Web 2.0: Read, Discuss, Contribute, Collaborate.

About?  About this site, the who, what, where and why of the existence and hopes for the growth and just as important, what this site is not.

The Who

The site was created and is maintained by Professors Richard Glass and Marsha Spiegelman of Nassau Community College in Garden City, NY.  All material generated by R. Glass and M. Spiegelman (site administrators)  is copyrighted.

The What

What is contained here is the material and ideas not only expressed by the site administrators, by others who can see or have ideas on applying Web 2.0 tools to education of both the individual but also of those (primarily students) around us.

It is our hope that this site will be an evolving entity collecting both the concrete and implemented applications of Web 2.0 along with ideas and suggestions of how these tools can be used.  It is our hope that academicians from different locations, of varied disciplines and different views will share their ideas and inspire others to incorporate these tools into their professional development.

The Where

Initially, the site was created using the third party blog hosting site WordPress.com which makes available the open-source software known as WordPress available at WordPress.org.

The Why

As the Internet along with the information contained there continues to grow and expand, we in academia have a responsibility to show our students how to find, access and evaluate said information.  We must incorporate into our teaching methodologies those tools that allow us access this information using the same tools, terminology and technology used everyday by our students.  Next time you are standing in front of a class, ask them Who has a MySpace, Facebook or other social network  site? and then ask, How many of you update it?

What The Site is Not

This is not a high-tech, how to,  first let me start with bits and bytes or On the first day, there was Arpanet site.  That is not to say you will not find useful information, links to sites to get you started and other technical information but that is the the theme.   

So

Sit back, read (surf – archaic) , discuss, contribute and collaborate.  Ponder the possibilities, give opinions and ask questions ( start blogging) on how to best seamlessly integrate this technology into our curricula for the next net generation entering our institutions.