There’s no denying that Web 2.0 is a powerful tool for a host of applications. Education, government and business use it daily. Where once a client would come to a company for a product, meet with the staff, and then come back to see its progress and offer comments that doesn’t have to happen any more. With video conferencing, emails etc a client can get daily updates as to how their product is developing. For that matter, people are no longer limited to making use of a local firm. If the best company to create your product is half a world away – what of it? Web 2.0 allows for easy communication between people, no matter where they are.
Yet, you have to wonder, where will this eventually lead?
Already employees have the ability to telecommute; they can sit at home – in their bathrobe, if they like – do their work, and then email it in to their boss and/or client. So, what does that mean for the employee, the company, and the nation as a whole? Okay, employees that telecommute don’t drive. That means fewer cars on the road, less demand for gas, oil, and anything related to vehicles. That’s good for the environment, but what about business at the local gas stations? What about auto dealerships? Fewer people in offices means companies need less floor space; will more office buildings have empty offices? What about the restaurants that feed office workers; will their business suffer? If businesses move out of the city, what does that do to the tax base for cities and states?
Then there’s the whole nature of the employee-employer relationship. If someone works from home and essentially never goes in to an office, how much loyalty will they feel toward an employer? If interactions with their co-workers are limited to emails, online chats, and video interactions, just how loyal will the employee be to a company? Some people thrive on and relish the concept of direct personal interaction. Working with people via web contacts is not all that conducive to that kind of relationship. Yet, other people are rather quiet and introverted; public speaking is intimidating to them. Being able to sit at home and write email or chat via IM is very liberating for them. Will different kinds of personalities move to the forefront of the business world? If changing jobs is as simple as logging on to a different website, will employees change jobs like they change their socks?
For that matter, if you’re working from home, what sort of benefits can you reasonably expect from your employer? Will you even earn sick time and personal time? Will vacations become virtually non-existent? After all, so long as your work gets done and you send it in, does it matter if you’re in your home, on a cruise ship, or in a vacation cottage?
Web 2.0 makes all of this possible. Now, for the time being, the world of online commerce and telecommuting are not the dominant forms of business. Yet, they do represent billions in revenue annually, and will only continue to grow. Web 2.0 offers enormous opportunities for the future, but is also a double-edged sword; we must consider carefully where it will take us.
The concept of the Web 1.0 model is basically the idea that someone has a product or content they want to give or sell to me. It’s a linear approach to providing something, as in a product or knowledge, to a user. In the Web 2.0 model on the other hand, the user can be active in the creation of the product or content, and use the present content freely. Web 2.0 is not just a place where something is made. Web 2.0 at the basic level is a community of users collaborating in the creation process.
Education today is aiming more toward adopting personalized learning approaches, and considering that Web 2.0 is a community of collaborating users it offers educators and students alike vast learning opportunities. Here is a brief list of the benefits that Web 2.0 can provide. Keep in mind this list may not be exhaustive.
Engages Students
Most of today’s students find that studying on the internet can be very engaging. Students are not limited to the information that is disseminated from the textbooks that were selected by the faculty. Instead, the internet, specifically Web 2.0 allows students to explore other interesting information and even contribute new information on many sites. This can actually have an inspiring affect on students and aid in helping them focus on their learning.
Authenticity
When I was in grade school and wrote my reports and essays there were only two people who would see my work. Those were my teacher and my parents, of which received little feedback other than a grade or compliments. Today students using the internet create and write for a larger and very real audience. Whether the Web 2.0 programs are limited to the school’s network or those students are publishing material reaching beyond, the work being done and the audience reading that work are very real.
Participation
There is nothing more inspiring for a student than to interact and make a contribution to something and realize that the rest of the world can see that contribution. Prior to the internet learning was held within the walls of the school for the most part and, personally speaking, rather boring. Community learning was basically limited to shared reading out of a textbook, standing in front of class for a spelling bee, or listening to the teacher express their version of US history. It was linear education with little if any real educational interaction. Today students can share and participate in learning on a global scale and this breeds broader world visions and understanding.
Access To Information
There is not a child who is not curious. Curiosity is part of the nature of being a child. With that said, the world of the internet is nothing short of being a warehouse of information. Web 2.0 eliminates restrictions of access to learning opportunities and gives the student the ability to learn something new.
Personal Expression & Genuine Interest
One of the greatest features of Web 2.0 is that it facilitates both genuine interest and personal expression. One of the most profound examples of this is a classroom full of students collaborating on a science project with NASA astronauts in space via the internet. NASA has done this type of collaboration on more than one occasion. Imagine the amount of learning inspiration those students received from those collaborations. In a sense those students conducted science experiments in outer space without even leaving the classroom. In a nut shell, that’s the educational power of Web 2.0.
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