For many years there has been as much excitement as frustration with the world wide web. Personally, I have remained an optimist while realizing the problems and difficulties that many have complained about. The dial up vs. high speed access, slow to load websites, incompatible programs, patches and updates, viruses, trojans, worms and popups, highjacked home pages, spam- the list is long.
Technology and the internet is constantly evolving and in my humble opinion, continues to improve with the talents of the developers, businesses and the people that contribute to it. Communication on every level - is instant if you want it to be. Our world can be as large or as small as we want it to be with just a few clicks of the mouse. Almost anything that we can imagine for entertainment, commerce, or education is available on the internet.
There will still be times that the technology does not work perfectly, but compared to where things were just a year or two ago, computers, the internet, and technology in general have come a long way. Will the frustrations go away? Some might, but other challenges (ones that we cannot imagine) like security and identity theft and others will take their place. Things that we cannot even imagine today will be changing our lives. I have hope that the next 5 years will bring changes that are as exciting as the web 2.0 tools that we are using today. I am looking forward to it.
Hi there
ReplyDeleteWhat a start!
I am sure you found THAT first post the hardest to write but the result certainly is worth it.
I will keep checking your blog developments!
Isabelle
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com
One thing I tell my teachers about the frustration with today's technology is to remember what film strips were like when they broke, or overhead bulbs blew up, the one copy of To Kill a Mockingbird in the library was checked out, or when ink wells dried up. Point is, teachers need to remember that throughout the history of teaching, things broke and didn't work as well as we'd hope. So, overall, the times that technology helps or quickens our work greatly outweights the times it frustrates us.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the new blog.
oh...found your blog through diigo.
ReplyDeleteI too am amazed at the innovation that is occurring everyday on the internet. The quickness and ease of communicating is simply unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I carry fears. One's I think where you find hope. All of these wonderful Web2.0 tools that we are using seem to be in Beta. With Screencast.com's recent shift out of Beta, to a space now which requires payment for service, I wonder if some doors will be closing. Voicethread.com is another where some functionality is free, but to really utlize it you must pay.
What wil the future bring? New programs will always pop up, they will float around in Beta and be free to use. But I fear many of the tools we are using now we begin to require payment for their service.
mr. kimmi, I will not disagree with you about the possible costs associated with the new applications. Companies (and the people that run them) need a profit in order to keep development and ingenuity alive. I hope that the companies that continue to develop them will make them low cost for educators to use. As long as costs are reasonable, I think that the benefits to the students using the technology can still be realized. I shudder to think of all of the costs that school districts have had in the past on text books! More school districts need to start rethinking that. Thanks so much for commenting and reading my blog!
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