Web 2.0 is a relatively new concept that talks about new technologies emerging from the world wide web to create a collaborative online community, not just between two people, but between our entire world. It takes simple ideas and makes them interactive with others such as taking an old concept like a chat room or a simply an email and making it global like Skype, blogs, or even Wimba. Where anyone can interact and communicate with anyone at anytime face to face or voice to face, not just by a text box, in other words, the notion of interactivity is coming from linking and clicking to creating and sharing (Solomon, 2007).
Web 2.0 takes technology and incorporates it into higher learning in order to make students use these Web 2.0 tools for learning and not just entertainment. A great example would be students using a social network to communicate with their peers in a social setting vs. using a social network, like a Ning site, to collaborate on group projects in a class, such as food and nutrition. Check out the Ning site my team created for our previous ETC course. (http://fullsailboas.ning.com)
One way that I could see using Web 2.0 in my own classroom environment was by using wiki spaces for note taking as Dr. Michael Wesch outlined in his Social Media in the Classroom video. I think this is a fantastic idea and allows students to really be creative and interactive with their note taking rather than just copying down text from an overhead, which I have had to do in the past.
Though Web 2.0 is a new concept to me and I am still learning to incorporate it into my classroom, I can clearly see how endless the possibilities are. I can see how obsolete things are quickly becoming. In his book, Here Comes Everybody, by Clay Shirky, he discusses this effect on our world by saying, "Now that there is competition to traditional institutional forms for getting things done, those institutions will continue to exist, but their purchase on modern life will weaken as novel alternatives for group action arise." Web 2.0 tools not only puts my teaching and personal learning on a completely different level, but it also puts my students at a huge advantage for their own future. But this is something we will discuss next time!
Sources:
Dr. Michael Wesch's You Tube Video on Social Media in the Classroom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQPe8bNnjx4
Shirky, C. (2008). Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. (p. 22). New York: Penguin Press.
Solomon, G. & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0 New Schools New Tools. (p. 13). Eugene, Oregon: International Society for Technology in Education.
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