Generation Web 2.0

I found this weeks article extremely hard going- not due to its intellectual level, but because it was incredibly technical and slightly confusing, and not particularly relevant to me.

I talked about how the digital world is ever expanding; and focused on the development of Web 2.0- things like blogs, myspace, youtube, wiki that allow people all round the world to communicate and connect online; they allow young people to be "producers and consumers of content and services"- in this way, it seems to link to the ideas of child-centred learning and constructivist views from previous weeks.

The article acknowledged that many of these resources are used primarily for socialisation, but believes that there is a huge avenue for integrating these tools into education and learning. A theoretical geography excursion is proposed- instead of going to the place, looking round, filling in a worksheet, and discussing it further when you get back to school perhaps students could "photograph, research and stitch together a presentation about their learning on the site and on the day...". A petty argument to this could be that many excursional places do not allow photography, but I also think that perhaps it is a little complicated for both the students and teachers involved? But that is the pessimist in me talking; I can see the possible educational merits for such experiences, and, even though ionly left high school not two years ago, these "modern" classrooms are still quite a mystery to me- it will be interesting to find out what type of ICT practises are being taken advantage of while we are on prac the nest few years...

"Many young people are already using these technologies at home for socialisation and learning, so they can bring sophisticated skills into the formal learning environment."- sophisticated in terms of their ability to use the technology, yes; but what of their grammar, vocabulary, syntax? these tools are not used to show off your academic writing skills, and I'm sure there must be some sort of educational/literacy-related implications visible in students? Maybe having to use these tools in an educational context will lead to positive developments in terms of these areas, but I feel that these kind of 'Web 2.0s" should, and generally will, only be used on a social basis.

"People are taking advantage of Web 2.0 developments to share resources and generate new knowledge at breath-taking speed." This is a very positive and exciting (well, for some people) statement- that these resources are being used to further understanding and knowledge; that is, essentially, their main purpose. I think this article is more about how teachers can use them to discuss and share with other teachers and educational organisations; but it could also apply to students, in a limited sense. But, again, is this a knowledge that we can integrate into the classroom? This is mainly for older students, not as prevalent in ECE, even primary. Children that young can''t/shouldn't blog, and do not generally have the ICT know-how and developmental readiness to embark on such endeavours. (But, Prensky would no doubt argue, these kids are different)

I liked that they acknowledged also that there are still major challenges involved to adapting Web 2.0 for education (copyright, cyberbullying, etc) and that teachers will need support and education- and more educational resources of this kind available to them. These are being/have been developed (edna)- I tried to access some of these sites, but my computer wouldn't download any of the podcasts.

On one hand, I thought that all these Web 2.0 resources seem like a good way of bringing learning to the youngsters (speak their language etc), but on the other, I found it slightly worrying that it has potential ramifications with regards to the literacy/writing skills of students... But since I think these programs are aimed more at secondary stduents, they will already have a firm understanding of the basic of grammar and such. (Due to their fantasic ECE teachers). But, I don't know, is this the kind of future that we want? This question will not be able to be answered until this future is indeed upon us (by then it will be too late!) (or, maybe, better late then never! Who can say?)

So, the last blog of the unit. It's been emotional, guys.