Web 2.0 tools are vast, powerful, and here to stay. Educators can use these tools in educational settings to an extensive extent. The ability to organize information, have information sent to you through RSS feeds, and share that information with students and colleagues is revolutionary. A world of information, which can be selected by the teacher, is literally at the fingertips. No longer is the teacher the one solitary resource available to students; through Web 2.0 tools, collaboration is possible with numerous experts and the collective intelligence of the human population.
Unfortunately, there are number of obstacles that educators have to overcome in order to implement these Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. All of the tools are online tools, and where security and safety measures are in place, there will always be risk and danger when sending students into the global, predator-filled Internet. Some tools require users to sign-up using a valid email address, which can lead to spam and the selling of personal information. Furthermore, convincing administration that the tools are useful enough to put in the resources to ensure as much safety as possible is another difficult task. Where most of these tools are very easy to setup and use, some valuable instructional time may be lost setting up and training students to use these tools. A school funding, implementing, and maintaining the technology for these tools would be very expensive.
Technical problems are another issue. Web 2.0 allows for and promotes a lack of hard copy paperwork. But, if a server or hard drive crashes, potential lose of data will occur, depending on how much data, if any, was backed-up. The security of the Web 2.0 tools is also suspect, as computer hackers, which may even be some of the students in the course, could break into the servers and change information. In sharing files and information in these tools, great care must be exercised to follow copyright laws and not share copyrighted materials.
Despite these problems, Web 2.0 tools are ushering in a new generation of sharing and collaboration that will not stop. Educators need to get on board with these tools in order to enhance lessons and not be left behind or out of excellent educational resources. The web will continue to escalate with the emergence of Web 3.0 and beyond. Educators and school systems cannot afford to stay offline in a global communication era.
For more information see these websites:
http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/software-services-applications-internet-social/12384575-1.html
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