With the advent of the web 2.0 technology in 2004, a term coined so as to provide a platform to people where they can make use the web tools to enhance and improve their work over the internet.
The Internet has brought along a lot of changes with itself. People are getting closer if not physically then virtually. It is easier to stay connected with friends over the net, irrespective of any location on earth. Hence the phrase, the world is a small place, holds true in this case. Internet has somehow changed every aspect of people’s lives. Therefore, education being an integral part has not remained untouched.
With education, e-learning has taken a whole new meaning. There are programs on various subjects available on the net now that help students to study in a different manner than in their classrooms. Many reports suggest that these are quite effective. This trend has caught on with the students’ big time!
They might prefer sitting holed up in their room just surfing the net all day long. Now they don’t really have to go out to meet someone, they can just catch up with friends online. There is a new term for socializing too, it is social networking. So if you are not on Face book or Orkut, shame on you! Even professionals can stay connected through networking sites like Linked in etc. you can not only stay connected but also get to know more about the industry trends. This is because you are now connected to the industry it self. Students have a further advantage. They can practically study everything online. Websites like monkey notes or pink monkey offer online summaries and synopsis of literature texts, essays from various paper presentations are available online too.
Students also can get access to journals if they are willing to take a paid membership. The Web 2.0 technology also offers a lot of free we tools. These tools are pod casting, blogging, you tube etc. with blogs students can post stuff related to their personal or academic life. Its more like a daily journal. This trend is being caught on by professors too.
More and more teaching staff is getting into blogging. They write not only about their personal life but also about their subjects. Some professors prefer to email the extra research material to their class. This is because then the class can read over the weekend and be prepared for a lengthy discussion on Monday morning. Blogging has also helped students who were introverts.
With blogging it has encouraged students to get original. They will try and think out of the box, knowing that their teachers and peers might be reading it. Also with positive comments, it will help boost their confidence. With pod cast, students can share videos they make over the weekend or about a trip or a party they attended.
Similarly many universities are now video shooting introductory videos with their in house professors. So now the aspiring students or new admissions can view them after they download the videos from the website of the college. This helps to know what their teachers look like, what is to be expected out of them and what will the course year be like.
So if you are really not aware of all these free web tools you must be a cuckoo! You have got to be living on the moon to unaware of the reform that is taking place in the education sphere. Everything is going virtual and it is the in thing. So if you don’t know, you better find out soon!