Education and Web 2.0

Posted by arvind s grover Thu, 02 Mar 2006 22:18:48 GMT

In case you haven’t noticed, the world wide web has changed substantially in the last few years. I am not talking about the number of websites, as those have been increasing since the web started. I am talking about two major facors: Blogs and the Web 2.0 movement – the 2.0 is referring to a new generation of websites, those the act less like standard websites, and more like programs on your computer. Try the example that lets you drag items into a box on the page. This was not possible a couple years back.
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What does this new web mean for educators? Here is how it has impacted my life:

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Student E-Mails with Teachers

Posted by arvind s grover Wed, 01 Mar 2006 21:10:02 GMT

outside_laptop I came across a post Email and the Student-Teacher Relationship by Professor Tyler Williams that discusses a New York Times article on students e-mailing teachers (you have to pay to read the whole thing). The professors in the article are highly critical of the informal language and conversation used by students. This is a tough question for me. Do we encourage students to communicate with us (teachers) in a way that is natural for them, or a way that is natural for us? When they move on to be bosses in their own world, will e-mail look the same as we expect it to?

My aunt from England e-mails me very formal e-mails with proper salutations, signatures and punctuation. While my 22 year old brother is all lower case, “U for “you,” and “R” for “are.” Is one more valid? Is one more professional? Definitely a difference, but not sure how substantial it is. Should professors be ok with receiving any e-mail that is intelligible, or does format matter? I think many would argue that verbal communication has standards and so must electronic communication.

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