Today in class, I stopped and looked at my students and thought, "Oh dear, I need to add more challenging Web 2.0 tools in my class." I watched this video the other night, but did not feel compelled to write until I let it sink in. Education is changing and I better be on board because my students will be the ones behind in the end. Today in my class, I had students question each other, with valid "google search could not answer this" questions. Instead of moving on, these students tried hard to find these answers. The question was about if the United States had a different form of government. Collaborating, and searching through WIKIpedia and others alike, these students truly desired to find the answer. Like in the video, people want to supply information just to have information available. What a wonderful idea and what a great thing to teach my students. I want to make sure that my students are just not sitting there, but collaborating with each other and on Web 2.0 tools.
After watching this, again I start questioning what I am doing as an educator. Am I being the best 21 century educator? And if I am not, what I am going to do to change it? Clearly the message is that education should not be focused around standardized testing and blocking children into the educational system from 8am-3pm because they are from the ages 5-18. My paradigm has shirted, I see all around one-to-one student to teacher academies and online courses that students can complete as fast or as slow as they would like. However, what about the majority of public schools in the San Diego district. What is happening there? Are changes occurring or is it to radical that nothing will ever happen? It is a fear of mine that the same lines that were told to me back in the early 2000s to get me to work, I am going to use on a completely new generation. The video discusses how college does not guarantee a job like it might have done 15 years ago. Motivation to get a higher education cannot come from the desire to "get a job", but to be the "best" at the job. I am hoping this year, I will bring more divergent thinking in my classroom because I do not want my students education to stop them from learning.