Web 2.0 is the Future of Education

I came across an article by Steve Hargadon titled Web 2.0 is the Future of Education.
The article discusses how the read/write web is going to have a huge impact on education in the near future, more so than anyone can imagine. He goes through 10 ways that Education is going to be affected by the web and how important it's going to become.

The internet has become a two way street and has an unlimited supply of information. Anything you need, you can find on the internet and it's so helpful these days, as I've said in a previous post. It is also becoming so much more interactive and giving people the ability to change and create things left and right. It has been shown that people learn better by doing things and producing them rather than just being taught. When you are able to make the material and content your own, you are more likely to want the result to be something that you're proud of. If students are told that their work will be up for anyone to see, they will more than likely put in the extra effort to make it worthy of the approval of others.

Young children these days are often referred to as 'Digital Natives' and they really are just that. They have grown up surrounded by this technology and have been transformed right along with it. Many kids are shocked when they find out that just 20 years ago, the internet was rarely used and if it was it was often a slow dial-up connection. Children often ask "Well, how did you look up information or how did you do ANYTHING?" This intimates many educators because they feel they don't know the answer to many of these questions or how to use new technology.

These students are building new technologies and are the creators of what will be mainstream in just a few years. It's essential that teachers immerse themselves right alongside the students to help teach the same principles they always have. Educators need to help students understand how to sort through all the information they find and decide what is reliable and true. We also need to help them see what is appropriate because sites they are creating could become common ground.

The main thing is to dive into the technology right alongside the students and learn with them. Teachers may not know as much about the machines as the children do, but the knowledge that the adult has on how to work with the material is something only they can teach. Educators need to not worry about implementing these technologies into their teaching because the students bring so much experience to the table that teaching the basics and how tos isn't necessary.