One of the biggest emerging trends is Web 2.0. Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a conference where Dr. Michael Wesch gave the keynote address entitled “Human Futures for Technology and Education”. During this talk he shared his ideas on how Web 2.0 and other new technologies are changing education. Dr. Wesch is a cultural anthropologist and media ecologist studying how new media impacts human interaction. Did you even realize there was a career field called “media ecologist”??? Below I have posted a fascinating YouTube video that created by Dr. Wesch's and his students in one of his courses. It has apparently been viewed on YouTube more than 2 ½ million times. It really makes you think about the world that today's students are living and learning in.
Dr. Wesch has developed a number of innovative teaching techniques that you can learn more about at his web site at Kansas State University: http://www.ksu.edu/sasw/anthro/wesch.htm
If you are like me, you still don't exactly know what Web 2.0 is. Hopefully, the video below will help a bit with your understanding:
Understanding Web 2.0
The Michael Wesch video below gives additional insight into how pervasive the web has become in our lives and how we are already using Web 2.0 even if we don't realize it!
The Machine is Us/ing Us
3 comments:
Glori, Thanks for posting the videos on Web 2.0; I really enjoyed them. It is amazing the impact that technology is having on all aspects of life. We are now seeing how the proliferation of new ways to connect with others and share all types of media and information is changing how people live and interact with one another.
One thing reading your Web 2.0 post got me thinking about is how the more the ways in which these technologies expand the greater the impact of the digital divide. Those who do have access to high-speed internet and the hardware to utilize it become even further separated in their experience of life from those who do not.
I also realized that I have not taken the time to familiarize myself with enough of the Web 2.0 sites and tools. I am going to have to make an effort to do so.
Interesting. Those videos are well done. They give you information and they make you think. I hadn't heard of Web 2.0 before today. I am a PE teacher who has always enjoyed using technology but hasn't been in the tech world to much. My background is in video editing. I am enjoying learning new things about technology like Web 2.0. I think there is a balance between technology and life before technology. I think people in general need to keep this in mind. Technology is definitely the way of the future but lets not forget the past. I am still one of those people who likes to read a piece of paper rather than a computer screen.
I am rather jealous that you got yo meet Dr Wesch. I came across his "A Vision of Students Today" video quite accidentally. I was on a quest to find something about student study habits and it came up in my search. I am quite glad that it did. I have used it a number of times to help other teachers understand the gap between the students and some teaching styles.
One of the many conversations that this video has brought about is how we have to come adjust our teaching methods to take advantage of the collaboration tools. (We're still at that stage in my department - if you're curious I can get back to you with some ideas).
I hadn't seen the web 2.0 video. Thanks for posting that for us!
Post a Comment