Education 2.0 and our Digital Tool Sites

When we talk about Education 2.0, our final project falls perfectly into this topic. Education used to be going to class, reading your textbook, doing assignments, and then taking tests, with the final result being a diploma or a degree. How much does that degree really mean in our world today? Yes, it does usually give you a higher salary, but what does it have to do with your abilities? Does it mean that you are proficient in the field you studied?

The fact is, having a degree doesn't mean that you know everything in your given field. What it means, (hopefully), is that you have learned how to learn, and that you can continue your own education outside of the classroom by your own motivation. Does the schooling we receive nowadays help us accomplish that? Hopefully, but I'm afraid that there are still many classes across the country, and around the world, that are still stuck in the traditional form of classrooms.

This is why you HAVE to take your own education into your own hands. You need to become proficient in your field, AND you need to learn how you can continue to learn throughout your life. Without the ability of continuing your own education, you will be left behind in this rapidly changing world.

Enter: Our group's final project. The tools that we are organizing on our blog and wiki sites are there as a source for others to continue their education on their own through the many wonderful tools available online. Without being able to consume (intaking useful and usable information through use of the internet), create (adding new, and noteworthy contributions to the internet), and connect (making connections with others in your given field so that you can continue to learn and collaborate with others throughout your life), you will never be able to truly be a help to your given field, or to the world in general.
We are hoping that these websites will eventually help others to learn many of the wonderful tools that we have learned to use in this class. We are hoping that they will also give others the ability to contribute the tools they have found useful to our sites, so that this project can be ongoing.