Upon entering English 3241 and hearing the term “web 2.0″ for the first time, I had no idea what this term meant. It turns out that I have been using web 2.0 for some time now without realizing it. Web 2.0 is the web that we have all known and used, just more interactive. Web content in web 2.0 is actually user-generated. This web format encourages user collaboration and interactive sharing. Some examples of web 2.0 applications would be blogging websites, social networking websites, web based communities and wikis.
I remember when I first opened up my very own xanga page in middle school. This was in the seventh grade. Since then I have had a myspace and a facebook page, all of which I have used on a weekly basis. I have also posted videos and viewed videos on youtube.com, read and edited wiki pages, and participated in web based communities. This was all just for personal use though. As a student, I have used blogging to communicate with my teachers and fellow classmates to collaborate for our classroom activities. I feel that as a student, using the web to communicate with my teachers has been nothing but beneficial. Much to my annoyance, it was also very convenient for my parents when I was in grade school. It allowed them to take a peek at what I was busying myself with in school as well as how efficiently I was applying myself in my classes.
Having benefited from the use of web 2.0 applications as a student and witnessing the advantages it gave my parents, I will certainly be putting web 2.0 to use as a teacher. It will allow me to have extra class time with my students without the actual classroom, I will be able to give extra help to those who need it when I cannot see students in person, and I will also be able to communicate with parents and vice versa.
