Moving through 2.0 and How do I Reflect on this?

It has been a while since my last post, but I have been working on the next steps of 23 things on a stick. The next thing to do after creating this blog was to watch video and read about Web 2.0 as it pertains to the library world. Over the past several weeks I have reflected on the use of the Internet, blogs, wikis, and social networking sites in education. It is an exciting concept to move into a new era. I think that if education wants to better prepare students for the world they will live in we have to be open to change. How much has the classroom changed since I was a student in the 70's and 80's? How much has the world we live in changed? Do those to questions match the way they should?

I don't believe the reason to continue doing something is because that is the way it has always been done. However, I have a problem with letting go of printed material thinking all that can be replaced by what I find on the Internet. If we are going to use less printed resources for research, then we need to spend time teaching students how to use the information on the Internet, especially in finding reliable sources. We need to be sure to teach how to site information ( like us old folks learned to do bibliographies when we used books), and we need to talk about plagiarism, copyrights, and other similar issues. Can we ignore or minimize the importance of written and published research by accredited authors and proofed and reviewed by colleagues who are experts in the same field?

My other conflict is about safety. I feel very responsible for where I send my students in Cyberspace. In years past I have spent a lot of time teaching the danger of sharing information on the internet, and now I am reading about using social networking as a classroom tool. That seems like a significant contridictution to me.

As I go forward with my 23 things, these two questions will be in the foreground of my learning.

In the Beginning

I have familiarized myself with the 23 things and am excited to get going with this project. I have obviously completed the "create your own blog" section, however, I cannot figure out how to get my saved avatar on my blog! I am going to check this item as completed and hope that I will find a clue that helps me with the avatar thing later. So ends my first post!