I feel both excited and overwhelmed the the profusion of web 2.0 technologies. It may not surprise you to know that I have already sampled some of them. I have blogs with Blogger and Wordpress, I micro-blog through Twitter and Tumblr. I have social networking accounts at Facebook, High5, Vox and LiveSpaces (and a few others, Including Myspace which I have either forgotten / deleted). I am a member of Technorati, Digg and Delicious. I attempt to organise my online world through both Netvibes and Pageflakes.
But as exciting and empowering as this interactive / integrative technology is, what use is power if you don't know how to wield it? There is too much out there. Maybe the point I am missing is you are meant to embrace some of it rather than all of it. But what to embrace? I need a digital equivalent of a financial adviser. Extrapolating into education... need analysis has never been so important. How can we as educators help our students to make appropriate educational choices about which of these tools with enable their growth and development if we aren't able to make those choices ourselves.
I should add that I can stand in the supermarket aisle for 10 minutes trying to decide which breakfast cereal to buy. Me and choices don't sit well together.
Comments
Hi Tracy
Sorry for the delay in responding – am still playing catch up from being ill last week. *grump* :)
The whole class seems excited and energised by web2.0. It’s a little like Christmas! J
But as exciting and empowering as this interactive / integrative technology is, what use is power if you don't know how to wield it?
This is a really good point. Though I am a little uncertain about calling it “power” – what do you mean by that? To me it seems more like “tools”. Then again, I guess you could argue that the tool encapsulates particular potentials and possibilities, and it is those that are the “power” of the tool [in the Latin origin sense of ‘potency’]. Thus knowing what tool to select, how to use it and for what purposes becomes vitally important. So what are the implication for teaching and learning? How do we equip learners to choose and use an appropriate tool for their needs?
How can we as educators help our students to make appropriate educational choices about which of these tools with enable their growth and development if we aren't able to make those choices ourselves.
Another good question. For me, the answer will always come back to purpose – what am I trying to achieve and what best enables me to achieve it? Perhaps in one learning context social bookmarking is more useful, in another a wiki. Of course, I am always up for the path we’ve taken in IDEL - let the students loose in the sweetshop and see what they choose for themselves. :)
Me and choices don't sit well together.
And how well do you and no choices sit together? :)
The pic you’ve included is fascinating – are you suggesting the web2.0 services are broken scraps and leftovers that only work when they come together?
C.
I think I posted on the forum when discussing this, I used to get all excited with new Web 2.0 technologies; sign up, fill in my details, upload a picture, look around, do some searching. Only then thinking 'now what?' And a lot of the time? Nothing! I try to be more discerning these days and approach them with the question 'what for?' before signing up.
I was really overwhelmed looking at that the list on this site http://www.go2web20.net/ and it really put me off - I didn't choose in the first week, despite trying to a number of times.
Regarding directing learners; Do you think the key might be to reduce or remove the choice? To only direct to specific apps that meet the needs of a course/ learning objectives/ learning styles?