Learning
2.0: Using the Social Web to promote collaborative learning
Steve
Wheeler, University
of Plymouth
What is different about Learning 2.0? Is it just another fad, or will social networking, blogs, wikis and other tools really make a useful contribution to lifelong learning? This workshop will attempt to answer these and other questions by illustrating key principles of the social web (Web 2.0). In particular, we will discuss the emerging uses of the Web to support collaborative and self-organised learning. Through games, simulations and small group discussion, delegates will explore a number of concepts including the read/write web, user generated content, social tagging and folksonomies and explore their pedagogical contexts using case studies. Participants will examine blogging, wikis, social networking tools, social tagging and RSS feeds, and explore the concepts of ‘the wisdom of crowds’ and 'folksonomies'.
Aims:
The
aim of this
workshop is to develop participants‘ understanding and appreciation of
the
potential of Web 2.0 tools and open architectures to promote
collaborative
learning and distributed communities of practice. Delegates will
explore a
number of possibilities and will gain an understanding of many of the
social
networking and social software tools that are currently available.
Through a
series of workshop games, optical exercises and small group
discussions,
delegates will begin to develop their own plans of action specific to
their own
professional practices and fields of interest, in which Web 2.0 tools
might
play a role. Participants will set up their own blog, wiki and
microblog using
free tools, and practice these during the workshop.
We
will explore a
number of topics including:
Participants
at the workshop would be expected to be teachers or trainers engaged in
the
teaching of subjects in any area of education or training, and to be
using some
form of computer based or computer assisted learning methods in every
day
practice. Some knowledge of how the internet is currently used in
education
would be an advantage, and it is hoped that they will have some access
to a
computer suite with internet enabled connections during the workshop.
No other
experience or knowledge is required.
The Instructor:
Steve Wheeler is a
qualified teacher and a media/technology specialist working in the
Faculty of
Education at the University of Plymouth. He holds a first class honours
degree
in psychology and a research degree which resulted from the study of
human
issues in distance education. He has over 30 years experience working
with
educational (learning) technology and regularly gives workshops,
demonstrations
and lectures in the field of computer based education and training
across the
globe. His most recent book entitled The
Digital Classroom: Harnessing the Power of Technology for Teaching and
Learning
was published by Routledge in January 2008, and deals with many of the
issues
that will be explored in the workshop. He serves on the organising
committees
of several large international learning technology conferences and also
on the
editorial boards of 7 journals, including ALT-J,
Interactive Learning Environments and IRRODL.