Web 2.0

1.) I believe that it is a very important aspect for all educators to incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in their teaching instruction.  Allowing all individuals an equal opportunity to learn is one of the number one goals for educators.  Teachers must keep in mind that all students learn differently, whether it be from a specific disability, cultural background or any other difference.  Though there are several of these differences, it is important to work your best, as a teacher to provide options and conformities for the diverse learning of students.

When a teacher attempts to provide these options and conformities for his/her students, it is very helpful to have specific tools in which to do so.  These tools that the World Wide Web has provided are known as Web 2.0 tools.  These tools not only help the students tremendously in and outside of the classroom, but also ease specific tasks and jobs for the teacher to help students better understand, have easier access to sharing with their peers for specific topics or ideas to gain new perspectives and opinions.  "Anyone with an Internet browser can “write” to the Web with very little technical knowledge.  Those who were previously only consumers of information can now also be producers (Rosen, Nelson)."  These Web 2.0 tools allow the students and teachers to interact, collaborate and share different presentations and materials they create, such as text, audio, video and photos.Some specific types of Web 2.0 tools that teachers could be recommended to use are Flickr, LibraryThing, wikis and weblogs.

"While the one-way nature of the read-only Web 1.0 platform fits well with a transmission, or stage-on-the-stage pedagogy, the multi-way nature of the Web 2.0 platform exemplifies constructivist

pedagogy, especially of the social variety (Rosen, Nelson)."  This constructivist pedagogy is based around constructing student knowledge, coexisting with social constructivism, to promote collaborative and social interactions.  According to Web 2.0: A New Generation of Learners and Education, "Web 2.0 “is not a technological revolution, it is a social revolution” (Downes, 2005) (Rosen, Nelson)."

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2.) Teaching "digital natives" is going to be a crucial task that all educators must be forced to come to terms with and conform to and become more aware of the digital and technological savvy world.  The world of technology is rapidly changing on a day to day, even, hour to hour basis.  The children who are brought up in this current decade were brought into this ever changing technological world, with most things being done on the Internet, for amusement, social interaction and school related work.  For a teacher to become accustomed and more familiarized with these technologies (Web 2.0 tools), it will take time and effort, but in the end it will bring about easier access to teach and provide options and different materials for multiple learners.  This Today Show video clip really made me realize that many of us really are completely unaware of several helpful and new technological advances. Some of us may be a bit more aware than others, depending on which time period in which you were brought up and taught within. We all know that we cannot compare with the "digital natives" of students everyday use and reliability with the ever-growing and populating expansion of the technology in our current times, especially the tools we can receive to be helpful in social interactions, educational purposes and so much more, on the World Wide Web.