Exploring New Worlds of Learning with Web 2.0 and Second Life

The keynote of author and internet entrepreneur Andrew Keen, USA, marked the controversial start for discussions around the buzzword Web 2.0. Keen impressively shared his critical view of the Web 2.0 movement, pointing out that the new technology itself is not the problem but rather the way it is being used. In an online world where everyone can freely publish and edit content, the permanent danger of accessing faulty or manipulated information exists. In fact, in Keen’s opinion, Web 2.0 poses a serious threat to acknowledged experts, traditional media and finally to our whole culture. He made it clear that it is our responsibility to make sure that Web 2.0 is handled very carefully, especially when it comes to education. Teenagers who exclusively turn to Wikipedia in order to get information need to know the difference between reliable and potentially misleading resources.

Keen’s argumentation evoked lively discussions on the good and bad sides of Web 2.0 and its value for learning. Graham Attwell from Pontydysgu, Wales, UK, took an opposite position on the subject matter and started his keynote speech with the announcement: “I am Andrew Keen’s nightmare!” In his presentation he explained that schools and universities have to embrace Web 2.0 technologies as a substantial part of education in order to keep their own relevance. Educational institutions have to adapt themselves to new ways of communication and knowledge sharing in terms of their organisation, pedagogical concepts, curricula and assessment methods. Attwell also highlighted the use of personal learning environments, which have the potential to bring learning to a whole new level and thus increasingly challenge our traditional learning habits.

Concrete examples of learning with new technologies were offered by Sian Bayne from the University of Edinburgh. In her keynote she took the audience on a live trip through the virtual world of Second Life to present the University’s island called Holyrood Park. By sharing insights on the creation, the practical use and the students’ response to the project, Bayne presented the benefits as well as the challenges of Second Life for learning and training. Pedagogical factors like the impact of creating and using an avatar in the learning environment were also discussed during her presentation.

With its increasing popularity, Web 2.0 has certainly become a serious challenge for traditional learning platforms. At Online Educa Berlin, Roger Larsen, founder and Managing Director of Fronter, Norway, presented his company’s approach to implementing Web 2.0 in their products. Fronter’s next-generation learning platform intends to embrace social software and at the same time integrate these tools into a sophisticated learning platform with traditional elements and benefits. At Fronter the so-called “collaborative working environment” is set to be the future of a sustainable learning space.

Web 2.0 needs participation and contributions from its users. Looking at statistical data, however, it is obvious that few people are actively contributing to collaborative tools like wikis. Karsten D. Wolf from the University of Bremen pointed out that 20 percent of the people are doing 80 percent of the work in the world of Web 2.0 and explained reasons for the “participation gap”. What makes people edit content, produce information and share their knowledge on the Internet? And what can we do to encourage inactive users? After presenting his experience and research findings, Wolf concluded: Make it technically easy to contribute, have a small and accountable community and, finally, build up interest and develop meaningful tasks.

Bringing Web 2.0 to teaching and training staff was another fundamental issue discussed at the conference. Anne E.M. Fox from CV2, Denmark, presented her experience with introducing new technologies to the curricula and learning habits at schools, universities, organisations and businesses. The main obstacles she observed were not only a lack of time but also of ICT skills, constraints in the curricula and also serious concerns on the trustworthiness of Web 2.0 applications and tools like Wikipedia. In her opinion, traditional teaching and learning models still have great influence in institutions and often interfere with ambitious projects of implementing new technologies in our educational systems.

Controversial positions, lively discussions, real-life experiences, in-depth analyses of unique benefits and potential problems – Online Educa Berlin 2007 addressed numerous issues related to Web 2.0. Speakers and participants took the opportunity to exchange their approaches and opinions in order to move ahead to a new generation of education - where the learner is placed precisely in the centre of the process.

By Christian Auchter

December 11, 2007

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