Thing #5: Perspectives on Web 2.0/School 2.0

After reading the Wikipedia article and the "Web 2.0 is not about versions or betas" article on Read Write Web, I think the key to reconciling all the disparate views on what defines "Web 2.0" is that it is participatory rather than passive.  Nearly all the definitions I read agree on this point.  I like to think of it this way:  In the "Web 1.0" paradigm, the Internet was the world's largest library.  You logged on, could "check out" web pages, but there was "no talking in the library:" interactions with others was kept to a minimum.  In "Web 2.0" the Internet is a high school reunion.  You log on and can catch up with old friends, see what they have been up to, and even meet some people you never knew before.



A lot like "Web 2.0," I regard "School 2.0"as mostly a buzzword.  However, I see "School 2.0" as the result of the technologically-driven change in the teacher-student dynamic.  For most of us in "School 1.0," the teacher was the lecturer at the front of the room, using a projector and transparency when they really needed everyone to see something.  The experience was largely passive; you looked and listened and nodded when appropriate.  In "School 2.0,"  the teacher is less the lecturer and more the facilitator of students guiding their own learning using technology.  Instead of lecturing from the front of the class, the teacher turns the classroom into a "social network" where students are "users" who interact with each other, the technology, and the teacher.  Of course, this means the teacher is also the "moderator/administrator" of their "social network," enforcing the rules and "banning users" to the principal's office, when necessary.*

I believe schools of the future will be ones that can leverage the full potential of the "participatory classroom."  Just as the Internet is increasingly driven by social interactions, the schools of the future will be driven by how administration, faculty, staff, and students interact and relate to one another, both face-to-face and in the cybersphere.  If we can build on the tools of "Web 2.0" with highly qualified teachers and motivated students, the schools of the future could be "amphibious" in that they exist in both reality and in cyberspace.

*Okay, so the "classroom-as-social-network" analogy is a little tenuous there at the end.  I guess I've been thinking about "social media" a little much lately.