I stumbled upon a new blog by JJ called Teachable Moments. She mentioned in a recent post that she felt her own preparation for teaching was lacking the technology department and advocated the following requirements:

• A BLOG — We certainly did our share of reflections. We posted information that we obtained from various sources on tools like blackboard, yet we never shared them. (Why? I don’t think my professors realized the possibility, plus encouraging honest reflection through confidentiality seemed more important than learning from each other) In the short time that I have been lurking around the blogosphere, I have learned more than I did in any of those required journal letters to my professors. This in mind, I will most definitely be blogging with my students from now on.
• A DIGITAL PRESENTATION — Although I did take the initiative to do this myself, during my four years in the School of Ed I was never required to do much of anything with technology. I suppose that part of this was due to the fact that our placements in the city schools were, for the most part, tech-less. However, when our school decided that all exit portfolios needed to be in digital format (i.e. powerpoint or html) we actually had to have an emergency computer lab refresher course so that we could all (re)learn how to properly insert information into powerpoint.
• A WEB-BASED ASSIGNMENT OR LESSON — Again, although I was able to create my own webquests during my preservice teaching, this was not a requirement. Many of my colleagues have graduated without any knowledge or first hand experience with any kind of internet tool.

I think all of these have a lot of potential. Imagine how much we all might have learned from each other if we had a blogosphere when we were student teaching (or perhaps I should speak for myself — I student taught in 1996-97). I am pretty much self-taught with regards to using technology.

What do you think of these requirements? What would you add or change?