Moving Myself to Web 2.0

In only a week, my understanding of the most relevant technology on the web has increased significantly.  I've given consideration to the collaborative power of cloud computing, particularly as my wife and I edited the same document simultaneously with Google Docs.  While I still have some misgivings about blogging in general I can see how it can provide a valuable way to present and discuss ideas.  Even as I write this I anticipate what dialogue may be opened.  Coming from a world in which content as always been driven and dictated by a single author as the "expert" on a subject, the fact that I even have reason to consider what may take place as a result of anything I post is empowering.  The empowering factor is not that I am in control of what is or isn't posted on the Internet but rather that as a mathematics teacher I choose to structure my class in a style that parallels what I see a blog as having the potential to do.  Putting an idea on the table for consideration and then watching my students discuss and argue their ideas as they form concepts is the ultimate empowering experience for those students that choose to be involved in it.  I still mold the direction of the conversation as "the expert" to be sure it doesn't diverge too far.

Also paralleled is the same transition I underwent as a beginning teacher who thought my job was to profess knowledge to kids so that they got it and demonstrated it later.  i.e. show kids how to do it and them have them practice it a bunch until they "got it".  This is very much the model for a traditional web page, where the author is the expert and holds all power.  What that person decides is what goes.  Add a comments section and the web page is now an interactive classroom where people can talk about their ideas.  Now allow all students to ask interesting questions, share their ideas and discuss them and we have reached a blogging level where anyone can drive the discussion in any way they might want. 

Fascinating stuff this technology.