Thing 5

It's obvious that our everyday lives have been taken over by technology. Many people that I have talked to seem quite hesitant because their lack of knowledge of technology. When it comes down to it, people don't need to be the most computer savy person to understand and use technology today. Certain technology is there to be simple and useful as long as you come with an open mind. Yes, it's different to many people but the times are changing and if you want to stay in the educational field you must be on your game! As I was reading Web 2.0: A guide for educators, it stated, "that 55 percent of all online American young people between the ages of 12 and 17 use social networking sites". It's crazy to think that our youth today depends on online networking, gaming, and communication. By personal experience, I still consider myself young at 20 years old and my 9 year old brother knows more about online gaming then I did at age 9! So with that set aside, I do believe the new age of Web 2.0 is a very important key to our present and future learning. It just makes sense, we've replaced libraries with online data bases and writing letters to emails and text messages. We want to learn more conveniently, quickly, and more often.  Incorporating Web 2.0 into the classroom seems essential now days. If kids are already using it outside the classroom why not bring something they understand and like to do into it as well. Web 2.0 opens up many once before closed windows to the educational community. Children learn so diversely therefore our teaching strategies must keep up.