Task 1b - reader 1, initial thoughts

I thought i would begin this task now as i feel there's going to be a lot to say and really looking forward to reading other posts and views on this.

Honestly, i had absolutely no idea what web 2.0 is. Forgive my lack of knowledge. Despite that fact that i use social media on a daily basis such as facebook, twitter, google (what on earth did we do before this?!) and youtube i genuinely had never heard of social networking being referred too as web 2.0. After discussing this with my peers i was relieved to know that they were also blissfully unaware of this title and so i was surprised to learn that it was such a highly debated subject. I feel i am lucky to understand it as much as i do! The internet is such a vast, incredible thing, the possibilities and opportunities it provides are endless.

Facebook for example is the place for our generation where social networking really seemed to take off. Millions of users including myself and i find that i'm getting all my information on whats going on in the world from my news feed. It allows people to come together as equals, mixing networks of people etc but this raised a question i have asked myself before; how many people who are my 'friend' on facebook are my friends? How many of my 'followers' on twitter had i met in real life, or even spoken to virtually?  I use both for personal and professional gain but i wonder how much of this is necessary or benefiting my professional or personal life. Facebook is great for advertising my classes and communicating with friends and family who are not local - hearing facebook talked about as an 'intelligent' was interesting as i had never considered this before.

I am someone who uses web 2.0 for learning. I had never considered that i was learning through 'communicating and sharing' with others until reading this. I am a member of several groups on facebook such as Dance Teacher Hub, dance teachers in need and ISTD dance teachers, where other teachers post questions about running of dance schools, problems they encounter through this line of work and sharing music choices and teaching techniques. i have often posted queries on these pages and commented on the posts of others, therefore learning and sharing with others. However an ethical consideration can be made here as how true is the information you receive from others?

Youtube is another thing that i use regularly to answer all kinds of questions if google doesn't have the answer! For example when learning how to start a blog and upload and embed links, i went to youtube and found my answer!

Whilst the possibilities of the internet are infinite, there many negatives. Issues such as cyber bullying are rife and its awful how easy it is for people to attack from behind a computer screen. Peer pressure can be felt due to all the images splayed on the internet as how we should look or dress causing further distress for young people. People do not understand the dangers of connecting with people they don't know via websites or how hurtful the comments they make can be. This is something that needs to be addressed further, i know much education about the dangers of this etc goes on within schools and is so important for this generation as they have been born into it.

The amount of information that is so easily accessed, or 'shared' by anyone is scary. Just yesterday a very young girl i teach came to me and said she'd been online and read something about the ebola virus and was she going to get it?

Web 2.0 is a wonderful thing but it is so important to use it for the right reasons and particularly safely in terms of young people.

Ethical considerations

There are many issues for professionals in terms of social media, such as confidentiality, image consent forms and information sharing, particularly when working with children. One of the most interesting statements i came across when reading further was 'teachers are probably the most vulnerable group, in danger from violations of boundary between ones personal and professional life.' I had never heard this statement made before but is some thing i have been constantly aware of since teaching. I make sure that my privacy settings are as high as they can be and that students would be unable to find ,me on any social networking sights so as not to cross that boundary. There can of course be 2 sides to ones life, their personal and professional image, it is how you wish to be portrayed.