Reflection: Web 2.0 and classrooms

I thought this was an interesting read. I loved how the article started off by expressing why the design was important. For students to be creative, to have a degree of control over their own learning, to solve problems, to improve personal IT capability and to work cooperatively.

The reading outlined 3 beneficial factors, termed E's of web 2.0.

1. Enjoyable and exciting- Finding new ways to present ideas and share their efforts with a wide audience.

2. Energises learning- Through blogs and wikis, students can learn about IT's, computers and they can learn from each other in an exciting way. These ways allow for students to comment on each others work and give feedback.

3. Emancipatory- It is important to appreciate the potential of IT resources and keep an open mind to try new things. Technology has a huge amount of resources available to use that cannot always be found in the classroom.

Sharing ideas is a major feature of web 2.0. Collaborative processes allow for many different points of view and using online technologies allows students to express their thoughts in an enjoyable way.

The downside to using technology is internet safety. Teachers need to take the opportunity to educate students about internet safety and respect for friends, the classroom, the environment and communication.

Even though technology is still rapidly evolving and in some schools, resources are limited e.g. students have to share computers, I personally don't think it will be long before this won't be an issue in society. A lot of schools are already introducing laptops for each student in the secondary years and for the younger years, I think it is a vital skill for them to learn to work collaboratively with others so sharing computers isn't a huge issue in my opinion.

It is important for us as teachers to stay up to date with technology because it is the way of the future and students will use it a lot out of school as well. Therefor, teaching technology is a vital unit that needs to be used in the classroom.

Reference:

Younie, S., Leask, M., & Burden, K. (2015). Teaching and Learning with ICT in the Primary School (2nd ed.). Abingdon, Oxon & New York, NY: Routledge