I am currently working on my thesis for my Master’s in Education. Essentially, I am examining web 2.0 technologies inside the classroom. Moodle is a primary example. It contains and utilizes almost all aspects of web 2.0 technologies. (Essentially, web 2.0 refers to internet users going beyond just consuming information. They are now uploading, creating, and even revising information that is already there. Not only do they add to it, they book mark, blog, attach videos, even rate and review content.) However, when utilizing it in the classroom, many teachers are not instructing their students in a new type of literacy that goes hand in hand with web 2.0. This new way of using the internet brings about a new type of literacy all together, a new way of reading and processing information. Social Networks such as wackwall can easily be used in the classroom in progressive ways that challenge and engage our students in this new type of critical literacy.
Essentially, students need to think critically about where something comes from. Ownership and authenticity exist in a whole new realm. For example, on a typical wiki, if several users update an entry, to whom do the words belong? Is the original publisher still to be cited if numerous users have added to their original post? Is a sources validity judged solely on where it comes from? For example, what if Diig has a post from a news source, but users have reviewed it unfavorably time and time again, does the validity suffer for quantity of negative reviews? To further exemplify the issue, does the quality of those doing the reviews come into play?
In 2009, this issue was examined by Marlene Asselin and Maryam Moayeri in their examination of this new literacy in their research article “The Participatory classroom: Web 2.0 in the classroom”.* They found 76% of K-12 teachers use digital media inside the classroom. However, this number is misleading. For example, over 50% of respondents said the use was primarily looking at information passively. This is NOT in keeping with the true notion of web 2.0, that is, an interactive relationship where users are creating and uploading content, users comment on, rearrange, add to items on the internet, many of the educators surveyed (under 30%) said they encouraged this type of usage in the classroom. Under 30% had students actively blogging, participating in social networks, in other words, actively contributing to websites. (2009, p. 2)
In 2009, this issue was examined by Marlene Asselin and Maryam Moayeri in their examination of this new literacy in their research article “The Participatory classroom: Web 2.0 in the classroom”.* They found 76% of K-12 teachers use digital media inside the classroom. However, this number is misleading. For example, over 50% of respondents said the use was primarily looking at information passively. This is NOT in keeping with the true notion of web 2.0, that is, an interactive relationship where users are creating and uploading content, users comment on, rearrange, add to items on the internet, many of the educators surveyed (under 30%) said they encouraged this type of usage in the classroom. Under 30% had students actively blogging, participating in social networks, in other words, actively contributing to websites. (2009, p. 2)
All of these new aspects of digital texts should be at the forefront of educational conversations. Sadly, they are not. Far too many teachers feel they are “capitalizing” on technology if they read a blog post in class. We need to instruct students how to be critical viewers as well as users of content. We need to capitalize on their Facebook skills, but provide a context in which to use them, a lens from which to view the world around them.
Social networking is moving well beyond an entertainment technology primarily used by today’s youth. The sooner we bring it into the classroom and provide a context for our students to critically interact with the world around them, the sooner they will benefit from such web 2.0 technologies. These technologies will most assuredly be waiting for them in the professional world in various ways not yet realized.
Do we really understand the potential of such web 2.0 technologies? Most schools frown upon, if not ban the use of many of these technologies. Take Twitter for example, why has this technology not been embraced and discussed in the classroom? Look at how Twitter alone has revolutionized the world in which we live(Libya, or Egypt) . The revolution will not be televised, it will be Tweeted.
*Asselin, M., & Moayeri, M. (2011). The participatory classroom: Web 2.0 in the classroom. Australian Journal of Language & Literacy, 34(2), 45-45.
