Aug 22 2007
Web 2.0 - Get over it!
Far too much of the focus in the edtech space is placed on the tool with the biggest hype at the time. Twitter, tumblr, blogger, wiki, whatever’s getting the hype is the one that we’re trying to figure out how to teach our students to use to better their educational experience.
GET OVER IT
Teach students real skills. Teach them how to communicate their thoughts and ideas effectively regardless of the tool or the medium. A well written concept, carefully thought out and shared, is powerful whether it’s in a wiki, on a printed page, or in an email. We can spend time teaching them how to use Wordpress or Drupal and for the time while those tools are en vogue we will have done them a service. When those tools fall away to others the truth remains that we have saddled the students with knowledge they can no longer use.
I’ll draw a parallel to the world of computer programming. A programmer who is an absolute guru in Cobol can be viewed the same as your scholar in Sanskrit. They will succeed in a very narrow, specific niche. A programmer who has learned how to program well using sound techniques and methodologies will be successful regardless of the language(s) they need to learn.
Stop wasting time debating which is the best blogging tool, the best wiki, the easiest twitter clone. Get to reading, digesting, and producing content. Let the tools settle themselves out.
