Has the term gotten familiar to you yet? Web 2.0 describes the way this generation behaves. Web 2.0 is people creating content socially and intuitively. Creators and consumers meet in online communities where content creation and feedback occur. Consumers become active participants, and the roles of consumers and creators overlap. Traditional publishers are no longer the sole distributors of content, and readers are no longer exclusively consumers. Rather, authors and readers engage in an active relationship.
This change has been transformative of our society and the creative process. The classroom is no longer the sole learning environment. It is not another superficial revelation. For 30 years the research has supported project based constructivist classrooms. Web 2.0 technology embodies this philosophy. Leveraging this technology for learning gives us the tools to act.
The research is now “active” – done by our clients – our kids, students, children, pupils, etc. To create content collaboratively and to distribute their work sets the stage for authentic and relevant reflection and revision. In the article
lets_talk_2.0 the authors talk to us about the current tools students are using and that they are moving ahead as they write creatively and share that work with others. They continue to tell us that this activity is occurring whether it is integrated into our classrooms or not. Our students are writers and publishers and they are experiencing success and loving it. We should embrace what they know to enhance what we want them to practice.
Writing globally will also increase their confidence as collaborators and broaden their experiences so they can tackle the data that says our students will have 15 different careers before they retire. School will be long gone and collaborative and social networking environments will provide them with the growth they need to succeed. Access is not widespread which makes it increasingly more critical that schools provide the structure for students to work within. If we want all of our students to compete on a level playing field, no matter what the vocation, we can work alongside the business model discussed in this article and parallel the current environment our students live in by leveraging technology for learning.
This article was written collaboratively using Google Docs (allowed us to share and edit the document at the same time, live) with my 28 year old son, architect, working in Boston.
There have been many articles referring to the need to have students participate, collaborate, and distribute. We have spent hours talking and teaching but it really requires a full paradigm shift to really accomplish. Think in these terms – our students need to be equipped with the tools early on to create their own content, find resources for anything they need, and research what they want to know about. I say this with a note of caution as I make sure it is well understood. Our students lack experiential learning and the wherewithall to know how to connect outside of what they see and know allday. Their world revolves around the teacher in the classroom, peers and their homelife. They are only surrounded by those factors. As research tells us students will have at least 15 jobs in their lifetimes preparing them to seek out others worldwide is critical. They need the confidence and skill to network, change careers, find opportunities that might be out of their comfort area, and to prepare for those opportunities. We are quick to deny students cellphones, ipods, and other wireless devices. In our attempts to keep schools “secure” we are stripping our students of the tools they use on a daily basis and not giving our students the opportunites to grow with these new technologies. Read the Day in the Life of a Web 2.0 Student. I am suggesting we educate, educate, educate, embrace, and embellish. We don’t want to drive our decision making by fear and the unknown.
As I watched this great video I was reminded of what we do to our students as educators on a daily basis. (Do a search for Jaywalking with Jay Leno and there are quite a few videos) I laughed as I heard the crazy answers people gave but also realized the information they were being asked for was part of a textbook in MS or HS. Was it on some state assessment. Did I care when I learned it or did I have any connection to the material at all when it was learned so I would have a need to remember it. The first person was unable to make a connection between the leading questions by Jay between China and Panama. Was it really the information or not making connections.? Is Louis Armstrong the first thing to come to mind because of his fame, marketing, rhythm? Why did she remember that? The young man that made the comment about the “founding fathers of what” was a perfect example of thinking within his world and his immediate surroundings because that is where he is at. He is not a “global” thinker and why should he be. He is probably working long hours to make ends meet and none of any info beyond his daily grind is really going to benefit him. The young lady who actually finished the “4 score” with “who are in heaven was a result of constant drill in catholic masses where the words just roll off her tongue with no meaning just memorization. Think about the connection the young man made between the acorn and the squirrel. Was that incorrect? It was based on the question but he was definitely interpreting this in his own way. No comment on BYOB.
It has been time and will continue to be time to give what we want students to know and be able to do when they leave our system a hard look. It isn’t just looking anymore though it requires action. Learning should be meaningful and purposeful, students should develop and define their own content and the structure of education should pave the way to a challenged based environment full of a need to know. It is not an idea but a need.
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