education.au

Blogs, Wikis, RSS and there's more? Web 2.0 on the march

There is no doubt that the corporate environment sees Web 2.0 technologies (RSS, Blogs, Wikis ) as effective in improving business delivery. This already includes strengthening internal communication, diversifying marketing activities and connecting with their clients to derive immediate feedback. Marketing gurus are now including in their language viral marketing and digital marketing, encouraging application of web 2.0 technologies to enable greater reach to the consumer. Enterprises are looking at how these technologies are improving productivity and speed to market for their products. And the media has accepted that these technologies are changing the face of print and television communications. It is remarkable how quickly newspapers, for example, have embraced ‘global’ citizen journalism as one, and an important, aspect of their work. Take the recent example of a politician having to respond to criticisms from a blog!! It’s something we can’t ignore. Criticisms left unanswered can be a source of discomfort. Check out a search on Google for blogs!!

What does this mean for education and training? Given that learning itself is an inherently social activity, and we know that the digital native(ref1)  has significant experience in the use of technologies outside of their formal learning, it has tremendous potential. As educators, we need to ‘arm’ the learner with the ability to apply critical judgement to discriminate when engaging with highly interactive tools, services and content (fact, opinion, commentary, truth and untruths).

So what are blogs, wikis, RSS, flickr, frappr, podcasts and more…? Web 2.0 is web-based technologies that allows a ‘read/write’ approach to the web and enables the learner to be both a consumer and producer of content and services. Learners are co-learners and co-authors in this type of environment. It enhances the opportunities for learners to collaborate and generate new knowledge or build expert domains by a community of practice.  James Farmer, Online Community Editor at The Age, suggests that not everyone is a blogger. We do however, have many options now to participate, publish and share online. This is the real promise of Web 2.0!

These technologies are often being described as social software. Some forms of such social software include the more familiar internet discussion forums; social networking sites, such as MySpace which allows people to represent and create social relationships and even dating sites can be considered social software. Weblogs that facilitate conversation across many weblogs through comments on posts; social bookmarking which allows users to share their internet 'bookmarks' or  'favourites' and Wikis, have become recently popular and received interest from the education sector. Wikis are one way in which technology can help groups come together to share and create new knowledge and so may be a useful way of learning skills important to participation in a knowledge economy(ref2) . RSS services (eg newsletters, podcasts, alerts) allow content services to be automatically generated and ‘pushed’ out into many environments. RSS aggregators allow the user to control what content appears in their personal learning space.

Microsoft have recognised this trend as indicated in demonstrations by Frank Arrigo, a Microsoft Technology Evangelist, of the imminent versions of IE and Office. These incorporate applications which enable Blog entries to be made within a word document and RSS readers for content syndication in Internet Explore browser or Outlook.

So what significant opportunities do Web 2 applications provide for education?  Collaborative tools to support professional learning? Encouraging and enhancing student literacy through co-authoring and presenting content to a global audience? There are already some great examples of educators integrating Web 2.0 into learning. Search EdNA. www.edna.edu.au

With these extended learning opportunities come new challenges for educators. Web 2.0 environments encourage greater content sharing, potentially making ownership rights more complex. It becomes more critical that student safety and appropriate use of digital technologies be robustly addressed. Information literacy and internet safety issues such as privacy and protective behaviours need to be managed so that all students understand and apply effective online strategies both in school and away. (www.netalert.net.au/schools) . The risks are known and generally understood. These technologies have great potential to change learning, communication and publishing practices in education as they are already in corporate environments. This is an opportunity that education cannot miss.

Garry Putland, 1 September 2006

1. Marc Prensky,  Keynote : Delivering 21st Century tools, learning and skills education.au National Seminar, March 2006,  http://www.educationau.edu.au/jahia/Jahia/home/pid/202

2. Using Wikis in Schools : A Case Study, Lyndsay Grant, May 2006 http://www.futurelab.org.uk/download/pdfs/research/disc_papers/Wikis_in_Schools.pdf