Web 2.0 in Education
As I search the web and look at different edublogs and podcasts I find it interesting that many of the Web 2.0 technologies are being used so sparingly. I understand that many of my collegues are swamped and don’t have the time to learn or experiment with these concepts. I also understand that I am an early adopter and will jump on these things far before many of my fellow teachers. I have my creative writing students blogging, my modern media students podcasting and my sophomore English class reading selected blogs. I know that there are many who are doing far more than I, but I’m getting there. It seems as though, at least in my little corner of the world, there are two main issues involved.
The first restriction that will have to be overcome is finidng the resources to provide students with the opportunity to use these technologies in their education. I personally am fortunate enough to be in a district that has made commitments to providing technology for student use. I also have the support of my building administration to try new things in my classroom. I have scraped together enough computers that my students can have their own computer. Sure, we have computer labs in the building, but it’s so much more convenient to have a lab in my room that I can use at my discretion.
The second restriction that I see as I try to expose others to blogging is simply lack of education about the use of technology in the classroom. For some it’s a lack of desire, but for others, I think it’s just not really knowing where to start. I can get my students to write blogs, I can write blogs reflecting on these topics, however, the only people who seem to be reading them are other people who already know about RSS and blogging.
How can we bring this technology into the mainstream of education? How can I educate other teachers and parents about the usefulness of this technology? How are other people doing this?
