Web 2.0 in Education

Technology is advancing everyday and education should be advancing with it. Our responsibility as educators is to keep up with the latest technology and incorporate it into our curriculum and teaching tools. Recent studies have shown the average student knows more about the internet and technology than their teachers. We as educators  need to be able to reach our students where they are and become involved in what is most important to them. If we do not make that connection we are not truly doing our jobs and we are robbing our students of a more excellent education.

Today, the concept of Web 2.0 is the most influential part of the lives of our students. Web 2.0 consists of websites and programs, such as Facebook and Youtube, that allow the viewer to become more than just a viewer. The world wide web is no longer used primarily for surfing websites. The internet has advanced in allowing surfers to upload information and contribute to the content of the internet. This is exactly where education needs to be more involved. There are some great websites that have caught onto this thriving new concept and have incorporated Web 2.0 into their curriculum. There are now interactive websites for education that allow students to log in and participate in chat groups, programs, and classrooms all online.

Please view the video above to get a better idea of exactly what Web 2.0 is and how we as educators can benefit from adding this aspect of the web into our way of teaching. Also, feel free to visit some of the interactive websites that we have attached below to get started and to get some great tools.

Engrade: http://www.engrade.com/

Blackboard: http://www.blackboard.com/

WiZiQ: http://www.wiziq.com/

TeacherTube: http://teachertube.com/

Edublog: http://edublogs.org/