Thing #5

I have been well aware of how much I use technology, especially the internet and social networking sites like Facebook, but there are so many other tools and resources online that I never really thought much about. It is interesting, to say the least, to read about the perspectives on Web 2.0, School 2.0, and the future of education. It is not hard to see the changes that are already occuring; when I observed last semester in a 4th grade classroom the teacher was using powerpoint. In my 4th grade classroom we definitely did not have something even that simple. Powerpoint is used all the time now and in every class. To me school 2.0 is the increase in technology being used in classes and all the changes that are taking place in such a short amount of time. It's this technological revolution before us! I think it is amazing how far technology has advanced even in my own lifetime and it will be interesting to see where technology ends up before I die (which hopefully won't be until I am like 90). School 2.0 is inevitable and will benefit future generations because information will be at thier fingertips moreso than it is even to us right now. The click of a button opens many doors and opportunities for learning...it has been said "if you don't know it, just google it". We can find absolutely anything we want to on the web! It is wonderful! It is great for the future of education that informations is easily accessed and can be indentified as reliable or not without too many problems.

I found some of the points made in the different perspectives on education and web 2.0 intriguing yet not surprising. In A Guide for Education it mentioned that a 2007 survey that was done by the Pew Internet and American Life Project showed 55% of youth in America between the ages of 12 and 17 use social networking for communicating. I can only image, 5 years later, how high that number must be. Even generations before us our social networking...MY OWN GRANDMOTHER HAS A FACEBOOK! It's crazy! She just got a laptop for the first time over the summer and is now a daily Facebook checker. It really is incredible what we can do on the web these days and I think it is a really good way to stay connected and get reconnected with people and not just on Facebook. Skype is a free way to live chat with people on your computer, from a completely different country even. I think this article was right about how education should take advantage of Web 2.0 and maximize student learning and interaction in the classroom. Technology is far more helpful than hurtful in teaching students. The comment Teacher 2.0 makes about the popularity of twitter overtaking more blogs, podcasts, and forums was also interesting to me. The writer seems to think it is a bad change and she may be right. I know nothing about twitter since I do not have an account, but I wonder...do twitter users think it's a good change? What benefits would twitter have over blogs, etc? Or is this person wrong?