Web 2.0 Group 1 SU 09
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Web 2.0
This wiki was authored by
- Luke Azinger
- Elizabeth Blinstrup Good
- Jillian Grady
- David Hohman
- Angela Holcomb
- Paula Smith
- Jay Watchel
For EPS 415 GSE: Ethical & Policy Issues in Information Technologies; Summer 2008
taught by Professor Nicholas C. Burbules and Jane Couture
at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Author's note: the original version of this project was built using wikispaces and can be accessed by clicking here.
Introduction
The times we live in are characterized by widely dispersed productive capacity of knowledge and power more so than any other time in history. To navigate this new and complex world it is vitally important that educators are able to participate in the networks that are updating knowledge to produce value. The growth of the Web 2.0 has supported the phenomenon that learning is no longer fixed in time and space, and self-directed learning opportunities have strong value for education. The development of the new tools leads to the importance of constructivist learning theories.
As a product of the times we live in, today’s K-12 students think and process information differently than any other generation. Today’s generation of students have been referred to as “digital natives," “net geners,” and even “Web 2.0 students.”
At this point in time educators are faced with the challenge of effectively engaging and educating students with tools that are a product of their time. For educators of K-12 students this has many implications in expanding roles to effectively offer guidance to students to make sense of the deluge of information available from the Web 2.0 technologies. As a result of the research we have done, we are urging educators to make a commitment to stay ahead of the tools of the next generation and to maintain a technological edge which will enable education to be effective in training students to be network savvy users of online connections.
The Web 2.0 has changed the role of traditional classrooms. Educators are challenged to rethink the teaching and learning spaces as well as the roles they play in student's lives. The definition of literacies is more malleable in this era as students will need to be able to handle hypertext, critically read information, critically read people, write for audiences, write for multiple modes, and participate in organized sharing, and engage in diverse voices (Richardson, 2009).
The skill sets students need to effectively function in these times are more diverse than ever. Student need to be able to read hypertext and synthesize information from many different sources. Students will need to be able to read as highly trained editors read (Richardson, 2009). They need to be able to determine credible sources and truths in the text and in authors. They should be able to determine who owns a site, and what the motivation might be for the publishing in order to determine the relevance of information found there. Critically reading people will involve doing research on individuals from online communities to make decisions on weather sources are trustworthy for knowledge and learning. Students need to be able to leverage online connections and benefit from the deep learning that can be found through these connections.
The Web 2.0 supports the advent of the “knowledge economy” and this has very strong implications for early education as well as other walks of life.
Works Cited for this section:
Richardson, Will (2009 March). “Becoming Network-Wise” Educational Leadership, 26-31.
Web 2.0: Background
History and Definitions
The Fall of 2001 marked a turning point for the web when the dot-com bubble collapsed according to Tim O’ Reilly, CEO of O’Reilly Media. O’ Reilly Media’s VP Dale Dougherty was given credit for inventing the concept of Web 2.0 during a conference brain storming session indicating that the web was now more important than ever. In 2004 the Web 2.0 conference was held, and the term was popularized. (O’Reilly, 2005). Web 2.0 actually has many definitions, is many different things to many people, and has been a transforming concept in recent years. It has become a buzzword for the marketing of software services and products. Web 2.0 has been said simply to be an extension of Web 1.0 in that much web technology did not develop at the pace which was originally expected. (O’Reilly, 2005). It is a term that has been applied to describe a set of applications that adhere to certain current design principles.
The Web 1.0 is thought of as the read web, while the Web 2.0 has been thought of as the read/write web. The terms used to describe it have included the two way web versus the one way web of the past. During the Web 1.0 era users published to the web by using HTML programming language. The users that created the content were those with knowledge of HTML or access to this knowledge such as businesses and government entities (McLeod & Vasinda, 2008). Web 2.0 is a democratic concept since anyone with the desire to produce content can do so through the use of blogs, wikis, podcasts, videos and other tools. Blogs and wikis facilitate the production of group work and collaboration while producing instant publishing.
"Many Web 2.0 tools, such as wikis, blogs, weblogs, Flickr, LibraryThing and others allow users to transform individual activities - such as idea mapping, calendars, journals, notetaking, writing, photo albums and more-into social sharing activities by facilitating the creation of Internet-based communities with a common purpose. Many Web 2.0 tools have three unique features that are helpful in facilitating social sharing:
1. user-initiated publishing of information 2. social-sharing options with privacy controls (one to one to small controlled groups to large scale sharing) 3. social networking options with the possibility of building Internet-based community around specific topics
With the increase social interactivity that a Web 2.0 envoirnment provides, information and experiences can be shared and published in many ways." according to Rosen & Nelson (2008). Below is a continuum of Web 1.0 tools to Web 2.0 collaborative techologies (Rosen & Nelson, 2008):
Design Patterns and Technology
The design principles and key points widely considered to be Web 2.0 according to Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Publishing and Paul Anderson of JISC Technology & Standards watch include the following:
- Openness and lightweight programming models
- Using the web as a platform
- Architecture of participation, individual production and user generated content
- Harnessing collective intelligence and the power of crowds which make for a more socially connected web
- Web 2.0 includes a spirit of open innovation which includes use of free data, working with open standards, and using open source software
- Rich user experience
- Software above the level of a single device
- Data on an epic scale
- End of software release cycle
- Network effects
| Web 1.0 | >>> | Web 2.0 |
| Double Click | >>> | Google AdSense |
| Ofoto | >>> | Flickr |
| Akamai | >>> | BitTorrent |
| mp3.com | >>> | Napster |
| Britannica Online | >>> | Wikipedia |
| Personal Websites | >>> | Blogs |
| Evite | >>> | upcoming.org and EVDB |
| domain name speculation | >>> | search engine optimization |
| page views | >>> | cost per click |
| screen scraping | >>> | web services |
| publishing | >>> | participation |
| content management systems | >>> | wikis |
| directories(taxonomy) | >>> | tags(folksonomy) |
| stickiness | >>> | syndication |
Content of Web 2.0
Many software applications run on the user’s machine by a desktop operating system like Windows or MacOs. The web is now being used as a platform to run software similar to operating systems. The development of Rich Internet Applications (RIA) has enabled browser technology to run software services while communicating with the network and remote servers (Anderson, 2007). The main technology used for RIAs is Ajax but others also exist. Ajax is actually a group of technologies including HTML/XHTML, CSS, Document Object Model, XML, XSLT, and JavaScript or ECMA script. Ajax works with small amounts of information being sent to the server once the webpage has been loaded which allows dynamic reloading creating richer applications which are closer to desk top applications (Anderson, 2007). This eliminates the frustration of HTML based websites which involves waiting for pages to reload and refresh. Lightweight programming models using REST (representational state transfer) architecture provide simple interfaces using XML and HTTP which use few command requests to create loosely coupled systems which allow flexibility and ease of change from more end points (Anderson, 2007).
Open Application Programming Interfaces (API) allow a path for use of functionality of a set of modules with out having access to the source code and often does not require payment of royalties or license fees. Open APIs have assisted in the rapid development of web services and allowed the creation of data mash ups (Anderson, 2007). An example of a mash up is HousingMaps.com which combines Google Maps with CraigsList of apartments available for rent.
The key services and applications of the Web 2.0 are blogs, wikis, tagging and social bookmarking, multimedia sharing, audio blogging and podcasting, RSS and syndication and other newer Web 2.0 services. The newer Web 2.0 services consist of social networking sites, aggregation services, data mash-ups, tracking and filtering content, collaborating, and replication of office style software in the browser, and sourcing of ideas or work from the crowd.
Now that background and history as been provided on the development of what is considered Web 2.0, we will attempt to consider the issues and implications that accompany the rise of these types of services represented by the classification of Web 2.0 and specifically the implications for educational opportunities and challenges, how these problems relate to different informal areas of life, and the context of globalization on these issues.
Works Cited for this section:
Anderson, Paul (2007 Feb.). “What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education” JISC Technology & Standards Watch, 2-26.
McLeod, Julie & Vasinda, Sheri (2008 October). “Critical Literacy and Web 2.0: Exercising and Negotiating Power” Computers in Schools, Vol 25(3-4), 260-272.
O'Reilly T. (2005) "What is Web 2.0 Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software" accessed at http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html
Rosen, Dina & Nelson, Charles (2008 October), “Web 2.0: A New Generation of Learners and Education” Computers in Schools, Vol 25(3-4), 211-223.
The Tools for a Successful Relationship with Web 2.0
Wiki
A wiki is a tool for creating content for multiple authors. Defined as “a collaborative authoring Web site application that allows users to easily write, edit, and publish to the Internet” (1) wikis are easy to use and require no programming skills. In the article “The Web 2.0 way of learning with technologies” wikis are explained as follows:
"Using the simple and easy-to-learn wiki syntax, pages can be edited on the fly, within the browser, without the need for editing markup source code or using file transfer clients. Links within wikis are bidirectional inside the wiki. Thus, not only the source page, but also the target page knows about the link, which is not the case in the traditional WWW. Links usually conform to a simple format called WikiWords. The content of wikis is rendered using web standards and can be accessed by most current web browsers." (2) The term wiki is originally attributed to Ward Cunningham ( WikiWikiWeb). It was named after a shuttle bus at the Honolulu International Airport and means “quick” in Hawaiian.
The most popular wiki is Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone. “Although controversial as an accurate reference source, “the power of the great numbers of contributors keeps Wikipedia very current. New developments in all fields are more quickly reflected in Wikipedia than in any print encyclopedia. Likewise, errors are fixed or articles are flagged as incomplete.(3) Other popular educational wikis are wikispaces and PBwiki.
Blogs
A blog is a web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer (Merriam Webster). Short for weblog, blogs “allow an author to self publish and organize information or knowledge.” (1) They consist of blog entries that are chronologically sorted and can be categorized or tagged (2). Prominent features of a blog are comment, linking and syndication functions. The comment function permits the author and reader to communicate with each other, although this feature can be turned off. The linking function is another form of interaction whereby blogs will link uni- or bi-directionally. The syndication function permits a user to subscribe to blog updates using syndication tools such as RSS and Atom Syndication Format. Blogs are frequently used in the educational environment to share news, events and academic ideas. A good matrix of blog ideas for instructors and students can be found edtechpost. Examples are study abroad journals (zoeinghana ) or student projects (elementary school blogs ). Commonly used applications for Weblogs include Blogger, Wordpress , Class Blogmeister, or downloadable to organizational servers or edublogs.
Social Bookmarking and Highlighting
Social bookmarking is an application that is similar to a favorites list in a browser except it is accessible from any computer connected to the Internet. It is used to save and share bookmarks that can be annotated or tagged. Like other Web 2.0 tools it makes use of the social tagging system called a folksonomy. This system is “derived from taxonomy, a hierarchical list, or categorization. The folksonomy focuses on a group of people cooperatively organizing information into agreed categories.”(3)
The most prominent example of social bookmarking is Del.icio.us. Del.icio.us was created in 2003 by Joshua Schachter as an informal way to tag and share web pages between friends. The tool uses the web as the platform; the user uses the tool through a web browser from any computer on the Internet. For each website a user saves, the person notes the title of the site, the URL (web address), and words, called tags, to describe the site.”(3).
Another excellent social bookmarking and highlighting tool is Diigo. Diigo allows users to easily bookmark pages, organize their bookmarks, and then share their bookmarks. Not only can users create lists of bookmarks, though; a wonderful feature of Diigo is the ability to highlight and annotate any web page. With so much reading being done online, Diigo has created a much needed way for readers to be able to interact with online text, just as they would with print text. As if that isn't cool enough, as soon users sign in to their Diigo accounts, they are able to see the highlights and annotations that other Diigo users have put on the web pages that they are reading. This opens up a huge opportunity for collaboration in both informal and formal educational settings. Look at a video about Diigo right here.
Social Sharing
Similar to social bookmarking, social sharing services are applications that share other services such as photos, audio files, videos, and books and use the folksonomy tagging process to categorize the content. Several examples are: Flickr and Picasa, web-based photo sharing applications; YouTube and Google Video, web based video sharing applications, iTunes shares audio and video files via syndication software, and more recent entries are GoogleDocs a collaborative word processing software; LibraryThing a tool to share and catalog a user’s personal library, and GoodReads and Shelfari where users can share and rate their personal reading lists.
Podcasts can also be categorized as a social sharing application. They are user created audio files that are typically downloaded to a user’s iPod or mp3 player. The content tends to range from professionally created radio and television audio files to amateur created content, and run the gamut in terms of topic.
There are a variety of uses for these tools in the educational arena; from digital storytelling and multimedia essays to recording class lectures and interviewing campus speakers, their use is only limited by a user’s imagination.
Social Networking
The Internet has become such an integral part of people’s lives, it is often where they go to connect with others. This phenomenon is regularly known as social networking. The most popular sites in this area are MySpace and Facebook. Facebook and MySpace gives registered users a web page to personalize as they choose, within limits. There are spaces on each person’s page to link to other friends, leave messages, describe themselves, and post pictures. They enhance the social aspect by making it easy to find other people with shared interests.
Other sites that allow users to create their own custom social networks are Elgg and Ning. These are great opportunities for educators to build social networks with a greater control of content on their specific site. For in introduction with Ning, check out these outstanding education Nings: Classroom 2.0 and Ning in Education.
Mashups
A mashup is a website that combines data or technology from two or more sources into a single user experience. A frequent focus of mashups is Google Maps. Creative developers often use Google Maps interface to deliver geographical data from other sources. Weather Bonk combines weather forecasts, web cams, and maps. (Darlene Fichter – shares basic directon for getting started using Google Maps to create a mashup. (3)
Data from different sites can be pulled together in order to provide new values with the different combinations of data. This allows for a whole range of handcrafted merges of data sources, from the dynamic embedding of advertisements in Adsense to the dynamic visualization of housing information in Google Maps. (3)
Twitter is a microblogging platform that restricts posts from a desktop, mobile computer, or SMS to 140 characters. You can follow others on Twitter and other twitterers can follow you. When someone “tweets” (posts) it is automatically broadcast to all the people who are following them. The main idea of twitter is to answer the questions "what are you doing?"
The twitter craze was highlighted by a race between Anderson Cooper of CNN and actor Ashton Kutcher to see who could gain 1 million followers. People who were following Anderson Cooper were interested in the quick news blurbs that were tweeted by him (or his news show workers) and people following Ashton Kutcher were interested in following the day to day life of a celebrity.
Many who have “tried” Twitter have quickly dismissed it as a useless tool for following the random thoughts of others. Educators, however, recognize the power of Twitter's well established professional network. If one is following a number of people who are working in the education field in some way then they can hear the conversations going on about various topics. Someone might tweet about a new website or a fun lesson that they discovered. Others will tweet their own opinion about that particular topic if they have something to contribute. A beneficial aspect of Twitter is asking questions. If 20 or 30 or even 100 people are following you and you ask a questions about a certain educational topic, you are bound to get a response soon, sometimes right away. With limited room to type and a user somewhere just waiting to respond, this could be a great tool to help students learn how to ask better questions. Also, it is becoming increasingly popular to link to pictures, blogs, and other websites. What starts as a 140 character response can quickly lead to a 22000 character essay from the Atlantic (Johnson, 2009).
How would you get so many followers? You can find who to follow and others can find you by looking for key words in all the tweets. As a math teacher I can search for “algebra lesson” or “math resource” and I can find all the twitterers who tweet about what I am interested in. Others are doing the same so if I consistently tweet educational tweets then I am bound to get similar educational followers.
Another aspect of Twitter worth noting is the immediacy of the responses. Steven Johnson (2009) differentiates Twitter from Google, calling Google's search engine a 'slow, anonymous accumulation of authority,' (p. 35) relying on repeated visits to a certain site over time as the criteria for earning page-one status. Twitter, however, is happening right-now. The authority is determined by the tweets a user chooses to follow, and the accumulation is immediate.
Works Cited for this Section:
Johnson, S.B. (2009, June 15). How Twitter will change the way we live. TIME, 173(23), 32-37.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
An Open Source Education by Sanda Gittlin; this article showcases a California district that used Elgg to create an award winning collaborative district.
Cool Cat Teacher Blog; written by Award Winning teacher Vicki Davis, Cool Cat is a constant look at how web 2.0 tools are shaping education and the world around us.
e-learning 2.0 - How Web Technologies are Shaping Education by Steve O'Hear; In this short article, O'Hear provides excellent, specific examples of how certain web 2.0 tools can be used in education. Of note are his examples of podcasting, blogging, and annotating images in flickr. Also, it links to a part two (listed blow).
Elgg - social network software for education by Steve O'Hear; in this second part of two on e-learning, O'Hear focuses on a social network site for education. Excellent examples for how to use a tool that students are clearly excited about and use it in the classroom.
50 Ways to Use Wikis for a More Collaborative and Interactive Classroom From SmartTeaching.org, this is a wonderful resource for ways to use wikis in the classroom. The 50 ways are divided into 7 categories such as 'Resource Creation,' 'Student Interaction,' and 'Group Work.'
Twitter in EducationFrom academHacK, this blog post explores the possibilities of using Twitter for learning. Though the article is geared toward higher education, quite a few of the ideas are adaptable to junior high and high school. Additionally, the article gives good insight into the virtues of web 2.0.
Web 2.0 Tools and Applications at Go2Web20.net is the most comprehensive collection of web 2.0 application we've come across
Web 2.0
In simple terms, Web 2.0 has become known as the read/write web. As mentioned in the history section, no longer is the internet a passive experience from which a user observes information. With the advent of Web 2.0, the user now has an active role in the creation and content of information on the web. A user may now use her knowledge to add to an encyclopedia entry on Wikipedia. She may also post a review of a book that she as read on Amazon.com. She can post pictures, she can write a blog, she can work together with friends in Japan using a wiki while she sits at a kitchen table in Iowa City, Iowa. No longer is the information on the web static, allowing us merely to read what is there. Instead, we can write additions and changes to, support and refutation of, and examples and illustrations for the existing information: therefore the read/write web.
How does this affect K-12 education?
This read/write we has found today's students in a much different place than their older brothers and sisters were just ten years ago. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , Internet access has tripled in homes over the last ten years. Too, many students have cell phones and iPods with as much functionality as many computers. What this means is that most of our students have 24 hour access to this read/write web at home or in the palm of their hands. At the very least they have access at school, library, or after school clubs, and the fact that they have access has drastically changed the way they get information:
These two factors, access and the ability to contribute, have not been lost on our students. Many have taken advantage of social network sites MySpace and Facebook, flickr, Wordpress, wikipedia, etc. They contribute and they converse online. They find value in what their friends (or 'friends') say, versus what an authority says. They don't wade through stacks of books, anymore. They click through hyperlinks while seated at a Starbucks. Using Nicholas Carr's metaphor , our kids have grown up jet-skiing across the surface of information. In the classroom, then, it makes no sense that we expect our students to sit quietly on an anchored boat appreciating the surface of the water for all it contains below, even though they can't see it. However, state standards and high stakes testing have asked educators to do just that: to ask our students to sit, listen, and absorb while we fill them with the information that the state has deemed required.
The state of education has been shaken by NCLB's requirement that 100% of students in Illinois meet AYP by the year 2014 in Math and Reading. Therefore schools are scrambling to ensure that students meet the 'meager minimum' in order to stay in the good graces of government funding, a not so simple task in many schools with high mobility, lower-income, and racially and culturally diverse students. In preparation for testing, this results in many schools resorting to skill and drill, instead of higher order thinking skills that are necessarily in order for our students to become capable, thinking citizens in our society.
Is there any way that we can enforce basic skills in our students while promoting higher order thinking without asking them to sit in rows and listen? Is it possible to let our students use their Facebook accounts to learn? While it's not the only answer, Web 2.0 provides educators with pedagogically sound media for the changing world of education. As the read/write web, Web 2.0 provides students with the much needed opportunity to write their thoughts into their own education.
Web 2.0 and informal learning
Educators must remain up to date with current trends in educational philosophy, educational practices, and current tips and tricks of the trade. Even beyond the technology integrating taking place in schools there are also other changes in educational practices. For a teacher to keep up with this it requires more than a few district sponsored training sessions throughout the year. This is where informal learning is invaluable and web 2.0 makes this possible.
There are two main ways that we learn to keep up with our profession. One is to join conversations with other teachers about teaching and the other is to reflect in your individual performance.
Joining the conversation in a web 2.0 world starts with an RSS feeder. There are hundreds and perhaps thousands of teachers who have made a habit of discussing what they are doing in their classroom in a blog. Using an RSS feeder like Google Reader or Feed Burner lets an educator decide who or what topic they would like to follow and then get new postings sent to their feeder as they are posted. Besides the individual bloggers there are professional organizations who have their own writers and who ask well known educational bloggers to write for them.
In this situation the teacher is able to listen to the conversation of other teachers who are teaching the same subject or grade from around the globe. They can read the posts, comment on the posts, and read the comments on the post, which eventually become a conversation on the topics.
Reflecting is a key component to betterment in any profession. What better way to reflect than to write about your experiences in a blog? Using a blog as a teacher to write about experiences good and bad in a classroom allows you to properly reflect on your skill. This is also a good way to start conversations with other teachers who may be reading the blog and going through similar situation.
Web 2.0 makes these conversations work. It may seem crazy to try to read thousands of other teachers blog posts and comments but that is not necessary. The structure allows you to search out the teachers and conversations that only pertain to you. Oftentimes teachers are the only one in a building teaching a specific topic to a specific level. World wide there are many of those people and web 2.0 allows them to talk about it.
A new player in web 2.0 is Twitter. Twitter is a microblogging platform that restricts post to 140 characters. The posts are quick and generally are about a simple topic, a link to a page, or an answer to a question. In a strong Twitter network a teacher can find out what current trends are, ask questions and get feedback, or keep in touch with other similar educators across the globe.
Why Web 2.0 is good for all learning
In October 2008, Britannica Blog invited experts on Web 2.0 in education to argue the merits and downfalls of using Web 2.0 in schools. In his essay “Moving Toward Web 2.0 in K-12 Education" Steve Hargadon outlines 11 reasons why the read/write web is good for students (though his focus is on formal education, the benefits apply to informal learning situations as well):
1. Engagement. "Because the engagement of Web 2.0 is in the act of content creation, and seems to exist independent of the particular program being used or even of being in a formal learning environment, this claim seems not only reasonable but compelling."
The basic act of contributing something, of authoring something and posting it creates engagement. When we share with friends and family, we want to know how helpful we are so we ask. When we give someone our phone number, we wait for him or her to call. When we turn in an assignment, we want to know how we did. Web 2.0 is no different: When posting a review David Sedaris' most recent collection of essays on amazon.com, for example, a user will likely be inclined to see how helpful it is to others. Or when posting an entry on wikipedia, a user will likely be inclined to see if it is changed, amended, or even removed.
In formal education, using collaborative tools like wikis or social tools such as Moodle as a forum for summer reading assignments is an excellent way to promote engagement. Instead of cramming an essay or double entry journal into the night or two before school starts, students instead spend 10 minutes here and there over the course of the entire summer, engaging with other students, sharing insights, and most importantly, thinking. Success rate for this page's authors has been over 85 percent for three years in a row.
2. Authenticity. "Whether it is the peer audience in school which keeps their Web 2.0 programs within the “walled garden” of the school network, or it is publishing for the world, both the work and the audience are authentic."
In the classroom, the authors of this wiki have noticed increased motivation from students knowing that their work will be posted for all to see. They are aware that their writing is no longer a private exchange between the teacher and student, but instead an authentic piece of writing that will be available for the whole world to see.
3. Participation. "[S]tudents (and teachers!) can find specific intellectual paths to tread where they are able to participate, say, as an historian and not as someone preparing to be an historian. A student can write a report on an historical figure, or a scientific theory, and both publish that to the web and also participate in meaningful ways with other students and adults interested in the same topic."
Participation is evident in many areas of the web, especially in what Nicholas Burbules calls 'self-educating communities.' He defines these communities in saying "that one of their most striking features, regardless of the subject matter they share in common...is an overt commitment to sharing information, initiating newcomers, and extending their collective knowledge through such processes as shared problem-solving, experimentation, and independent inquiry" (Burbules). Since Web 2.0 makes it possible for every group, every niche, and every cause to make a common space, there will be a place to go to both read and write knowledge onto the web. For example fans of interactive fiction can learn how to code a certain event from existing information while at the same time adding to a section based on their existing knowledge. Also, people who have had similar life experiences can find a place to garner and share information about how they have handled the situation.
4. Openness and Access to Information. "Web 2.0 is making obsolete many of the restrictions on access to information that were intended to protect the rights of creators, but instead mostly inhibited learning by others...The ability to “look something up” or to learn something new has never been greater."
As mentioned in item 3, there is a home for every piece of information in the world, online. If that home has not already been created, it takes less than 3 minutes to set up an account with any number of web 2.0 tools and create a place for that information to exist and expand. This project is a perfect example, where a group has come together to create a collective of information on web 2.0 in education.
5. Collaboration. "In the world of Web 2.0, collaboration is not only king, but it can be seen and assessed–look at the history page of a wiki, for example, or the linked list of contributed comments on the personal profile page of a social network."
Referencing this wiki again, we are 7 members spread across the world right now, and yet we are able to work together, help one-another, and add to one another's thoughts and ideas. Though we all work with excellent colleagues in excellent schools, there is no denying the fact that the ability to collaborate across this much distance is an invaluable opportunity to grow as learners and as professionals. Additionally, our work is now public, so anyone else who stumbles across this site will be able to add her or his own expertise to our collective.
In a high school special education classroom, collaboration is similar to what we (seven graduate students) are doing here. In a self-contained English classroom, students are assigned partner projects and are taught how to set up Google Docs accounts. With the use of Google Docs, each student is able to access and edit the paper and presentation (similar to a PowerPoint presentation), all while the teacher has access and editing rights. These students are able to work on their project together without physically being near each other and their teacher is able to provide immediate feedback directly on the document.
6. Creativity. "A regular student can write, film, and edit a video which then can be uploaded to YouTube and potentially seen by more of an audience than some commercial films actually garner."
The incredible amount of free software available with Web 2.0 has made it so easy to make film and audio productions with minimal time and expertise. When the author was in college, he made a three minute film that required countless hours cooped up in a tiny lab with hundreds of thousands of dollars of video editing equipment. Just one month ago, the same author helped a student edit a three minute film with just a laptop computer and some free software. There has been no better time to ask our students to dust off their right brains and enjoy the opportunities for creativity.
7. Passionate Interest and Personal Expression. "Where the resume and the degrees have been our short-cut indicators of abilities and accomplishments, the personal body of work now contained and hopefully organized on the Web gives everyone who wants it the the opportunity for an expression of personal interest and achievement."
As high school students are asked to do more and more for acceptance into college and the work force, the web has become a perfect, organic place for students to keep track of their accomplishments.
8. Discussion. "One of the great features of Web 2.0 is the discussion forum, which provides an environment for learning how to actually talk about things."
When students are asked to post something in a public forum wherein their posts will exist for years to come, they are forced to think carefully about what they post. The flippant comments made in class don't have the same effect in print; they usually are passed over and soon forgotten. It is the innovative comments that explore a subject thoroughly which are promote discussion and are talked about both in and out of class.
9. Asynchronous Contribution. "The ability to contribute to discussions after class, or from home, provides a much broader opportunity for participation that the traditional class discussion. Students with different contribution styles, or who process information over time, are now more participative."
The time to rehearse an answer before posting is an excellent opportunity for all types of learning. There is certainly something hugely important about the ability to answer quickly and coherently during discussion with others. However, as someone who is learning something, the time to rehearse is invaluable: it allows one to think critically about the words he is about to say or type; it allows him to be creative in a response; it allows him to seek collaboration from others; etc. As a result, asking high school students to participate in asynchronous discussion allows a wider variety of students to join the discussion.
10. Proactivity. "Web 2.0 inherently rewards the proactive learner and contributor."
There is a positive cycle on web 2.0. The more a user researches on the web, the more information she can contribute back to the web. The more she contributes, the more ethos she creates. The more ethos she creates, the more people will read what she contributes and share more research with her.
11. Critical Thinking. "The vast amount of data on the Web requires more critical thinking than [ever before]."
It has never been more important to be able to evaluate which information is credible and which is not. Everyone is able to publish online in a matter of minutes, whether or not they are an authority of their subject matter. They may well be, and their contribution might be just the information that a user is searching for. On the other hand, they may not have a clue, and therefore taking their words at face value can weaken a users understanding of an issue as well as her or his credibility. Both in formal and informal learning situations, this necessitates an education that focuses on critical thinking skills more than was needed when the majority of information was found in already credible sources like encyclopedias and national magazines.
Works Cited for this Section:
Burbules, N. C. Self-Educating Communities: Collaboration and Learning through the Internet.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Read about web 2.0 in action with David Warlick's A Day in the Life of Web 2.0
Web 2.0 Challenges and Opportunities
Challenges
Access
Dependency
While equal access can provide many opportunities for students, it can also cause students to depend on technology. There is a broad issue that needs to be addressed in regards to the ease with which users can create content and post it to the web. The long list of reason that Web 2.0 can be good for students can also be cause for concern if users become too engaged, too participatory, or too attached to a topic which they feel passionate about. Students can easily become addicted and dependent on Web 2.0 technologies and the Internet as they are taught about its importance to their future. If their Internet connection goes down, many students who are so used to having information right at their fingertips may not have the skills to use other means of accessing information. This risk of dependency and addiction can hinder students from using their mind to think critically, problem-solve, and use "old-fashioned" ways to find information and analyze it. Ideally, there should be a balance between using technology and other supplemental learning activities as this will provide students with experiences that reflect what they will see in the "real world."
Acceptance, Pedagogy, and Other Challenges
While the future of education is aiming towards the ubiquitous use of technology, not all teachers are comfortable using technology in the classroom. While most teacher education programs encourage the use of technology in the classroom, there are many teachers (new and veterans) who do not embrace Web 2.0 technologies to the extent that they should. It seems that some teachers' negative attitudes towards technology stem from lack of knowledge or experience with technology. Teachers' attitudes towards technology is impacted by the type of professional development opportunities they are provided with. If professional development activities do not outline a clear purpose, teachers will likely be less interested. However, if professional development sessions clearly indicate increased student achievement as a result of using technology, teachers are much more likely to be open to trying innovative things in their classrooms. "Getting teacher buy in is important when technology is involved, especially for those who are not convinced technology is worth the time and effort. The first step of any sound professional development program is to develop a belief about technology professional development that includes the idea that the curriculum drives the use of technology, not vice-versa, and that empowered teachers will find appropriate ways to include technology with their ongoing instruction rather than view it as an activity unconnected to the district's content standards (Barnett, 2003)." In addition to attitudes and professional development, it appears that an individual teacher's teaching style relates to the integration of technology in the classroom. Research has shown that teachers who consistently integrate technology into their classroom practices are more likely to possess constructivist teaching styles (Judson, 2006). "Evidence suggests there is a parallel between a teacher's student-centered beliefs about instruction and the nature of the teacher's technology-integrated lessons. This connection between the use of technology and constructivist pedagogy implies constructivist-minded teachers maintain dynamic student-centered classrooms where technology is a powerful learning tool (2006)." Obviously, one teacher may have this 21st century/futuristic view of teaching and learning while the next teacher may practice much more traditional methods in the classroom. This presents a problem if we think about how or IF all teachers could ever adapt to the same pedagogy. Isn't differing pedagogies something that makes unique learning experiences for our students? Would learning become ubiquitous if teachers across the globe taught with the same methodology?
In Steve Hargadon's article, "Moving Toward Web 2.0 in K-12 Education," he too indicates that his vision of Web 2.0 in K-12 education is not free of barriers. He lists five main ideas that cause difficulties in the world of Web 2.0 in relation to education:
First: "we’ve developed a negative cultural impression of social networking that comes out of the very power that will [make] it such an effective tool for education. Fundamentally answering a human need to connect, create, and express ourselves, the immense popularity of some early social networks have showcased garishness and vulgarity that aren’t inherent in the technology, but became an early part of it because of the very absence of influential adults. I can use the same raw building materials and tools, say, to build a casino or a school. If the casinos [were built] first because of the financial potential, that doesn’t mean that I don’t use building materials now to build the schools. Personal profile (portfolio!) pages, discussion forums, video and photo repositories, messaging, and other social networking functions can all bring real pedagogical value if we can get past our knee-jerk negative reactions to social networking."
Second: "we won’t be able to implement Web 2.0 expansively without ubiquitous computing, and so its use and adoption in schools will not be even or equal. This is a real issue, without easy answers, especially with the added challenge of having more and more personal phones and devices require networks which can accommodate them all."
Third: "Teachers will need time and training to learn to use these tools in the classroom, and we’re notoriously bad at spending time or money on this. Even if most of us were all to agree that Web 2.0 is the dramatic revolution that I’m making it out to be, there are still incredibly challenging demands on teachers’ time that will make it hard for them to learn about these things. And because we’re not likely to agree across the board on how important Web 2.0 is in education, adoption by teachers will also not be even or equal. Nor would we want it to be–sweeping educational practices need to be challenged and to survive those challenges in order to separate the wheat from the chaff."
Fourth: "the legal liabilities that schools face because of concerns about a) student exposure to inappropriate material and b) exposure of students to potential predators will not be easy to overcome."
Fifth: "information revolutions don’t come with a manual, and we surely can’t foresee many or most of the implications of what’s taking place and how to integrate it into education. It will take time to build new 'playbooks.'"
Current leaders in education attempt to promote the constructivist beliefs and professional development activities are often based on the idea of student-centered learning. This push toward constructivism, however, just like the push towards the integration of technology in the classroom, is new to many teachers. In order for teachers to embrace these ideas, it means many must change their current teaching practices, which is always difficult. The time it takes to truly invest in adjusting teaching practices is likely one of the largest roadblocks for teachers. We always discuss time in relation to teachers and their planning, professional development, developing relationships, grading, creating, and the list goes on. All of these challenges create a vicious cycle and it could take many, many years until the teachers who reject the idea of constructivist teaching will be phased out of the field of education. If the aforementioned research holds true, then we have a long road ahead before the parallel between student-centered beliefs and technology will be consistent between every single teacher worldwide.
Opportunities
Students in the 21st century must be actively engaged in learning. Web 2.0 tools help meet this goal as they often require active participation. According to NCREL.org, "an engaged learner is one who is responsible for their own learning. These students are self-regulated and able to define their own learning goals and evaluate their own achievement. They are also energized by their learning; their joy of learning leads to a lifelong passion for solving problems, understanding, and taking the next step in their thinking. These learners are strategic in that they know how to learn and are able to transfer knowledge [in order] to solve problems creatively. Engaged learning also involves being collaborative - that is, valuing and having the skills to work with others." In education, students are able to interact with content in new and innovative ways. Here are several examples of activities that require active participation:
* A class discussion that is held in an online environment * Using "Learner Response Systems" during instruction * Blogging/Journaling - it isn't enough to post once...students are constantly engaged by commenting on each others' blogs and adding entries (a record of learning is kept over time) * Student-produced podcasts * Media sharing (sharing photos, videos, presentations) * Social networking
Because students are more engaged in the learning process with the presence of Web 2.0, their learning interactions are of much higher quality compared to traditional methods of learning. Students who use Web 2.0 tools might be analyzing information on the Internet including websites and media, and they might also be evaluating, collaborating, creating, and publishing work of their own. In the "Web 2.0 world," students are discussing, critiquing, and re-mixing content to better understand it, as opposed to simply reading information from a textbook or web page.
Authentic Publication = Real World Feedback
Another advantage Web 2.0 brings to education is the idea of "student-centered learning" with personalized experiences. Traditional ways of teaching and learning are less common in a Web 2.0 classroom. Prior to Web 2.0 (and still present in non-Web 2.0 classrooms), teachers were the center of attention and directors of all activities. Students would just sit and take in the information as it was being "fed" to them. In student-centered learning methods, the students' voices are what is heard rather than just the teacher. Web 2.0 tools are most often collaborative and just as commonly personalized. A common feature seen with Web 2.0 tools and applications it the ability for the user to choose a specific user name and password. While it may seem trivial, this allows individuals to play a part in collaborative activities while maintaining their personal identity and voice. This is especially important for students who might not always participate in class or speak out when in a group. These students who might get "lost" in a group can stay actively engaged in learning while using Web 2.0 tools. Another example of a personalized experience is blogging. In any classroom at just about any grade level, students can be given a topic (specific to the curriculum or not) and write reflective journal entries in a blog. Whether this be just for the teacher's eyes or for their peers to see too, students are actively engaged with content and communication without feeling pressure to speak out in a classroom setting. If students view each others blogs, they are given the opportunity to comment on the entries, which might spark an interesting conversation or allow them to see someone else with an interest similar to their own.
Collaborative Nature
One of the greatest strengths of Web 2.0 in education is its ability to connect students and teachers in ways that make it easy to collaborate and communicate. Working with other people is a skills that is required of citizens in the 21st century...a skill that is essential to being successful. Obviously group projects have been in education for a very long time, but Web 2.0 changes the parameters regarding who is in the group and how the group interacts (look at US!). The new tools allow students to work with peers around the world in ways that have never before been available.
"With Web 2.0, information can be pulled from a number of different places, and it can be personalized to meet the needs of a single user. Applications can be built on the existing applications that comprise the Web 2.0 interface. It could be said that Web 2.0 [allows] the mass population to communicate with each other and spread ideas rather than receiving their information from a single authority...Information will flow freely, and people can express their ideas without fear of repression (Exforsys Inc., "Advantages and Disadvantages of Web 2.0")."
With the existence of Web 2.0, people have become more informed worldwide. Instead of the computer/Internet serving as the "distributor" of information, people receive their information from multiple sources. Students who learn to use Web 2.0 technologies have more opportunities to learn about the world around them. For example, online newspapers from other cities, states, and countries can be accessed via the Internet. Events can be seen from more than one perspective, thus allowing Web 2.0 users to become well-informed people.
Works Cited for this Section:
Barnett, H. (2003, Dec.) Technology Professional Development: Successful Strategies for Teacher Change. ERIC Digest [Electronic Version]. ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology. Retrieved June 24, 2009, from http://www.ericdigests.org/2004-1/technology.htm
Judson, E. (2006, Sept. 22) How teachers integrate technology and their beliefs about learning: is there a connection? [Electronic Version]. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education. Retrieved June 29, 2009, from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-15657482_ITM
Future Implications
What are the future implications of Web 2.0 as an educational tool? We know that Web 2.0 is regularly being used in higher education and online learning as a tool, but where are we going and what are the effects? How will our classrooms and thinking change?
Web 2.0 can someday help to create a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) for each learner. (Grush, 2) What this means is students will be able to create a digital environment that shows evidence of their learning through a sort of ePortfolio. ( 2) Evidence is already present from a survey completed by The Association of American Colleges and Universities that states that ePortfolios can be more effective in demonstrating the level of student learning as compared to standardized test scores. (1) EPortfolios can provide a more complete picture to an employee that shows specific digital evidence of how a student has contributed to projects, wikis, online communities, developed projects with a team, and collaborated and communicated to create projects. (2)
Another future implication involves the technologies and philosophies of grading. As Web 2.0 collaboration becomes a requirement in more coursework instructors must develop methods to measure and evaluate student participation in these technologies. New gradebooks are being developed to specifically address Web 2.0 evaluation. A “harvesting” gradebook has the capability to to pull in evidence of student work from various technologies that students have potentially created in Flickr, collaborated with others in Google Groups or Picasa, and added value to a wiki. (Grush, 2) In this environment a gradebook could pull all of the elements together instead of students submitting copies of what they have contributed. (2)
Web 2.0 is currently most commonly used at the higher education level. As Web 2.0 is increasingly incorporated in secondary schools, there is a question about the potential gap between older educators and students. A vast majority of today’s secondary school students are clearly tech savvy and many of their Gen-X teachers simply cannot keep up. (Adams, 96) Technology tools are available to close this gap. Teachers can create a more open environment by joining with the students to use these tools such as Google’s application suite. (96) This takes the pressure off the teacher to ‘stay ahead’ of the students and allows the class and the teacher to share what they learn together while still covering the curriculum. Google is one of many places that offer simple, free features such as searches, web mail, groups for asynchronous discussion, chat rooms, document editing, and personal web spaces. (Adams, 97) Using the above tools to narrow the gap with his classes the author, Devon Christopher Davis, encourages high schools to incorporate teaching these technologies in staff development sessions and says, “Web 2.0 is a space of collective intelligences, and the traditional process of learning has moved online.” (99)
As Web 2.0 expands to k-12 schools there will be a shift in the 'bricks and mortar' configurations of our learning institutions. The following YouTube video by www.mediaineducation.com called "Classroom of the Future: What's New in Educational Technology" points out some of the changes to classrooms that we can expect to see in the future. The classroom will have numerous electronic display surfaces with flat panel screens available to small student groups to show their work. Furniture will be easily movable to quickly configure to different size small groups. The teacher area will be small to allow for movement. Of course the building will have wireless internet, many outlets, and flexible lighting. Finally, multiple cameras will be mounted to allow for the class session to be viewed later by absent students or to be used for distance learning or guest lecturers ("Classroom" video).
Ultimately Web 2.0 will have a shift our thinking about education in the future. The change is using blogs, wikis, content-sharing, and other collaborative applications to participate not present. (Brown 30) A shift from "Supply-push" thinking, where information is delivered to students, to "Demand-pull", where students are enabled to particpate and informal learning occurs as part of the process. (30) According to John Seely Brown and Richard P. Adler in Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0, "The demand-pull approach is based on providing students with access to rich (sometimes virtual) learning communities built around a practice. It is passion-based learning, motivated by the student either wanting to become a member of a particular community of practice or just wanting to learn about, make, or perform something. Often the learning that transpires is informal rather than formally conducted in a structured setting." (30) This thinking shift can be summarized with the term "Open Participatory Learning Ecosystem" (30) It is ultimately the shift in outlook and thinking that transcends the technology and methodology of learning. By approach, we transform how learning will look in the future.
Works Cited for this Section:
Adams, Devon Christopher. “Gaga for Google in the Twenty-First Century Advanced Placement Classroom.” Clearing House Vol. 82 Issue 2 (Nov2008) 96-100.
Brown, John Seely and Richard P. Adler. " Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0." Educause Review (January/February 2008) 16-32. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0811.pdf "Classroom of the Future: What's New in Education Technology", video from YouTube , created by: mediaineducation.com , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcXEznPXj8k , September 12, 2007.
Grush, Mary. “The Future of Web 2.0: An Interview with Gary Brown.” CampusTechnology.com. February, 27, 2008. http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2008/02/The-Future-of-Web-20.aspx?p=1
Globalization of Web 2.0 in K-12 Education
Helping Students Become Global Citizens
The introduction of Web 2.0 brings about a need for students to acquire a new set of learning skills. These skills should not only encompass the use of the actual technology itself, but also the use and application of the wealth of information, knowledge, and communication capabilities that accompany it. With an ever increasing knowledge base online, students must be taught how to decipher the "good" information from the "bad." In the past, teachers provided students with the "correct" information in the classroom; now, students use the background knowledge obtained in the traditional classroom to help them read and decipher the vast array of online content. Knowledge obtained from online content can then be used to enhance their understanding of a particular topic learned in the classroom.
In addition to acquiring the responsibility of teaching students about reliable online sources, teachers must now incorporate technology into their classrooms. Teachers today have the daunting task of keeping up with technology that changes on a daily basis- how is this accomplished? Teachers must recognize that the goal is not to teach students how to use technology, but rather, to incorporate technology that students are already using in their everyday lives. For instance, one could incorporate blogs or wikis for data collection or creation of class study materials or for application of new knowledge in collaborative group projects. Teachers could even take it one step further and consider global collaborations that could teach critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills.
Current Global Classroom Projects
What is the climate like in India? What types of products does China export to other countries? What holidays are celebrated in Spain every year? These are all questions that U.S. students are trying to trying to answer by collaboratively working with students from other countries. With the introduction of Web 2.0 into the classroom, teachers and students now have many ways to communicate with people around the world; this communication allows acquisition of knowledge that cannot necessarily be found in traditional textbooks. Students and teachers can now use this newly obtained knowledge to participate in projects that help solve world problems just by using online tools such as email, blogs, and wikis. Students can collect information or data from other countries and then use that knowledge to create websites or video documentaries which can then be shared around the world.
The following are examples of global classroom projects that teach 21st century skills including complex communication skills, teamwork, and acquisition of knowledge of different cultures:
The Flat Classroom Project Virtually joins classrooms using Wikispaces and Ning. Students use scenarios from Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat, to hold discussions and create virtual projects using Web 2.0.
iEARN iEARN (International Education Resource Network) is "the world's largest non-profit global network that enables teachers and youth to use the Internet and other technologies to collaborate on projects that enhance learning and make a difference in the world." Example projects can be searched by Title, Keyword, Subject, Age Level, or Language. One example of a current project is "My Identity, Your Identity" in which students discuss traditional celebrations, landmarks, and monuments in their own countries.
ePaLs This online community provides schools and school districts with protected email and blogging to be used for collaborative projects. Some focus areas covered by projects include Biodiversity, Black History, Election/Inauguration, Geography, and Human Rights just to name a few. This site also includes discussion forums for students, parents, and teachers.
Global Virtual Classroom Global Virtual Classroom hosts a contest in which schools around the world can submit their websites created by students collaborating with students in other countries. Students are judged on the content of their website as well as their ability to collaborate with students around the world.
CIESE The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) "sponsors and designs interdisciplinary projects that teachers throughout the world can use to enhance their curriculum using through compelling use of the Internet." Students use real-time data to formulate answers to scientific questions, all with the help of their peers and experts around the world.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Teacher's Guide to International Collaboration on the Internet
Starting a Collaborative Classroom Project
Creating the 21st Century Classroom
Works Cited for this Section:
Bragaw, Don. "Technology and Global Education." 2001. American Forum for Global Education.
"How does an information and technology curriculum stay relevant and meaningful in the 21st Century?" Curriculum 2.0
Jobson, Lisa. "Connecting Cultures....A Teacher's Guide to Global Classroom." 2001. International Education and and Resource Network.
TIME- How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century
