session at MASSCUE:
I finally had to get this idea out after reading these Wesley Fryer and Vicki A Davis posts over the weekend.
Feedback?
Originally posted: February 21st, 2007Reflection upon re-reading and re-posting: So, in reflecting on my blog posts I move from an unsuccessful book club to an unsuccessful portal… they would be disappointing if they weren’t so enlightening! To this day, failures are looked upon as negative as opposed to opportunities for learning. It seems conditioned into us at such a young age… this is a comment on our society as much as it is a comment on schools. This is still a great idea… but it was DOOMED TO FAIL! Why? 1. Because it is geared to educators, not to those who would be willing to contribute. My audience and the target audience are not the same. Also the structures to build a sortable ‘bank’ of volunteers are not available for those interested in signing up, (see #3). 2. Formal measures around safety need to be hammered out. Note Kelly’s Comment on the original post: Dave, I like this idea. I think that it has great potential. Now, the administrator comes out in me but how do we ensure that: a. The person is an expert in what they say they are b. They are safe c. There is not “inappropriate” contact between people and the students. I think this is wonderful and we have this type of thing going on in our school with some of our local people. The big difference is that we are in a small community, people who are vounteering must do a criminal records check and any outside school projects are to be okayed by the parents. Precautions. I think that this would be an incredible way to get people from different sectors involved in the education system. This would also allow teachers to have references for their projects or assignments – would give validity to what we do in schools. That would increase the “price of stock” for educators in all areas.
3. Both Wikispaces and Ning are the wrong venues, I simply don’t have the required tech savvy-ness or financial resources (or for that matter time) to create what is needed.
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That said, I can see a University really taking this on as a project. They can start with one department, say Music or Science, and promote the interests of their instructors/Masters Students/PhD students with teachers that may be interested in their skills as either mentors or experts or judges or…
There is significant need and opportunity for such a portal and I challenge anyone with the knowledge and resources to make it happen!
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Why don’t you take this on, or resurrect the discussions as part of the Advocates for Digital Citizenship, Safety, and Success efforts that people are joining in.
I still think it is a great idea — there needs to be a way to safely screen the adults, somehow.