Thing #5

School 2.0 means to me that we have the world at our fingertips! Literally students can find anything and everything they want to know about a subject in just a short amount of time. I can remember during a research paper in middle school and using the encyclopedia. I mean the set of books that you actually open! I remember reading that information and thinking that it was already outdated(possibly because my parents had the 1976 set for me to use!)
After reading some of these perspectives about Web 2.0 I really am amazed at how much information is accessible to me and my students.Of course that means that it is up to teachers and parents to show children how to understand all the knowledge that is out there for them. I think that Will Richardson said it best,"We are at times teachers and at times learners. Our roles shift with each interaction." I am amazed at how my six year old son is able to use the internet. He is now teaching me how to do things! I think the same can be said for our students. That is why we must be a step ahead of them. (If that is even possible!)
I believe that if the education world is going to continue to "catch" the child's attention we are going to have to prove to the students that we have the knowledge to use and teach technology. We also have to make sure that our students have the skills to survive in the "real" world.
I am very excited to start teaching my students how to be participants and not just consumers. This means that schools are going to have to spend the money on updating computers and servers. It is great that we have computers that we can use in the classroom, but if only two computers can work online at a time this is not going to be helpful to the other twenty students. I think the look of the schools are really going to change. The future may bring a more business like look to schools.
My only concern is will the students of the future have social skills?