How are we so fortunate? When did all of this knowledge slam into our computers? It seems like a logical question. The web has multiplied it's knowledge in the time that it took you to navigate to this post. (that's not a factual statement, but could likely be true)
Lets talk about the 2.0 that has taken over my thoughts for the past 30 minutes. The web was at one time a young seedling waiting to sprout, but with the proper nourishment and the brain-water it has now become the one thing that surrounds every aspect of our lives. Should I feel threatened by this grown seedling? I know that there are so many uses for the web that I could never actually make it to all of the sites in one lifetime, but I do think that it is important that all of us understand its capabilities. With time, web 1.0 (all text) jumped into a new pool of color pictures and hypertext that allows us as users to properly navigate and site almost any source online without ever having to leave a search engine. That's some real talent if you think about it. There are people out there making our world easier to work in, educate in, and live everyday in. (please excuse the bad grammar of ending my sentence with a preposition)
I know that the future will fly into my arms without a warning siren, but I don't know if I'm ready for it. I do know, however, that my students will be ready for it –There fancy phones that speak and answer questions. I know that there will be a better way to communicate than the way that we are communicating now. In the future, Educators will make the most out of this technology. I am learning at a very fast pace that my pace isn't fast enough. Educators need to make a move now!!!
Time is a flyin... As educators, we need to step it up with the technology. We need to assert new and innovative ideas that shake our leaders into wanting to help us. Funding is just the tip of the iceberg in our future. Web 2.0 has the answer. It practically does all of the work for us, but that doesn't mean that we should settle with just that. Make a movement, allow yourself to reach outside of the box. Jump into a computer without the preconceived notion that it is only going to cause retina damage.
Thanks to web 2.0 we can now be better on a computer. I'm only 28 years old. I'm not too far away from kids pointing at my beard in amazement, but that doesn't mean I want to be naive when it comes to networking, wikis, blogs, or even the basic email links that can be used for my students. It is important to know the boundaries, but it is also important to know that there is no limit to the Internet. It can, it will, and if you don't move with the train early on, then it is going to be much harder to jump onto later.
Our future is going to have virtual classes with kids from foreign countries, readings by great authors, and videos that are specifically aimed at the education of our future. We are becoming more information based within our culture, and it is helping us find new ways to move forward in our educational strategies. We need to use them. Not starting next year when we can commit the time to type out new unit plans, but now. Otherwise we are just watching the train speed up.
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