The Connected Curriculum - Challenge #4

Get Informed About Web 2.0

Web 2.0 applications refer to Web sites that provide users with a means to facilitate participatory environments by sharing personal information and collaboration with other users. The phrase “Web 2.0” is often used these days to describe a “second generation” of web growth and design—it is a broad term that encompasses a large number of new concepts, technologies, services, and communities. If my generation (first generation) used the Internet as a unadorned retrieval device for information, the Web 2.0 generation (my daughter’s generation) represents the exodus to the Internet as an interactive stage upon which to collaborate, create, share, and operate concurrently on the World Wide Web. Important Web 2.0 developments include web-based neighborhoods, hosting services, and social media applications like Facebook, Twitter, and Edublog. Web 2.0 is directly connected with mobile learning….it is as it states. It is mobile, therefore it can be connected almost anywhere.  My college age children do their homework on their iPhones, tablets, iPads, or laptops – a luxury my generation was not afforded.

In our global economy, the Web 2.0 sensation has created a mix of innovative activity. Many corporations are scrambling to produce an online occurrence for their customers/clients, and grasping ideas on how to harness new technologies to increase their brands, merchandise, and influence. As educators, we are doing our students a huge disservice if we do not prepare them for this world when they become adults.  It is the path that the 21^st Century World is following and it cannot be ignored.

Web 2.0 has changed many things in our lives and has a great influence on just how it operates. If we compare our life now to what it was 5 years ago we realize the impact that it has had. Now we can’t think or seemingly survive without Web 2.0 technology.  If we need anything new, we go to Google or some other search engine to get it.  Today’s world very much depends on the internet and Web 2.0 technology has played an important role in making us internet immigrants.  

One of the most important areas that Web 2.0 has affected in a positive direction is in education. When I was growing up there were limited resources for education and information retrieval.  Now with the assistance of Web 2.0 technology, there are abundant resources available 24 hours a day. Much of our home, high school, and college education programs have gone online. With the help of Web 2.0 technology our educational system changed completely and people are much more aware of the opportunities that await them.  These opportunities are now also much more accessible for them with Web 2.0 technologies. For example, I had put off getting my master’s degree because I could not relocate and there was not a four year college nearby.  Now, because of Web 2.0 I can work on my degree from home.

There can be many difficulties and challenges associated with the integration of Web 2.0 and mobile technologies in schools.  Lack of quality IT programs, slow networks, lack of technical knowledge on the teachers part, software snafu’s, lack of time, limited access to computer labs, discipline issues, and monitory problems.  But in my opinion, the benefits very much outweigh the challenges.  As stated in the assigned article, The Role of Web 2.0 Technologies in K-12 Education, the children of today are completely submerged in the world of social networks and those applications have simply become a part of their everyday lives.   The article goes on to say that Social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter, online games, video-sharing sites such as YouTube, and devices such as iPods and mobile phones now hold a permanent position in the culture of today’s youth.  They have so infused our students lives that it is hard for them to believe that these technologies barely existed before they were born.
 
In my opinion the world of mobile learning and application in education IS our future.  It is not going away, so instead of dismissing it because it means too much change, we need to embrace it and utilize it to our advantage as educators. Just this last week I had a conversation with one of my peers at school and she could not grasp how there was any way possible that we could use social media to our advantage.  I pointed out to her that it is the future, that it is not going away, and that we as teachers need to change our language and paradigms.  The video clip Social Media in Plain English suggests that we refer to it as "academic networking, academic sharing, and academic creation" – all with new opportunities to share and create - and then use this language with our students.  I was able to point out advantages to her that she had never thought of such as blogging assignments or tweeting directions instead of going through the cases of paper that we currently do. The ignorance of others has a lot to do with a lack of experience and they just need to navigate out of their box (with help) to discover the new and great possibilities that Web 2.0 has to offer. The Web 2.0 technologies will not suffer the same fate as other trends that are now gathering dust….Web 2.0 is already being used around the globe and with great effectiveness!

So until tomorrow.......

Collaborate and connect your curriculum!