The topics at hand are Web 2.0 and School 2.0 and how they can take their place in our future or, for those already in the classroom, your current classrooms. To me, Web 2.0 is an endless technology toolbox that is used by anyone who has access to internet service and a PC/ Mac, tablet, and the like to help make their lives and jobs easier and more creative. School 2.0 comes about when Web 2.0 applications are integrated in schools and into our classrooms.
Upon viewing many of the resources for this post, I had mixed feelings. I felt so amazed and overwhelmed by all of the applications and their possibilities in the classroom. (Bear with me. I am not tech savvy.) For a moment, I reverted to an "old school" mentality. I asked myself, "Why do we need to use all of this new stuff when there was nothing wrong from teaching from the textbook?" Not to worry I quickly brought myself back to reality after a quick review of my high school days and of my experience as an Alternative Licensure teacher. For a long time, all teachers had were textbooks of varying qualities, worksheets, library resources (like encyclopedias), and much later on a computer or two without internet service. Classroom instruction was very limiting and confined to a singular place.
School 2.0 brings the world and its applications to the classroom or more importantly, to the students. As a future Spanish teacher, it will be possible to use mobile voice to text apps to have students record themselves practice speaking in Spanish and connect with students in Spanish speaking countries via a blog. These activities will facilitate the learning of a second language in ways that were never thought possible twenty or thirty years ago.
I guess the fear is that all of this technology in the classroom will create an impersonal atmosphere. What are your thoughts?
By the way, did anyone else have trouble opening or viewing any of the resources for Thing #5?
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