This blog is a place for me to understand, analyze, evaluate, and reflect on the major themes of my professional life as a social work educator. I am trying to model in the digital 2.0 world what it means to be a "life long learner" to my students and colleagues. I also want this blog to be a place where I practice the core skills of mindfulness.
My work on this blog has been inspired by what Michelle Martin shares in her blog "The Bamboo Project." Her goal is to help people like you and me "use best practices and social media tools to construct life-long learning." I love that! Every time I read her blog, I discover so many new ideas! I feel like my head and heart are exploding with the tons of new information and ideas about social media and Web 2.0. It is very exciting and also a bit scary as I realize how BIG the 2.0 world is.
So, what the heck is web 2.0? This diagram was an "ah HA!" moment for me that explains what web 2.0 is all about. It is from Dr Barret's online tutorial Web 2.0 Tools for Lifelong & Life Wide Learning.
Which leads me to my big questions: how can social work practice utilize the 2.o tools for best practices AND how can I as a social work educator utilze web 2.0 tools to help my social work students develop and demonstrate competency as new professionals?? These questions are the heart of this blog.
Finally, I am curious about where social work as a profession is in the web 2.0 world. My simple analysis is that we are way behind the curve. Our clients, especially the younger Milennials, are deeply involved in the web 2.o world, but most social workers are not using those tools in their professional work. They may be Twittering, LinkedIn, or on Facebook for personal reasons, but not for their professional practice. The exception I have found so far is NASW's twitter and facebook, but these are examples of large organizations using web 2.0 tools. How are individual practitioners and social work educators using web 2.0?
Let me know how you are using web 2.0 and join in this discussion about the advantages, disadvantages, and ethical challenges associated with this professional practice in the web 2.0 world.
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