Some Perspectives on Web 2.0/School 2.0 and the Future of Education
Web 2.0, huh? Future of education? As much as I am all about our future generations being taught through a medium that keeps up with our current technological advances and making school "fun", I am not sure if I am completely sold on it. Wikipedia states that, "Major features of Web 2.0 include social networking sites, user created Web sites, self-publishing platforms, blogs, wikis, folksonomies, video sharing sites, tagging, and social bookmarking. "
I work in a school that is considered Title I. Most of the students I work with are considered at risk for being held back or failing out. most of the kids I work with already have difficulty reading, writing and communicating their feelings through writing mediums. I understand that educators wish to use technology to expand students ability to find information or expand new ways of teaching them information. But I have always been old fashioned when it came to teaching. Using technology to me, in this manner removes the teachers ability to actually teach the students and they lose that ability to communicate and actually write to communicate. They have technology to do that for them.
Now, I'm not bashing the idea of Web 2.0, but I think that there are things that can be utilized, but not all the time. I feel it is so impersonal to sit on a computer and communicate through blogs to submit assignments or receive lesson material. However, allowing students to read other peoples blogs from all over the world, or just country can expand their knowledge of the people in this world and how others may view things, as well as build relationships with people of other cultures outside of their own community. I just become afraid that the education world will strictly rely on technology to teach our students. I think it should be supplemental in their education, not the primary teaching tool.
School 2.0 to me is building a classroom curriculum that can be supplemented by technological advances and mediums of communication. It allows and teaches students to become involved and educated on the topics which they research or the people they communicate with. Teaching students with technology will also prepare them to understand technology as well as communicating with technology for future jobs, since the job force is moving to a more technology based field.
I agree with you that I am not convinced by those who wish to transition more and more of education to technology and less and less from actual human beings. I think that such a method is detrimental in many respects, especially when we remove the human element from education. Education is about more than just the mind, but also influencing the heart and character of people---things which technology can never achieve. I, too, agree that technology can supplement the classroom, but it can never replace it.
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