Monday, June 23, 2008

Thing #5 - Web 2.0 and School 2.0

In education for too many years to count now, the push has been for a shift in the classroom from the teacher teaching and the students reflecting the teaching as stated in More on School 2.0 to where learning is student driven. Well that is what has happening to the internet. The shift has been made from just going to the internet to get information (Web 1.0) to going to the web (Web 2.0) and being invited to become active participants in learning and perpetuating learning. So as a classroom teacher we need to utilize this powerful tool. Life is not stagnant, it is continuing to grow and change. I do not see a regression in the use of technology ever coming and for our students the necessary use of technology and the internet is their future. We ourselves as educators have to acquire new knowledge and skills on a continuous basis to keep up and to prepare for the future. It is the future.
I think after completing Thing #5 I finally have down how to approach learning and how this will work best for me. I complete the lesson and my posting and then I read everyone else's posting on the same thing as I just completed. Isn't this what School 2.0 is all about, exploring and learning the way that works best for you?!

2 comments:

Jake said...

It is great to see this mindset in teachers. I work in the software industry supporting a note taking software, and we too are excited to see what Web 2.0 and new technology can do for helping students learn. It seems essential that there is an integration in order for students to be prepared for their post-schooling careers (which will heavily revolve around web 2.0 and being connected by computers all day).

Once again, it's great to see that there are teachers pushing for this innovation in the classroom!

Sunnigal said...

Wannabe, I definitely agree with you. I can remember when all teachers did was stand in front of the class; we took notes; passed a test, or not; then moved on to the next thing.

Today, kids are so computer savvy that it's almost a crime not to use it. I love the idea of using the computer to produce products that demonstrate learning such as PhotoStory, Keynotes, iPhoto, iMovie, etc. I just have to learn how to use those myself! LOL I am a pc person and don't have a Mac at school. I just this year started using the computer lab with my students [I teach resource so we don't have regular computer times]. Now that we have the laptops, I intend to use them as often as I can with my kiddos.