Web 2.0

Web 2.0 describes web resources that are community created and maintained.  This means that groups of people contribute to their creation and/or editing.  The size of the group can vary.  Access to the website in question can be limited to a particular group of people by way of setting permissions, or access can be granted universally to the public.  YouTube, Wikis, and Flickr are all examples of Web 2.0.  Using YouTube as an example, the public can upload videos that they've taken, or created.  Anybody with a YouTube account can then post comments on the individual videos.  This enables many people to carry on a discussion or collaborate on the videos – though more often than not, it’s simply people posting inane comments.

In general, Web 2.0 technologies can be used to improve our classrooms in certain situations.  Flickr is probably a very good tool for use in photography and art classes, as discussed in the “Flickr in the Classroom” video.  Creating a Wiki might be a good idea in many classes as an assignment on creation and collaboration.  Potential uses might include a English class analyzing a literary work, or a science class publishing the results of a recent experiment.  I might be too old to fully embrace all of these new technologies.  Quite often I feel like we are being pushed to incorporate new technologies in the class for the sake of doing so.  As teachers I believe we should ensure that there is an actual benefit, tangible or intangible, to everything we bring to our class, Web 2.0 included.