Web 2.0-BLog Assignments

Learning Web 2.0 Blog #2 Assignment

It amazes me that our public education systems does not keep up with the changing times. As an educator, I am constantly hearing in staff meetings about how we need to insure that we infuse technology in our lesson plans, ensure that are students are savvy about technology. However, our school are not equipped to allow us to do that. Our servers are antiquated, the block sites are rediculous, I give links to sites in school that are dictionary helpers or sites relevant to history and they are blocked. Our students are natives of technology. They have been raised in a world where technology is a way of life. Cell phones, Facebook, Myspace, just to name of few are social sites that keep our students connected socially. Ipods, iPhones have more capabilities then the 2,600 dollars, (no hard drive) computer I had in 1992. Yet, in our school system, we seem to hold down our students because of fear. Fear that they may wander into areas that are taboo to society.
Technology is no longer an option for our students but a necessity. They need to be allow access (properly) and go global in there knowledge.

In a recent article posted on Edutopia's website,
http://www.edutopia.org/technology-global-classroom Bob Lenz shares many great ideas on how to go global in your classroom. An education expert Kathy Koch states in that article: "This generation of students is unlike any we've educated before, because they have been raised in a world drastically different from their parents and most teachers." She advocates that allowance to many applications of Web 2.0 by schools will result in greater attainment of knowledge.
"New research from Scotland and the UK Government shows that Web 2.0 and gaming can and do make a difference to educational attainment and student experience."( http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2008/10/uk-government-r.html)
Despite research from abroad and locally as well as strong advocacy for this, many schools are still reluctant and fearful. I hope many schools will realize that learning in Web 2.0 will be a great asset!

As a teacher of Spanish and strong advocate of using technology as a productivity tool in the classroom, I discovered that Web 2.0 is having a great impact in language acquisition.

Web 2.0 can enhance language learning because it facilitates many characteristics needed to learn a language. In an article entitled " Web 2.0/Language Learning" it discusses Second Language Acquisition(SLA) framework conditions that are necessary to make students successful. As posted in the article these 8 conditions are:
1. Learners have opportunities to interact and to negotiate meaning.
2. Learners interact in the target language with an authentic audience.
3. Learners are involved in authentic tasks.
4. Learners are exposed to and encouraged to produce varied and creative language.
5. Learners have sufficient time and feedback.
6. Learners are guided to attend mindfully to the learning process.
7. Learners work in an atmosphere with an ideal stress/anxiety level.
8. Learner autonomy is supported. (http://web20andlanguagelearning.wikidot.com/)

It later points out that Web 2.0 technologies facilitates these conditions.
As educators we need to embrace all that Web 2.0 has to offer and our schools need to make them accessible to our students!


WEB 2.0 Blog#1 Assignment
What is "Web 2.0? Here are some definitions:


The development and birth of Web 2.0 has made a significance change in the life of many. Prior, to what we know as Web 2.0., the Internet was stagnate and there was nothing comparable to "Facebook, MySpace or any other social network. Social interaction was limited t o "emails.
Ecommerce was non-existent, as we know it today. Buying on the Internet was the roll of the dice prior to "Web 2.0". We could buy but whether we were going to receive the item was "taking a chance".

Today many Internet networks share many application attributes of Web 2.0.
An experience designer, Brandon Schauer for Adaptive Path broke down the foundation and experience attributes of many Web 2.0 services from 1994-2005. Click here:

Web 2.0 has made our social ways or interacting and economic practices on the Internet unbelievable. I believe that Web 2.0 is the future of education. As educator we can engage students in ways that were unthinkable before. The trends that are being set by Web 2.0 is only the tip of the iceberg of things to come. What is the future of education with Web 2.0 Read this article,
it was posted on a technology & education blog site- very interesting points!

Web 2.0- it's not going away- it just keeps getting better!