Web 2.0 The Virtual Wild Wild West

摘要

In the 1960s, the abbreviation WWW stood not for the World Wide Web but for the Wild Wild West. As a child, it was one of my favorite television shows-a cross between Gunsmoke and Mission Impossible. I think I liked it because of the really cool gadgets the character James West always used to get out of trouble. Today I often feel as though we are working in a different type of "wild West" as we wrestle with the Web resources in our schools. They bring tremendous learning advantages to our students. However, they have opened a frontier of challenges for educational leaders. This is especially true for the rapidly expanding realm of Web 2.0 tools. This wild West of software development is generating new, innovative tools that allow students and teachers alike to leverage technology in powerful new ways. Some of the more common or popular ones include: del.icio.us, chatzy. com, flickr.com, teachertube.com, secondlife. com/education, and jott.com. In the hands of skillful teachers, these Web tools can add significant educational advantages in a classroom setting. However, when using these resources as a core of your district instructional program, they present unique challenges.