Students in my era learned through textbooks, overhead projectors, videos, slides and rudimentary interactive computer activities. I remember creating a banana split on the computer and running it off on a dot matrix printer. I was absolutely thrilled with my computer skills.
That all changed with the invention of Web 2.0/School 2.0. Now, students can view 394 million photographs using visual imagining software, and the library increases by a million images every day. My two children navigate the web and show me how to access information. They feel comfortable using the new software available in their schools. Luckily, our school system realized early that in order to hold the interest of the students, the curriculum had to incorporate visual imagery and technology into the instructional program. Our students learn at an early age to communicate with classrooms throughout our county via video streaming and do cooperative projects. There is no limit to the learning opportunities of students today using Web 2.0/School 2.0. They are able to access information, videos, and pictures about subject matter not covered in their textbooks. Our educators have realized that by the time textbooks are published, a great deal of the information presented is already obsolete. Using this software, allows instructors to remain current in the literature and supplement the adopted text with accurate data imported from the internet. Students are free to do outside research on topics of interest to them and assigned projects. These interactive learning experiences keep students motivated to continue learning beyond completion of their assignment. My son comes home from school commenting on things he has learned and asking a million other questions. My daughter is a visual learner and remembers material imported from the internet better than from lectures or textbook passages, so Web 2.0/School 2.0 has opened a new avenue of learning.
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