Counting on the Web

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"What does Web 2.0 mean?" Definitely a question I've heard. And if I'm leading a workshop or near a group of teachers, they always seem to stop what they are doing and listen intently to the answer. The first time I was asked (several years ago), I found it daunting to answer, even though I had researched it a bit and talked about it with my colleagues casually. I fell back on a popular Read (1.0) and Read/Write (2.0) description or a one way street and two way street analogy. I wouldn't use those anymore, and I was surprised to discover that the inventor of the World-Wide-Web, Tim Berners-Lee in an article written in 2006, states when discussing the version number, “nobody even knows what it means”.  It was another Tim that coined the phrase 'Web 2.0', Tim O'Reilly. He writes, "it was never meant as a version number." Rather, the expression "was about the return of the web after the dot-com bust," he explains. "There won't be a Web 3.0 until everybody says, 'OK, the web died again,' and we rediscover it." And yet it is common to hear about Web 3.0 and even 4.0 and 5.0 without any web 'death'. It appears to me to be a discrepancy among the 'techies and the lay people' in the computing world.  Since I consider myself to be in the second group, I will continue with those definitions and graphics. 
As early as 2006 you could find articles such as this Bloomberg Business blog that discussed 3.0.  They came up with many predictions and ideas for its definition, pretty amazing since they were still getting used to 2.0.  One of the front runners was to continue the Read - Write idea and add Execute.  It was/is also considered the Semantic Web.   Now the definitions are getting a little more complex.

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In fact, if you really find this interesting you may want to read this article by Flat World Business about 4.0 (The Mobile Web) and 5.0 (The Emotional Web). As a teacher with only a few years left before retirement, I wonder how much 4 and 5 will impact me in the classroom.  I do know that 3.0 certainly has.  These past 2 years have seen activities such as Hour of Code start to have a presence in education. Here in my hometown, Year of Code Waterloo Region launched this week! The events are incredible and the connection to education inevitable. Students are, want to, and are good at content creation. Teachers need to be aware of this and be ready to guide, allow growth and encourage the 3.0 world.  It's all about jumping in!

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The student's world is and should be changing.  The potential for every student, regardless of their abilities, to have access to whatever technology will bring them to their full potential is upon us. Whether they need speech to text applications or complex coding activities to challenge them, all students should be allowed to learn at their level.  The field of Special Education should be buzzing with hardware and programs that accommodate student needs at all grade levels. And certainly when it comes to assessment, there should not be an insistence on paper/pencil tasks ever again. Tim and Tim worked hard to bring advancements to our education field, we need to use them.