Week 1-Blog Posting #1-Web 2.0- Why aren't schools using it already?

"Web 2.0, New Tools, New schools," Soloman and Schrum (2007), included in chapter 1 the following:

"We used to talk about reading, writing, and

arithmetic as essential skills for literacy.

To be literate today involves aquiring new skills,

including those of using technology, understanding

Science, having global awareness, and most

important, having the abililty to keep learning,

which involves gathering, processing, analyzing,

synthesizing, and presenting, information, as well as communicating and collaborating. Free online tools can play a large role in helping students

aquire these skills."

I believe this paragraph sums up the importance of the book: change must happen in our schools, schools that are already strapped for funds, therefore, free tools are the way of the future, and many educators agree.

Take for example the following,from Wesley Fryer as found on Tools for the TEKS, a free tool for educators:

"In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, most students and teachers in schools were sharply limited in the potential audience for which they could share their ideas and publications. Gone are the days when the top destination for exemplary student work was the family refrigerator. The potential audience for student work has changed dramatically in the 21st century with the advent of read/write web (web 2.0) tools like blogs, wikis, social networking websites, and video publication venues like YouTube. The ability for anyone with access to a web browser to publish text, audio, and video on the global stage of the Internet is a disruptive, challenging, and empowering phenomenon."

Most of us agree that schools and teachers need to change toward modernization. The future comes closer everyday, and the adminstrators of modern school districts need to move at lightspeed, not only to catch up, but to get in front of the curve. A flood is coming, and our schools will drown, unless The Department of Educations across the country lift internet blocks and allow teachers to use these free tools to teach the skills that students need to compete in the global market.

Go2web2.0 is an awesome place to start with this change. It has apps that are not just accessable, but also fun, which is often a component missing in traditional education.

Reference List:

Solomon,G;Schrum,L;(2007),Web 2.0,New Tools, New Schools, International Society for Technology in Education,Eugine,OR ISTE

Fryer, Wesley A., An Article for The TechEdge: The Journal of the Texas Computer Education Association, (Updated 26 November 2007) www.speedofcreativity.org Retrieved from site 9/14/09

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