web 2.0: trendy nonsense

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web 2.0 trendy nonsense?
Steven Warburton Kings College
London steven.warburton_at_kcl.ac.uk
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where are we now?
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identifying trends

• social nature of learning
• social-constructivism and situated learning
• negotiated meaning through dialogue
• collaboration, community and creativity
• socio-technical and cultural changes
• ambient technology, ubiquitous computing
• fluidity between individual, group, community and
  networks
• web-natives, digital natives, net generation
• web 2.0
• read/write web -gt consumer becomes producer
• complexity, emergent behaviour and emergent
  classifications
• the rise of social software

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discussion fora
social recommendation discovery
IRC
instant messaging
blogs
social tools
wikis
social bookmarks
collaboration
social networks
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e-learning dominant models, developments and
drivers

• reusable learning objects
• quality frameworks
• standards (SCORM, LOM, QTI)
• digital repositories (silos)
• scripted learning activities (IMS LD)
• content delivery and assessment driven (VLE)
• a hierarchical industrial model that can respond
  to increasing student numbers and pressures on
  staff time

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web 2.0 in education

• what is the problem to which web 2.0 technologies
  are posited as a solution?
• how does the rhetoric of web 2.0 stand up to
  close scrutiny?
• what questions are these technologies asking of
  us, our values, our teaching and our
  institutions

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problematising web 2.0
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consumers becoming producers

• blogs, wikis, YouTube, podcasts, slideshare,
  del.icio.us and so on inevitably leads to
• mass amateurisation
• information rich but knowledge poor
• incoherence
• information overload
• not what I know but who I know or where to find
  it?
• open systems chaos?

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collaboration individual, group, community and
networks

• what are our motives for collaboration and
  cooperation?
• what conditions support strong community
  formation?
• emergent behaviours (critical mass)
• groups vs. networks or groups to communities
• in networks what happens to
• trust
• identity (work on the self)
• and shared purpose

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Stephen Downes whiteboard brain dump on the
essence of group vs. network
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personalisation

• personal choice problematic (how do we know
  how to make these choices?)
• personal private problematic (institutions
  should respect privacy?)
• there is a distinct lack of clarity between
  between customisation and personalisation?

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next generation - what generation?

• where is the evidence for next generation
  learners?
• where are the next generation tutors
• the student body is always in a state of change
  unlike our academics?

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formal and informal learning spaces

• in a web 2.0 world of disruption and the blurring
  of formal and informal how do students
• develop critical self awareness?
• judge value and quality (disciplinary knowledge
  boundaries, assessment)?
• develop intellectual tools?
• engage in purposeful activities (metacognition,
  competencies)?

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what are the ethical issues raised by web 2.0?

• personal - implies freedom from censorship
• public domain vs. respect for student privacy
• risk - exposing and sharing our thinking
• traces - e.g. permanence of blogs posts
• student visibility / invisibility (the quiet
  learner)
• tracking as control
• identity - adding personal spin, managing
  reputation
• what are our responsibilities, where are we
  accountable?

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does a web 2.0 approach work in practice?

• evaluating wikis
• introducing new tools does not change practice
• wikis conflict with traditional assumptions about
  authorship and intellectual property
• why share? receiving credit for contributions,
  selfish motive?
• consent contributions being revised or deleted
• content knowledge can be improved, but this takes
  time
• quality can be maintained if versions ready for
  quality assessment are identified
• students can be reluctant to contribute to wikis
• visual and design options are limited - wikis are
  not presentation software
• are wikis easy to use? they require network
  literacy writing in a distributed, collaborative
  environment

source a variety of case studies, see
http//del.icio.us/stevenw/wiki-workshop-2006-11
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• the floodgates are openhow do we respond?
• architecture or ecology?
• do these technologies support our underpinning
  educational values?

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what do institutions say?
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we are afraid, very afraid

• there seem to be two recurring themes
• fear of losing control by levelling the authority
  structures
• fear of losing control by levelling authority
  structures

is web 2.0 is going to put me out of a job?
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we have seen it all before

• institutional weariness at having to keep pace
  with constant technological innovation when
  pedagogy has barely shifted?
• where is the evidence for the rhetoric of the
  Internet being applicable to education?
• the bubble will burst, these technologies will be
  socialised and tamed (but to what?) - a natural
  evolution

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are we looking at a paradigm shift? one that is
individual, institutional, cultural or?
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closed and open systems, hierarchies vs.
networks, nupedia to wikipedia

• Brooks Law (1975)
• As the number of programmers N rises, the work
  performed also scales as N, but the complexity
  and vulnerability to mistakes rises as N squared
• Conceptual integrity in turn dictates that
  design must proceed from one mind, or a very
  small number of agreeing resonant minds

• Linus Law
• Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow
  (Linus Torvalds)
• or
• Given a large enough beta-tester and co-developer
  base, almost every problem will be characterised
  quickly and the fix obvious to someone.

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what do we see in the future? what questions do
we need to ask?
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key ideas

• appropriation understanding the use of
  technologies as being a locally situated
  phenomenon and a process of negotiation of
  meaning occurs at these sites
• context a particular technology (wiki) used in
  an educational activity or context is not the
  same as the technology (wiki) used to collaborate
  and document a workshop

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context (pedagogical approach)? collaborative
networked e-learning? formal or informal
setting? mixed mode or distance education?
learner at centre
social software
learner
expectations
personalised
negotiation of meaning
networked
motivation
collaborative
experience competencies
creative
time