It’s not often I write a blog post that I think has relevance on both my personal and education blogs, but this morning I wrote the following post:-

I am well aware of the power of Web 2.0 – some of my closest friends were ‘friends’ online for years before I met them (and some of them I’ve still yet to meet face-to-face). I sell my beads online, and I collaborate and network with educators all over the world. But this morning I had an experience that drove home to me just how interconnected the new Global Village can really be.

I received a comment on my last post from Red Rock Creations. She seems to have found my Blog randomly, either browsing through Blogger, or perhaps through the One World, One Heart event – I’m not exactly sure. Having liked the beads I posted here, she has followed the links in my sidebar to my new Artfire store. One of my floral implosion beads has caught her eye, and she has Twittered about the technique. SquareOneBeadsis one of Red Rock Creations many followers on Twitter (she has over 1000) and recognises my work. We have been friends for several years, through our association on 2 Glass Bead Forums. We met f2f in 2007 at the ISGB Gathering. SquareOneBeads lets me know on the forum that someone has Twittered about my beads. That’s the first I knew she used Twitter, so I search for her username and ‘follow’ her, and am then able to find Red Rock Creations on Twitter, ‘follow’ her, and see the original post.
Wow.

This whole experience has really made my day. I find it incredibly cool how all of my online social networks came together in this way. And there is a lot to learn from this experience, about connectivity, networking, the lack of anonymity online, and the reality that even in the huge realm of the Internet, someone we know may be ‘listening’. So play nice!

While this experience related to my beads, and my personal use of social networking tools, I feel it has relevance for educators also.  We often hear about ‘Digital Natives’ and ‘Digital Immigrants’ (and I have spoken on here before about how those terms frustrate me, as I use the Internet as richly as any ‘Digital Native’) and we often refer to the level of involvement our student have in a digital world.  But teachers may not always be aware of how very rich and interconnected that world can be. 

When we require kids to ‘power down’ when they come to school, we are potentially cutting them of from a wealth of resources and rich experiences that could be invaluable. 

 Of course, on the other hand there is the issue of whether many of our students are actually using the Internet at anywhere near this level.  I find that while students maybe be totally comfortable with technology in all its forms, their use of that technology, on the whole, is quite shallow.  Using Myspace and Wikipedia is not demonstrating an understanding of the power of the tool at their disposal, or any particular skill at using that tool.

As always, our students are individuals, with a range of experiences, skills and knowledge, but I believe it is our responsibility to be aware of the possibilities of Web 2.0, and to guide and educate our students in it’s use, producing responsible digital citizens.