The Read/Write Web

• “The Educator’s Guide to the Read/Write Web”, by Will Richardson
  
  Overview
  
  The Read/Write Web is a forum that has revolutionized journalism, politics, business, and the classroom experience. In his article, “The Educator’s Guide to the Read/Write Web”, Will Richardson explains how advances in the Internet open up new avenues for learning and sharing information. Blogs can serve as a powerful tool where students can create and share their data, work, and thoughts with a global audience. The Read/Write Web has provided a wealth of information to the public in the form of blogs, wikis, and Really Simple Syndications (RSS), such as podcasts.
  
  Richardson points out that the quality of student productions greatly improves when the audience is broadened beyond solely the teacher. The flood of information students can now access with the click of a button demands that educators prepare students adequately for synthesizing and evaluating the quality of sources. The scope of literacy has expanded beyond the bounds of simply reading and writing. Today’s students need to understand authenticity, and develop editing skills instead of more simple reading skills. The Read/Write Web takes learning to another level: students have access to professional scientists and authors, classrooms have no walls, and the potential for collaboration takes on new meaning.
  
  
  Reference Points:
  
  1. The Internet is no longer simply a place where digital learners consume information.
  2. Teachers are using blogs to build classroom resource portals and to foster online learning communities.
  3. A wiki is a website that anyone can edit at any time.
  4. There are no technological safeguards against a user putting bogus information into the site or vandalizing an entry; the community of people using the wiki keeps the information accurate by policing itself.
  5. Podcasting, which can best be described as creating amateur home radio programs and widely distributing them on the Web.
  6. The awareness of even a small audience can significantly change the way a student approaches writing and other school assignments.
  7. They [students] need to know how to identify the source’s reputation, compare the information with what’s already known, and make a judgment about its authenticity and relevance.
  8. Digital tools allow students to work together outside school
  9. The Web can also act as a student notebook or portfolio,
  a searchable repository capturing evidence of what a student ahs learned throughout his or her education.
  
  
  
  Reflection:
  
  Just one week into my teaching internship, I was rudely awakened to the alarming fact that many students have not a clue what makes an authentic source. Wikipedia is EVERYWHERE! Bad sources are plentiful and it is essential that we provide students with the skills necessary to navigate and sift through extremely accessible heaps of information. Yes, indeed, blogs and podcasts can be empowering tools that unite voices often unheard or muted by the mainstream media, however, we mustn’t forget to listen, read, absorb with a critical lens.