Last thing/s (Thing 23)

At the risk of sounding like a cop-out, I feel that I've been perpetually trying to evaluate the content of the 23 Things, and I am not sure how much I've left to say...

I guess the first thing the course has done is open my eyes to the dizzying possibilities of Web 2.0, and the relative ease-of-use of many of them. This in itself has helped me to think differently about the possibilities of education, and schooling in particular. I particular like the "social" aspect of Web 2.0, as I believe the whole point of school is to be a learning community. In my context, with limited resources, Web 2.0 means far more is available than I would once have thought...as long as we have the technology to support it.

I am still uncertain about how to think about the merits of Web 2.0, as impressive as they seem. One man in the "Changing to Learn" clip commented on how we are witnessing "the death of education," which seems somewhat outrageous to me. My main question is what becomes of teachers and mentors in Web 2.0. I happen to think the role of the teacher is something more than a conduit of information, or that teaching is much more like coaching. I also think there is great value in having someone else decide what things one is to learn. After all, who of us in this course would have simply "chosen"--on our own, to learn about these "23 things?"

Thus, I'll be most keen to see if and how a teacher-student relationship works in the world of Web 2.0, and if at some point I'll need to unplug...or to completely reimagine the way I understand teaching and learning.