Interact

Interactivity is a one-word summary to describe the new relationship of technology and learning. This site is not for passive consumers. This site is for those who want to interact with content and create their own to become active participants in teaching and learning. In terms of interactivity, the implications and possibilities for broader uses of technology in education are huge.

Collaborate

This site also provides opportunities to collaborate. The plethora of technologies available today make coming together real and possible. Web 2.0 is not just a place to retrieve information. It’s a place to interact, to connect, and to create new content. Net Geners continue to build new skills and strategies for collaboration. We believe that the free exchange of ideas can truly change the world. Here at gen2oh, we invite you to share your knowledge, ask questions, and comment on what you see.

 

Innovate and Create

Did you know that the brains of Net Geners are actually wired differently? Brain science tells us that the brain changes itself in response to thought patterns and behaviors. Net Geners aren’t the smartest generation because they were just born that way. They’re the smartest because they work their brains in new and amazing ways.

“Neurons that fire together wire together” (Bartels, 2008).

The creative spirit of Net Geners is not just a mood or a passing phase. A recent Washington University School of Medicine study proves it (Curwood).

Net Geners don’t just read and digest information anymore. Instead, they read, digest, connect, share, and then add or create new content. This site offers a standing invitation to create.

 

We hope to generate collaborative content on this site, the result of many working together to make something new and innovative. We won’t just read about environmental or global issues. Here, we’ll brainstorm and create conclusions. We might plant a school garden and post about it. We might organize a community event and capture it here. At gen2oh.net, we’ll work together to DO something about the issues that challenge our world today.

 

Apply

If today’s educators really want to take advantage of the emerging aptitudes of modern youth, we ought to ensure that learning does not end with understanding, but rather expands into application. Bloom’s Taxonomy has been pushing educators for half a century to coach students beyond remembering and understanding to analyzing, evaluating, applying, and creating (Bloom’s Taxonomy). One perk of technology is that it can create instantaneous means by which Net Geners can actually apply new knowledge in virtual environments. Here at gen2oh, we don’t value learning for the sake of learning near as much as we value learning to DO.

 

Localize and Globalize, Simultaneously

Our increasingly global economy and intense interconnectedness are clear byproducts of technological innovation. The new web and the rise of mobile devices have given us unprecedented opportunities to interact with one another, from the micro-communities of their schools and classes to the expanding global community. If we are to create real change, we must be empowered to mobilize on both levels.

We must remember that we are physically part of a local community. gen2oh encourages you to get out into that community, physically, and to interact with others to create change and to continue to advance society.

gen2oh aims to provide opportunities to explore the implications of our knowledge on the larger, global community. We have a bigger world to consider, and gen2oh hopes to provide tools with which you can consider it.