The Next Step

I am very excited to see what the internet and technology offers us next. The semantic web or web 3.0 is not that far away. New technology is being released every day. In fact the iPad was released in Australia today to hoards of people waiting overnight to get their hands on the new technology.

Web 3.0 will affect what we teach, and how, enormously. An article by Jason Ohler http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0840.pdf states education will change in numerous ways. Firstly ‘knowledge construction’ – the way we search the internet will drastically change. Instead of giving a list of websites, the search engines will combine all information into one multimedia report containing websites, blogs, wikis etc on the specific topic. Because of SNS the computer will have a good idea about the person you are and tailer the results to suit you. And finally Ohler talks about the change in learning institutions. There will be a shift away from centred learning institutions to students being able to access work across different courses in different institutions.

I think this next step is exciting and slightly scary. With technology becoming so prevent we need to make sure we use it an appropriate ways. People still need to have their own identity and interact with people one on one. Students will need to remember this new technology is only another tool they can use to find information and learn. It is just another alternative to a book or a paper and