Web 2.0 calls for Ed. 2.0

A good education is a continuum, true or false?

Where I grew up in Upstate New York, I attended one of the best public schools in the region. I received what my parents and I regarded as a superb education – and it was. I had excellent teachers, access to excellent libraries, and engaged daily in collaborative, hands-on learning.

Yet today, if someone were to clone my education experience, it would just be “okay.” Why? Because it’s lacking the 21st Century.

Today there is the understanding that a good education requires access to modern technology, and the AASL’s Standards for the 21st Century Learner are at the forefront:

Learners Use Skills, Resources and Tools To:

1. Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.
2. Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations,and create new knowledge.
3. Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.
4.Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.

The Skills, Resources and Tools have changed and will continue to change as technology evolves and society requires more from its citizens.

In the span of my lifetime, I have gone from no Web, to Web 1.0, to Web 2.0. In my graduate courses, I have learned of how teachers and library media specialists are incorporating web 2.0 tools and the hardware that accompanies it into their planning for students. Everything is changing along with it, and everything seems to be adopting the “2.0” label to announce modernity…Web 2.0, Library 2.0, Reading 2.0…

So yes, I believe that a “good education” is not a fixed thing, but a continuum based on available resources and time. Right now, a good education calls for Education 2.0. We have Web 2.0, why not Ed. 2.0?

-LB