Apr 08 2008
The Benefits of Going Global In Your Chair
While perusing my feeds I came across a phrase by Lucy Gray from the Infinite Thinking Machine
It’s not about “competing in a global economy” for me…it’s about experiencing all that the world has to offer. I want kids and other adults to realize that there is so much out there to discover and explore.
Lucy was discussing the Global Education Ning network and a meeting that had taken place with other educators around the world. I would love for the blocks in my school to be removed and have my students have access to social networks being used in a constructive manner like Ning. All students should be exposed to the wealth of information in the Web 2.0 world, especially the students who never travel out of their city/town, or think that worldly exposure only comes to those who are privileged. I was one of those kids, I am grateful that I am more globally minded now, but I can’t help wondering how my educational experience would have been different if the Web 2.0 tools were available back when I was in school. (We didn’t even have the Internet then!)When I think about how much my life has changed because of the global mind set of Web 2.0 it is staggering. Everything down to the way I think has changed! For example on the personal subject of vaccinating my son- before I would use google or maybe a meta search engine to find results on vaccine reactions. I would filter through resources and sometimes be satisfied with the results but often I would be left with even more questions than before. Questions I would like to ask a person who has the subjective experience or resources I can use.
Instead I use my Netvibes to keep me up on new search results, where it all neatly gets filed under my ‘Vaccine’ tab. I use others’ bookmarks in Del.icio.us and share mine. Subscribing to blogs is just another way another way I start my research, but I also gain valuable subjective experience. To round everything out I usually post any comments in my New Moms Yahoo group where all our topics are neatly searchable for future reference. In many ways using Web 2.0 it is like having a ‘hive’ mind. (I can’t help the Star Trek reference) I can consume, produce and deliver more information now than I ever could, and none of my information is static, it is ever changing. Having access to people and resources around the world has completely altered my paradigm. I find News about the U.S. through other countries to get a varied perspective on the current state of affairs. Five years ago I doubt I would have even thought about the ‘lens’ that articles and News comes from, blogging has taught me to look deeper.
