Web 2.0

Okay, I'll admit it. When new ideas and technologies emerge I am not the first one on the bandwagon. That is probably why I am so far behind in exploring the RSS, podcasting, social networking, and a host of other popular trends on the Internet (could also be a time factor). Web 2.0 is a concept I have not fully grasped. It seems to mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. My understanding of it is that Web 2.0 refers to a group of technologies that makes the Net much more interactive. I would add that it makes it much more dangerous as well., but I will save this sentiment to explore in a future posting (maybe).

My goal for the coming year is to learn more about Web 2.0. Here are some of my questions:

• Can I use it (or parts of it) as a teaching tool for my classroom?
• How does it impact distance learning?
  

First, I have to figure out what it is? In an effort to learn more I have downloaded the "Coming of Age: An Introduction to the New World Wide Web" from Ewan McIntosh's blog. I must confess that I have a hard time reading anything of length on the computer and it is too big to print out. I leave for my vacation today and I plan to give it a crack when I get home at the end of this month (along with preparing to teach a new school year, starting up Lego Robotics again, and the MDDE 604 course I am taking this fall).

To get my feet wet, I have been exploring RSS feeds and as a result I have setup an account on Bloglines. What is Bloglines? It is a web site that acts as a news aggregator. You can subscribe to web content (like blogs) and Bloglines will keep track of them all in one place for you. I like it because it helps tame the information overload on the web. For those not technologically inclined it is one of those things you have to try to understand.