When I came into this workshop today I thought Web 2.0 was a new version of Internet Explorer. Microsoft's latest form of sadistic torture to force everyone to re-learn how to navigate the web and I had no interest in taking part in that. What I have learned today is that I have been using Web 2.0 at home for years and didn't know it.
Having read blog posts and watched videos about Web 2.0, I wholeheartedly agree with Steve Hargadon's statement: "Web 2.0 is the future of education." If we do not engage our students by using the technology that is a part of their everyday life then we will lose them. At the AFLTA conference this past April, Eileen Glisson made an excellent point, 30 years ago children loved to go to school because it was more exciting than home. It kept them engaged to see videos and film that they didn't have access to at home. Today, the situation has reversed, school is boring and the students can't wait to get home so they can get on Facebook, text their friends and play Xbox 360 with a guy from New Zealand.
Web 2.0 is our opportunity to bring the students' interest back to the classroom. We must make their education relavant to them by using the technology that has become such an integral part of their lives in order to ensure that they actually learn what we want them to learn.
Danielle, I agree with you completely. I am enrolled in 21clc because I need the tools to make school more relevant for my students. I know textbooks are no longer meeting the needs of my students, but I am a baby boomer, not a gen-x'r or y'r, so I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do.
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