Thing #5

I would define Web 2.0 as the version of the internet that actually works for the rest of us. I had to remember a little ways back, but I can remember when the internet was spoken of as the next big thing. I went into the library at my high school and "surfed" the web for about 5 minutes tops. I was let down. I thought, "Is this it!?!" All it was was a bunch of loud, screeching, hissing sounds that sounded more like demon possessed robotic cats in an alley fight than "the next big thing". All this ruckus was followed by words slowly brought to the screen in the most boring of all fonts. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed. That memory will from now on be known as Web 1.0. Then Web 2.0 came along and actually worked. It happened so quickly and seamlessly to me. I can get down with Web 2.0 being this being called the next big thing. When you stop and think about it, it's amazing that I can be in the U.S. and upload pictures to Facebook, be watching a YouTube video with someone else in Mexico via Skype and be having a great time all the while I'm in my pajamas.

As far as education goes, I can see the day when a teacher is still needed, only not in a school building. I can see students from around the country and world being a part of an online school. Instead of walking into class half asleep, they are logging onto the school website. Everyone is wherever they are in the world, but they are all together on the same website using webcams, microphones, computers and maybe some other things that are just now on the verge of being invented. It's not that far fetched of an idea seeing as how at APSU we are uploading all of our work onto "LiveText". What else do you think the next step could be? Heck! Next, let's get rid of those desks that feel more like a slab of rock the Flintstones would sit on than a "desk". I do feel confident that teachers and professor would still be needed just as much, if not more, than they are today. School 2.0 could be a more comfortable environment for students to learn and teachers to teach. If only I had enough plutonium to jump into the future at 88 m.p.h., but I'm fresh out. Only time will tell.