Mar
28
Web 2.0
March 28, 2007 | | 2 Comments
What is Web 2.0 and what does it mean for education?
Many people don’t know the term Web 2.0, but most know that the Internet (or how we use the Internet) is changing.
This is Web 2.0.
Simply put, the Internet is now a place where people come together to communicate, share information, exchange ideas, network, have virtual conversations, and work together. This evolution has been facilitated by the introduction of websites & programs (known as Web 2.0 tools) that make it easy to get involved and collaborate in a virtual world. It is an interesting virtual world that is being created, modified, and promoted by the masses. Whereas once we were passive receivers of information, we are now active participants. Instead of having a personal webpage, we now have blogs.
The question remains as to how we explore this vast potential in education. Many schools have teachers and teacher-librarians that have taken the leap and included this technology as they teach the curriculum. For many, there are stumbling blocks to overcome:
- * Teachers need training
- * How do different Web 2.0 tools work?
- * How do these tools fit into the curriculum?
- * We need to find meaningful ways to include these tools into projects
As a Teacher-Librarian, I think my role should be to include this discussion in my collaboration with other teachers. I should be (and I am) trying to keep up-to-date with changes in technology, but I need to be realistic with what I can learn and implement in my teaching. Finally, I would like to be able to ‘train’ or familariaze my peers with the tools I learn, so that they too can include it in their teaching. I would like for my library to become LIBRARY 2.0.
Ambitious, perhaps. I fear that I will just start to understand and apply Web 2.0 in my teaching, and we will already be onto Web 3.0!
Thoughts?
Comments
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So when did we make the switch from Web 1.0 to 2.0? I am confused… how I am only hearing this terminology now – is this something that is widely known?
The term “Web 2.0″ was first used in 2004, but I think the change had been happening for a while before that… basically, it was when we shifted from ‘existing’ on the web to ‘participating’ on the web. Wikipedia was created in 2001, Flickr on 2002,YouTube in 2005… I guess you might argue that Web 2.0 goes back atleast 6 years now?