Teaching 2.0

I have been using the Internet in some capacity for the past twenty years.  However, I have learned more in the last year than the previous nineteen put together, or at least that’s the way it seems.  With the advent of Web 2.0, the Internet has become more dynamic, interactive, and fluid.  It’s not like the old web where you went to a website, read the information provided, and then moved on to another site to read more information.  I’m not saying it was necessarily a bad thing, it was just lower on Bloom’s Taxonomy.  I still learned a great deal, but not to the extent I could have.

To me, it sounds a lot like education.  The old way of educating (not to date myself too much) included a lot of lectures, note taking, and written tests, with the occasional reel-to-reel movie thrown in for good measure.  I don’t know how much of this still goes on today, but I know of at least one teacher who recently retired that had been using the same binder, notes, and podium for the last 25 years.  I am hoping he was the exception and not the rule, but I’m not naive enough to think he was the last of his kind.

Thinking of the adjectives that are used to describe Web 2.0; dynamic, interactive, fluid, engaging.  Aren’t these the same adjectives that we would like to use to describe education?  I know there are those who would use these words to describe their teaching, but why aren’t we all.  This is an exciting time for education.  All the tools we have at our disposal should make it easier to interact, engage, and differentiate for each and every student.  With Twitter, students and teachers can share links and ideas whether at school, at home, or any where they have a cell phone and a signal.  With Google Docs, students can collaborate with classmates or others around the world day or night.  With Screenr and Youtube, teachers and students alike can post tutorials to enhance what has been learned, or to remediate those in need.

We need to give our students more freedom and access to the tools available, and teach them how to use those tools properly and respectfully.  We, and by that I mean I, need to not be afraid that our students are going to out learn us.  Instead, we should jump in and learn right beside them, blurring the line between teaching and learning.  Our students are growing up in an instant access world and we have the tools to provide instant access education.  As we continue to explore the resources available to us, we can better tap into the resources that walk into our classrooms every day.