School Board Policy 2.0

I received an email recently from a school board member wondering if I knew of any school districts that had policies related to Web 2.0 tools. Now I know that most districts have policies relating to acceptable use of the Internet and regarding the use of an Internet filter, but that�s not what she was asking about. She wasn�t asking about policies restricting or regulating the use of Web 2.0 tools, she was asking about policies that encouraged their use.

Our board of education would like to move faster and generate more systemic growth and are exploring the possibility of writing a policy that would reflect our commitment to 21st century skills/tech tools . . . [We are] focused on working with our administrators and teachers to design/implement programs that are not "add ons". . . What we really want is to bring more people along more quickly - therefore we are exploring the possibility of writing a policy that will empower and support teachers, but at the same time, clearly state that the board is looking for implementation.

She indicated that they have small groups of teachers that are using tools such as Moodle, podcasts and wikis, and they are slowly spreading the word, but the board is wondering how to foster a more systemic application of 21^st century tools.

I replied that I didn�t know of any districts that had such a policy, but I�d throw it out to the rest of the blogosphere to see if anyone else did. If you know of any, or have any suggestions, please leave a comment and I�ll send it along.