·:[ frepa.blog ]:·
• • • • •

Min avhandling (Modularization of the learning architecture: supporting learning theories by learning technologies) har uppmärksammats på flera ställen vilket givetvis är jättekul!

• På KKS Framtidens lärande: Mer flexibla lärandemiljöer
• På Øysten Johanessens blogg: Fredrik Paulsson har disputert
• På Skolporten, Forskning & utveckling
• På 計畫贊助者 (?)
• På En IKT-pedagogs funderingar

Min förhoppning är att den ska läsas och att det ska bli diskussion. Jag har försökt skriva så att både datavetare och pedagoger kan ha utbyte av att läsa den och jag hoppas att jag har lyckats.

From the Swedish Learning Space

I get a feeling that we often apprehend technology as developing faster that it actually does. The Web 2.0 phenomena is an interesting example of this. When Web 2.0 suddenly appeared, as it seemed out of nowhere, there was actually nothing sudden or even new about it. Web 2.0 is in fact mainly based on “old” technology.

I have now made my first blog entry: Where do VLEs come from and where are they heading?, as a guest blogger at The Swedish Learning Space . For some reason it became a very long one… It is probably because I selected a complex subject that needed a lot of background information.

Not that I don’t like the things that are referred to as Web 2.0 - on the contrary, a lot of it are really useful stuff, such as Wikis, blogs, pod-cast and so on. But are they really new and does Web 2.0 really exist? Or is it just a collective name and a number of buzzwords for something that has actually been around for quite a while? It is very hard to find useful and non-fuzzy definitions of Web 2.0.

There is actually a debate out there with a lot of different opinions on the matter, such as (most of those references are from Wikipedia ):

• Nate Anderson (2006-09-01). Tim Berners-Lee on Web 2.0: "nobody even knows what it means". Retrieved on 2006 September 5.
• The Enzyme that Won. The Economist (2006-05-11). Retrieved on 2006 August 6.
• Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka (2007-01-11). The Hogosphere: "Web 2.0: No Thanks, I’m Holding Out for Web 3.0". Something Awful. Retrieved on 2007 January 2.
• Paul Boutin (2006-03-29). The new Internet "boom" doesn’t live up to its name. Slate.com. Retrieved on 2006 August 6.
• Russell Shaw (2005-12-17). Web 2.0? It doesn’t exist. ZDNet. Retrieved on 2006 August 6.
• Andrew Orlowski (2005-10-21). Web 2.0: It’s … like your brain on LSD!. The Register. Retrieved on 2006 August 6.
• Nicholas G. Carr (2005-10-03). The amorality of Web 2.0. Retrieved on 2006 August 6.
• Paul Anderson (2007-02-27). What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education. Retrieved on 2007 March 15.

I found this picture by Jürgen Schiller Garica , and it gives a nice perspective.

My point being that there are several reasons for being critical and reflective (not only considering Web 2.0 though). This is unfortunately not always the strongest quality of the educational- and learning technology community (which I consider myself a part of). Whether Web 2.0 exists or not is for you to decide for your self. What I would really like have is a roadmap to Web 3.0. When can I upgrade??

Becta have published volume 2 of their report: Emerging technologies for learning

‘Emerging technologies for learning’ aims to help readers consider how emerging technologies may impact on education in the medium term. The publications are not intended to be a comprehensive review of educational technologies, but offer some highlights across the broad spectrum of developments and trends. It should open readers up to some of the possibilities that are developing and the potential for technology to transform our ways of working, learning and interacting over the next three to five years.

The report is not that comprehensive, but it provide a good overview of "emerging" technologies for learning. Volume 2, as well as volume 1 can be found here.

New report published by JISC: What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education

Within 15 years the Web has grown from a group work tool for scientists at CERN into a global information space with more than a billion users. Currently, it is both returning to its roots as a read/write tool and also entering a new, more social and participatory phase. These trends have led to a feeling that the Web is entering a ‘second phase’—a new, ‘improved’ Web version 2.0. But how justified is this perception?

This TechWatch report was commissioned to investigate the substance behind the hyperbole surrounding ‘Web 2.0’. It reports on the implications this may have for the UK Higher and Further Education sector, with a special focus on collection and preservation activities within libraries.

The report establishes that Web 2.0 is more than a set of ‘cool’ and new technologies and services, important though some of these are. It has, at its heart, a set of at least six powerful ideas that are changing the way some people interact. Secondly, it is also important to acknowledge that these ideas are not necessarily the preserve of ‘Web 2.0’, but are, in fact, direct or indirect reflections of the power of the network: the strange effects and topologies at the micro and macro level that a billion Internet users produce.

The report argues that by separating out the discussion of Web technologies (ongoing Web development overseen by the W3C), from the more recent applications and services (social software), and attempts to understand the manifestations and adoption of these services (the ‘big ideas’), decision makers will find it easier to understand and act on the strategic implications of ‘Web 2.0’. Indeed, analysing the composition and interplay of these strands provides a useful framework for understanding its significance.

The PDF can be downloaded from here

Technorati tags: Web 2.0 e-learning

Del.icio.us is a nice tool for social bookmarking, but it can be a bit difficult penetrate. By accident, I found a simple guide to Using Del.icio.us in Education that could be worth looking into if you want to try it out.

Technorati Tags: del.icio.us, educational technology, social bookmarking, e-learning

The IEEE Journal "Learning Technology" has a special issue out on “Blogging as an Educational Technology”.

Technorati Tags: Blog, blogging, e-learning, educational technology

From Scott Wilson’s Workblog

Scott Wilson makes a few good points - even though I believe that reuse actually is an important reason in itself for Learning Objects, as it supports the way in which teachers often prefer to work. I do however agree with him in general…

Reuse often falls out as a side benefit from technologies. The critical requirement is to make the process you want to get working actually working. If this can save you effort next time, or on another system, thats great, but its not the primary motivation. We’ve seen this a lot in the learning objects discourse, with the "reuse" topic hijacking the agenda when perhaps other concerns, such as enabling coordination of shared activity, making it easier for teachers and students to write and publish, and making more connections between resources (rather than less - a requirement for LO reuse is fewer or no links) may have been more fruitful avenues to pursue.

Read the blog post at http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/blogview?entry=20060505104338  

A beta version of the PLEX: Personal Learning Environment Client has just been released. Although this is an interesting approach I would rather have seen a slightly different approach - which we will probably see in the near future. PLEX implements the concept of the Personal Learning Environment . I would rather see PLE as a subset of the overall virtual learning environment. Hence, it does not come as a separate application. Especially not as a client. PLEX are making extensive use of "Web 2.0" technology - but without the web as it looks from my first impresion… I would like it much better to see an application that provides transparent pedagogical services based on the same sphere of technologies, with PLE in mind, but not isolated to PLE.

Don’t get me wrong though, I like much of what they are doing in the (still quite small:) PLE community - including PLEX. I just would like to broaden the technical and infrastructural context.

E-learn Magazine have published an article by Stephen Downes titled: E-learning 2.0. The article is well worth reading and gives a good perspective on the evolment of e-learning.

E-learning as we know it has been around for ten years or so. During that time, it has emerged from being a radical idea—the effectiveness of which was yet to be proven—to something that is widely regarded as mainstream. It’s the core to numerous business plans and a service offered by most colleges and universities.

And now, e-learning is evolving with the World Wide Web as a whole and it’s changing to a degree significant enough to warrant a new name: E-learning 2.0.