Learning and Web 2.0

Various terms are being used for the set of technologies, tools, and practices that are currently part of the virtual environment including Web 2.0, two-way Web, interactive Web, social media, etc., but all of them move away from the traditional notion of the Web as a one-way push mechanism to a two-way discussion or interaction mechanism where the line between consumers and producers of content is becoming indistinguishable.

The two main texts this week focus on talking about how the use of these tools shifts our perspective on learning and instruction, with some examples to illustrate these changes. A main focus of this week's thinking and discussion is to distill some of the significant processes/interactions that characterize learning and facilitating (or teaching/instruction, if we want to be more traditional) in Web 2.0.

To this end, we'll be using Diigo to comment on the Brown and Adler articles and then using blogs to document our discussion around these texts. To make the process of reading/commenting more manageable for the semester, you will be engaging in the blog activity in groups of 4 or 5 -- you are welcome to read and respond to as many blogs as you want, but knowing that we will be engaging in multiple activities each week (and also to get some sense of the practice of bloggers who follow certain blogs consistently) I ask that you definitely take time to read and respond to the blogs of the 3 other members in your group every week.