Web 2.0 Literacies by Jenny
This thing called blogging, communication in the blogosphere,
I can't see you, except you upload your photo,
Who are you ? Are you there?
Is that your real name, what land are you from?
Did you watch the football game, can you play the drum?
We,ve come a long way since 1989,
When Bernard Lee's grand vison seemed so sublime.
He wanted collaboration, a place where we could all meet,
Where boys and girls could chat and write, not on the village street.
This Web2.0 read/write technology,
It's making us technologically savvy.
Every student, teacher, person who has access,
Can contribute their ideas and expressions to the Internet.
What a global village, a meeting of varied intellect.
We surf for knowledge, entertainment and social connect.
We e-mail, post blogs, wikis and watch videos,
We write blooks on the blogospere, every one has their own say,
It's our space, your space but Myspace, personalised in different ways.
We comment on walls of facebook, there's much to read on millions of blogs.
Photos and audios are posted in the clouds everyday,
The course of business, politics, religion and education we sway.
This Web2.0 technology has quickly shifted the olden paradigm,
It's told us our modernity, is now post modern time.
The information we give and receive, is fast changing everyday,
We are amateur reporters writing the human story in our own way.
We publish, we access large audiences that are free
We collaborate and edit in the wiki community.
Here online we are the first to bring international coverage on global catastrophe,
We beat the New York Times and the famous BBC,
On news about the destructive Indian Ocean tsunami.
Check us here online for latest news and amateur video clips,
Our digital printing press supplies your photographic snips.
Teachers our students are connecting with audiences far from school,
They are educators, collaborators and publishers with Web2 tools
What must we do now ? To where do we go?
Old pedagogical skills alone is backward and too slow.
We must rethink our approach to content and to the curriculum.
I confess to my colleagues , it's hard for me to do.
ButI 've committed to this programme,you are committed too
There are the ones among us who find it a daunting task, while others yet have facile
In the clouds they're computing fast.
Here I quote the famous scripture, to my colleagues this I send,
The race is not for the swiftest, but those that endure to the end
Hi Jenny,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog. It is really amazing how far technology has come. If we were to tell some one in 1805 that we will be able to chat with him on a live video conference 20 000 miles away he would have probably taught that we were insane. Technology has come a long way in education as well. With all the communication sites that you listed above teachers can now reach students, give assignments, upload information, all at the touch of a button.
What I believe is is important is that teachers become aware of these tools and use it in the classroom, to help with literacy problems. Most students use technology and it is very easy for them to figure things out, on their cell phones and even on their computer. We need to use this tool in order to fit into the present century.
Collaborative learning is very important and web 2.0 can help with this. We can now connect to teachers like you rightly said all over the world. Is't it amazing? we can have a class with students from China, New York or as close as Port of Spain. i believe that collaborative learning can inspire students to perform better especially in languages.
Finally I hope we all endure to the end.
P.s. I loved your introduction