Emerging Technology Reflections

After two days of learning and working with several emerging technologies (blogs, wikis, del.icio.us, furl, and flickr) I've come to a few tentative conclusions. First, the possibilities are exciting. I can find and share information much more easily than before. I can piggyback on the work and views of others as I try to formulate my own opinions on how these tools can be used. I don’t have to find a convenient time and be sitting in the same room with a group of people to collaborate.

The fact that information can be pushed and pulled in these new ways from so many sources that were not available until recently presents a new set of challenges to educators. My students really are growing up in a world that is connected differently than the one I did. One of the things we strive to do is make connections between what we do in the classroom and the “real world”. I wonder if the real world that many of us teachers are connecting to is a different one than the real world our students are growing up in.

I also wonder what kind of convergence we can expect to see in these tools and services. I’ve got flickr for pictures and del.icio.us for bookmarks and a separate set of tags for both. I’ve got a blog to express my ideas and opinions and wikis to collaborate with others. I’ve got RSS to tie it all together. It’s not hard to use them, but it should be easier.

dgsact3