"What Is The Internet"... some people may laugh at this question. Although there are probably a great deal of ways to describe what the Internet is, the most basic way to explain it would be simply: "Yet another device used and abused for information, communication, nonsense, and learning." As humans in this day and age, we rely on the Internet.. for some, on a daily basis. For others, not as much. It is becoming more and more of a natural custom in our growing society to use the Internet as a means for just about anything. Just about anything on this planet can be found somehow somewhere on the Internet. In many ways, it connects us. It has come from simple emailing, to Skype (a way to have a video-chat conversation with someone somewhere else in present time).
In the classroom, students have evolved greatly through the use of computer and the Internet. Growing up as a child, I remember the now "old school" computers, that at the time were the new hit. From then till now, we have enhanced the technological system of the Internet into an amazing device. Laptops, webcams, search engines, the works. Through these new advances, teachers are able to communicate and share ideas across the world. For many teachers, their lessons and ideas are a collaboration of efforts from other educators that could be thousands of miles away.
As a future educator, I'm well aware that there are going to be changes in our technological systems.. just as there were in my childhood. I'm excited to enhance learning and even further educate students beyond their expectation through the use of these new devises. I think that our society today is driven by modernization and advancement, and I'm excited to see where these next years take us.
Web 2.0
The article by Dina Rosen and Charles Nelson "Web 2.0: A New Generation of Learners and Education" is an informative article that describes how the Internet has evolved. Before, it used to be a "read only" type of thing, otherwise known as Web 1.0. Now it has transformed into something where one can now publish as well, Web 2.0. Scary, right? Now anyones voice can be heard through the Internet, not just those with special permission.
This ties into the idea of the Universal Design for Learning in a way that it opens doors for students. With anyone now being capable of publishing ideas on the Internet, students have a widened variety of ideas and demonstrations that can help them learn. By expanding these ideas in such a vast way, more students are likely to find educational learning techniques that work for them, seeing as that the UDL is based on the concept that not every child learns the same.
This new and improved way of looking at the Internet can also benefit teachers. As many theorists have said, education is a collaborated effort. By using Web 2.0, teachers are able to collaborate not only with the teachers they work with, but with teachers all around the world. I know personally, I've used the web numerous times to help guide me with lesson planning and ideas for creative learning styles for individual students. The web is our friend.
"As a social revolution more than as a technical revolution, Web 2.0
tools’ greatest power is that it can change the nature of student learning"
(Rosen & Nelson)
It is good to hear that you have a healthy perspective about the internet and technology and how it has changed over time (and that we need to keep up). I love the idea of using and abusing.....certainly we can all relate to wasting time on the internet when something more educational or mindful waited in the background!
ReplyDeleteYou make a nice point about the idea of being able publish. But I wanted to point out that Web 2.0 tools are so much more than that too. Hopefully as you explored some, you saw tools that could be used to increase access to content, learning, expression, etc. (in so many more ways than just writing something). Keep up the thoughtful posts!