Thing 5

Web 2.0 to me means the future of learning.  In society today technology runs everything.  Humans are so dependent on technology that we would literally loose our minds if all servers crashed at the same time.  Nothing would work.  People would go crazy and mass chaos would definitely set in.  Most people my age which is only 25 act like the world has ended when their phone battery dies.  They are so use to having that technology right by their side they think they cannot function without it.  The same thing is happening with the way we learn and that is caused by Web 2.0.  Web 2.0 is based on technology but really it relies on us to tell it how to function.  2.0 is about sharing information and ideas.  It is all about collaborating with each other and being able to learn from each other no matter what issue we are trying to understand.  Web 2.0 is teaching us how to learn without having to sit in a classroom and listen to someone lecture and bore us to death until our mind is thinking about what we are going to eat next or when we can squeeze a nap in during the day.  This new wave of the internet is allowing us to be engaged and interact with others.  We do not have to sit back and listen anymore.  We can work with others to have a greater understanding of concepts and ideas.  I know in my case if I do not understand or know something I immediately go to the internet to find the solution.  People are interacting so much with social media now and the internet I am afraid that one day we will not know how to interact in person.

What Web 2.0 means for the future of education is giving the students another outlet to learn.  Students are going to use the internet to learn no matter if we use these resources or not in our classroom.  It is our job as educators to direct the students to use these resources in the right manner.  We have to incorporate this technology into our classrooms because every job that is being created now has to do with being able to use technology.  If students are not getting the instruction in the classroom on how to use the technology then where will they get it.  Web 2.0 is the future of education and it is our job as teachers to embrace the change and run with it.  We should not be afraid of change because if we use these resources they will make us better educators.