More About School 2.0

Back in April, I first wrote about School 2.0.  This summer, I’ve had time to check out what’s trendy on the internet, and the disparity between the web and the classroom could not be greater.The internet has become all about interaction and user control.  The surfer wants and expects the power to change/create/say something when he visits a website.  As a result, blogs, message boards, and social networking sites tend to do very well. 

Sites like Cafepress.com, which enable you to make your own products, do well. 

Mygame.com, which just went online in the past couple of days, allows you to create and play your own online games, either using a template or by submitting your own brand-new creation.  It, too, will be popular. 

Twitter.com is the ultimate in microblogging (basically online text messaging) for a generation that wants to live life in the public arena.  It’s already the 285th most visited website in the U.S. and improving each day.

Lulu.com is another site that epitomizes Web 2.0.  It allows anyone to publish their own books, CDs, DVDs, and more.  You can turn your writing into a published book for somewhere between about $5 and $20, and you can purchase any number of copies that you want.  Only want 5 copies?  Not a problem.  You’re still a published author.

As a result of all this, your students are going to come to you in the fall expecting to be able to interact with and take control of their own learning, since they will have had such control throughout the summer.  They’ll expect to be able to set their own pace, decide what they’re interested in learning, and produce an authentic finished product to demonstrate their knowledge.

(On a side note, remember the big self-esteem push of the late 90s and early 00s?  Well, it worked.  Today’s youth feel completely qualified to be authors, musicians, and web designers.  Their new motto seems to be: “Experts?  What are those?  I can do it better myself.”)

The million-dollar question is this: What are you going to do about it?  Will the students feel like they’ve entered a time warp (back a generation or two) when they step into your classroom, or will you do something to make their learning more like the rest of their lives?  If you’re going to teach in “Web 2.0″ fashion, how are you going to make that happen?  Or is School 2.0 not something you find desirable at all?

Next week, I’ll offer my answers to these questions; in the meantime, please add your thoughts to the comments section of this entry.  If they’re interesting, I’ll include your comments/suggestions in my next post.