Thing 5: Web 2.0...to the Internet & Beyond!

Web 2.0...to the Internet & Beyond!

One thing I know for sure is that the Internet & technology will continue to change even more than it already has in since the inception of the World Wide Web (does anyone call it that anymore?).  But, it is this changeable nature that I think should give us pause about being too sure about what is to come.

Steve Hargadon's post is such an example.  In it, he mentions MySpace as an example of the power of the Internet's creative power.  His piece was written in 2008.  It is 2014, and MySpace is basically dead.  The creative...and destructive...power of the Internet is so radioactive that assumptions about what will stay are not quite so set in stone.

I found Steve's perspective, while accurate and interesting in some places, to take things a bit overboard.  He made it seem as if the Internet will spawn an alternate reality all to its own with people building content out of nothing and making a profit on it.  Yes, blogging is a profitable enterprise, but what is being produced is merely IDEAS and discussions of those ideas.  What creates that profit is the site traffic and the advertisements that can be sold to go on that site....advertisements for things in the real world.  So, the economy of the Internet, as Mr. Hargadon seems to trumpet, is really still linked to the real world, and real world commodities.

I disagree with Mr. Hargadon's notion that the Web 2.0 is the future of education.  I agree that technology, the Internet, and a greater saturation of digital information readily available at our fingertips is the next step in SUPPLEMENTING classroom learning.  But, it can never, ever replace it.

As much as one can learn from technology, there must still be one to teach the basic skills necessary to know how to use it.  And it still takes the right impetus to push people to learn about things which will be beneficial to them.  I can surf the web (again, does anyone still say that?) all day reading about sports, and, while that is fun, it's not exactly educational.  Technology and information need the right conduit to make it work and serve an educational purpose.

While I enjoy online classes, there is something that is missing from them---the human element.  I read a chapter, make a discussion post about it, and have a few faceless names comment back.  It separates us from humanity, which is something I feel is essential for a true education.

I think of a quote by Aristotle which goes something like: "Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all."  I believe that, while technology is great for absorption of information, it cannot and will not replace the importance of the human element, teachers, students, and classrooms.