Friday, May 15, 2009

Balancing Learning & Safety with Web 2.0 in schools

Welcome to the first issue of School Network Advisor, the new monthly newsletter from Lightspeed Systems. We are excited to bring you news about important school networking issues and technologies!

It seems like talk about Web 2.0 technologies is everywhere you turn these days. From social networking to video sharing and blogging, Web 2.0 has transformed the Internet, and has the power to transform education.

On his web site Tim O’Reilly defines Web 2.0 as:

Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. Chief among those rules is this: Build applications that harness network effects to get better the more people use them.

By definition, Web 2.0 technologies are collaborative and social. They encourage discussion and sharing. All of these things make them well-suited to an active, rather than passive, learning environment. But while the use of Web 2.0 technologies in schools can enhance learning and help students develop essential 21st-century skills, concerns about safety, security, bandwidth, and more prevent many schools from utilizing these resources.

Lightspeed is committed to helping schools balance learning and safety in a Web 2.0 environment.

> Learn about the new Educational Video Library (part of Web Access Manager), which lets teachers safely share approved YouTube videos with students
> Check out the Web 2.0 resources in the Lightspeed Wiki for more information, including results from a recent survey on Web 2.0 in schools, a Tech & Learning webinar, blogs, and more.


(Joel Heinrichs, CEO, Lightspeed Systems)

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