1.1: Introduction
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Learning Outcomes
- Identify several different emerging technologies.
- Incorporate emerging technologies in teaching and learning activities to engage learners.
- Explain how emerging technologies will affect education, and vice versa.
- Identify the challenges organizations face in adopting emerging technologies.
As the capacity of the Internet evolves and expands, the potential for online teaching and learning also evolves and expands. The increasing number of new technology tools and expanding bandwidth are changing all facets of online activity, including e-learning. As technologies become more sophisticated and as they begin to converge (for example, cell phones becoming multimedia-capable and Internet-connected), educators will have more options for creating innovative practices in education.
The shift occurring in the Web from a static content environment where end users are the recipients of information—defined as Web 1.0—to one where they are active content creators—defined as Web 2.0—can be described as a transition to a more distributed, participatory, and collaborative environment (Wikipedia, 2005). Web 2.0 is considered to be a platform where “knowledge-working is no longer thought of as the gathering and accumulation of facts, but rather, the riding of waves in a dynamic environment” (Downes, 2005, para. 14). Web 2.0 is defined not only by technologies such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, vodcasts, RSS feeds, and Google Maps, but also by the social networking that it enables. As these communication-enabling technologies conjoin text, voice, and video using CoIP (communications over Internet protocol), they will provide a seamless integration with cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and computers (Yarlagadda, 2005). Web 2.0 technologies can bring people together in ways Web 1.0 did not.
At the beginning of any technological change, several definitions often encompass a new concept. This is also true with Web 2.0. In an interview with Ryan Singel (2005), Ross Mayfield, CEO of a company that creates wiki software, offered this simple definition: “Web 1.0 was commerce. Web 2.0 is people” (Singel, 2005, para. 6). Tim O’Reilly, who wrote one of the seminal articles on Web 2.0, saw it as an “architecture of participation” (O’Reilly, 2005, para. 26) and “not something new, but rather a fuller realization of the true potential of the web platform” (para. 88). Web 2.0 is centred on communication—the ability to interconnect with content, ideas, and with those who create them. Social networking is a key phrase for Web 2.0. The Web 2.0 framework sets the stage for a student-centred collaborative learning environment. Using existing communication tools in a way that encourages collaboration can be a step in the direction of incorporating the spirit of Web 2.0 philosophies in online learning environments.
A parallel can be drawn between the shift from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 and the shift many instructors are making in online learning from an instructor-centred (Web 1.0) approach to a student-centred (Web 2.0) approach where students have more control over their learning. The effects of Web 2.0 may influence how online courses are conceptualized, developed, and taught. The use of Web 2.0 technologies and philosophies in education and training are sometimes referred to as “e-learning 2.0” (Cross, 2005; Downes, 2005; Wilson, 2005).
Currently, Web 2.0 technologies are just beginning to affect online teaching and learning. As the Web becomes more interactive, instructors will want to incorporate these technologies effectively. It is likely that Web 2.0 technologies will affect student-to-student communications in project-based learning, as it will affect ways in which instructors conceptualize, develop, and teach their courses. Incorporating Web 2.0 technologies and philosophies can make courses more student-centred.
Web 2.0 technology emphasizes social networking. Online learning environments can be used for enhanced communication among students, as well as between students and the instructor. Creating learning opportunities that harness the power of Web 2.0 technologies for collaborative learning, distributed knowledge sharing, and the creation of media-rich learning objects can further the scope of what students can learn by “placing … the control of learning itself into the hands of the learner” (Downes, 2005, para. 12). These tools provide an avenue for students to spend more time on task, from sharing ideas and their understanding of the course content to collaborating in creating artifacts that represent their learning, whether in a traditional or an online classroom.
A few ways Web 2.0 technologies can support project-based learning include: blogs for journaling assignments, wikis for creating content in collaborative group projects, podcasts for audio-based assignments, vodcasts for video-based assignments, and RSS feeds for syndication. The creativity and remixing of technologies is an exciting new direction for both instructors and students. Several chapters in this book address these ideas in greater detail.
Creating online courses in which students construct their own meaning with hands-on activities may radically change how teaching and learning is designed. Delivering an online course with content created by either a publisher or an instructor alone is no longer considered an effective strategy. Students working in environments that shift learning to knowledge construction rather than by assimilating what the instructor delivers will create courses that “resemble a language or conversation rather than a book or manual” (Downes, 2005, para. 32).
Web 2.0 technologies and their use in teaching and learning are currently in a nascent state. Further research on the adoption and use of Web 2.0 technologies, and their effects on teacher philosophies with respect to teaching and learning, will deepen our understanding of how to use these technologies to design courses that engage and retain students.