After reading the article Web 2.0 A New Generation of Learners and Education by Dina Rosen and Charles Nelson, my opinion that integrating technology and the internet into my teaching is once again solidified. Before we get into what Web 2.0 means for our future students, we should really define what Web 2.0 is exactly.
Web 1.0 is the idea that the internet is a system used to provide information, that the audience is on a readers-only basis. But Web 2.0 is the world we live in today, an internet where all people can not only read information, but write and post information as well. This website we are using now is an example of that. In Web 1.0, back several years ago, only a few individuals knew how to use HTML or create webpages for their product or business. But today, we live in a society where high school freshman have already mastered the use of HTML during their free time so they they could customize their Tumblr. Adolescents and teenagers, most young adults too, are the digital natives we've discussed. They have grown up with the internet and all these advanced technologies and they know them like the back of their hand. But what does this mean for the educators who have to teach these digital natives?
As discussed, educators need to keep up to date with new technologies and the use of the internet in order to properly. And speaking as a special education major, technology can play an even bigger part in our students' needs. Assistive and educational technologies are tools students use to meet their needs in order to fully grasp the concepts we are trying to teach them. In regards to the internet and Web 2.0, using the internet (blogs, wikis, etc.) to help enhance our students' participation and collaboration is an amazing and up-to-date way to keep our students involved and keep ourselves timely and relevant in our teaching methods. As stated in the article,
"Education 2.0 emphasizes social constructivist pedagogy. Although constructivism has been popular in education for some time, the term Education 2.0 signals the addition of a new dimension, a 21st century digital dimension rooted in collaborative technologies that enable groups to move past their usual ways of working together and, as a result, to (a) build a collective wisdom that transcends that of the individual, in which the wisdom of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and (b) transform the constructivist classroom into an Education 2.0 classroom (i.e., into an interactive, participatory, adapting, living organism of learning and generating content)."
I've bolded the parts I particularly want to emphasize. Allowing our students to collaborate in such a way causes a community of learning, a "living organism of learning", and in a special education classroom or an inclusive classroom, this is an great tool to utilize. Particularly, an inclusive setting where we have both exceptional and general education students, having the students come together on an even playing field and collaborate as a class is an excellent way to have the students learn and feel like a community. Though, I will admit depending on the severity of a student's disability it could be more difficult for them to participate in the online community. This would call for assistance from a teacher or even perhaps another student to enhance the community feeling even more. But pros and cons aside, it really does not matter what my personal opinion is for technology will continue to progress and we as educators need to keep up to date lest we become obsolete to employers.
Claire, well said. I really like what you have to say in your last paragraph. It is so important to allow all students a level playing field to make a community of learning that feels both safe and natural as well as successful. Technology gives teachers that opportunity that was not available even ten years ago. Students crave technology and we, as educators, need to embrace and take advantage of its valuable resources.
ReplyDeleteVery glad to see that you recognize that using technology is important to our future as educators but also, more important as special educators, it is vital for our students' participation. Keeping up is a challenge giving the rapid changes that occur. In fact, is Web 3.0 here (we are just getting used to 2.0!).
ReplyDeleteAs we move forward, we have to accept that the modern day world is going to keep on modernizing, whether we like it or not. You did a great job of stating this, in a way thats very accepting and inviting!
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