Lee Kraus [10.16.07 12:33 PM]

Dale, There is a lot of smart people from both academic and business thinking about how education is being transformed by Web2.0 and I can't think of anything more important either.

  k [10.16.07 12:53 PM]

even a new trend called "e-learning 2.0" is emerging

  maxconfus [10.16.07 01:28 PM]

Does it have to break down the traditional? Is it possible to learn other than through repetition? How about it simply supplement traditional learning? Like offer deeper insight into why or how Galileo studied motion and time instead of just cranking equations, for instance. Or how about just bringing obscure, non-traditional - i.e. State mandated syllabuses would never allow, techniques for math like lightning calculations?

  Julie [10.16.07 01:38 PM]

Hi Dale, as Lee notes, this is an active area of exploration in academia and business. One thing to keep in mind -- technical tools can very effectively support and extend learning, but any tool (whether chalkboard or blog) should be used because of how it is helpful, not because it exists. The Teaching for Understanding framework is a good model for how collaborative web tools are being used to support learning. (One article here).

  Ron Brinkmann [10.16.07 02:59 PM]

I agree, this is extraordinarily important. Check out www.ck12.com for one of the places that seem to 'get it'. There are also initiatives to create totally creative-commons licensed textbooks. Seriously, in this day and age should schools be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for textbooks?

  Earl McNeil [10.16.07 04:51 PM]

Hey Dale, there are some web 2.0...ish sites out there already for e-learning.. Some great ones your readers should check out are Tutor.com, Tutorz.com, TutorVista, and Ziizoo.com

  Ron Brinkmann [10.16.07 05:07 PM]

While I'm sure that sites like tutor.com, etc., are fine for what they do, they're no substitute for what the real issues (in my opinion) are here. Namely that our entire educational system should be re-examined in light of the incredible teaching power that web-like technologies could bring to bear.

Personally I believe that if a not-for-profit consortium could be brought together to develope an 'open-source' rock-solid teaching curriculum that spans elementary school through high school, most sensible school districts (here AND abroad) would be thrilled to adopt it.

I'm not at all an advocate of letting the computer be the teacher, by the way - this should all be done with the primary goal of creating tools that help the teacher to better engage their students... to make learning SO compelling that kids will WANT to be there. This could include everything from entertaining videos, celebrity participation, interactive puzzle-solving... and so on.

  Jason Beckerman [10.16.07 05:30 PM]

Hi Dale!

I am CEO of Teach The People. We are in progress of building out our content and operations. We are in private beta but would love to give you a tour.

We are doing everything you are asking about here.

High quality, low cost education for the masses!

Best,
Jason

  Mark [10.16.07 08:29 PM]

My wife is a 6th grade teacher and the angle I don't see being addressed is teaching these kids HOW TO USE this kind of technology. Many schools are too scared of things like blogs, chat, community sites, and even email in the hands of students, that they totally miss the opportunity to teach students how to actual use the tools they will be expected to use beyond the classroom.

  Chris Morgan [10.17.07 03:27 AM]

Given that many higher education (and even k12) schools are becoming more distributed through the web and seeing larger enrollments as a result, I believe one of the greatest opportunities for a 2.0 application is peer-to-peer study.

In any given topic, there is likely to be a bell-curve of aptitude. If all students were studying online and a system could track their aptitude/performance on a given topic, then those students with mastery of a topic could be matched up with those students who are struggling. Struggling students could be matched up to work out the problem together.

Applications similar to Yahoo! Answers could track these conversations and resolutions, making the content more valuable through the network using it and taking some of the burden off of stretched faculty.

A 2.0 application could also track how often and with what result students are asking for and providing help -- a metric of student participation.

  Tom [10.17.07 04:58 AM]

There are many educators working on this currently despite organizational adversity and they're forming active communities to try to address exactly what you asked about. Try Classroom 2.0 for a large Ning community dedicated to that subject.

What needs to be addressed is the fact that many (the majority?) of school districts actively filter/block many of the web 2.0 sites that could be allowing different types of learning to occur. Minority parent groups screaming about the dangers of the Internet are overtly influencing school policies for the worse while those in favor of a rational approach to filtering and technology are either silent or drowned out.

We need parents speaking up for opening up the Internet instead of shutting it down. We need teachers to be able to experiment with these technologies without the fear they'll be fired if a student writes a curse word in a wiki. Until we get some positive pressure towards this type of environment I'd expect more electronic worksheets instead of a true harnessing of the new tools and power web 2.0 offers.

Tom

  ByteBros [10.17.07 07:32 AM]

Web 2.0 for Learning 2.0. It's a great idea and idealism is one of the most important things in the world (of education).

But the problem is not the technique we offer our children. The real problem is the motivation we have to give them to learn the whole way. And here is the big lack. We can programm the most sophisticate applications in web-2.0-technology, but what can we do with it if the kids are not willing to use it because it has something to do with school?

For students it will be far better. Because they are not forced to learn. It is a voluntary job to go to the university and learn.

  barry.b [10.17.07 07:58 AM]

"Seriously, in this day and age should schools be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for textbooks?"

that amount of dosh for books just comes from volume. Perhaps site licensing would make more sence.

but I have a problem with "free" books: who pays the authors for their work? especially when research funding is so thin?

Even Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species was a commercial venture. Imagine if it never got published...

  Gottfried Vossen [10.17.07 10:33 AM]

At my university at home in Germany, we've been doing this for 3 semesters now: having students familiarize themselves with Web 2.0 technologies and apporaches through seminars, and utilizing it in our collaborative e-learning platform Learnr (easily found via Google).

  scottra [10.18.07 05:34 AM]

Check out the K-12 Online Conference in progress.

It's focus is Web 2.0, and the theme this year is “Playing with Boundaries”.

Sounds a lot like "Discovering the Web's Edge".

  Ron Brinkmann [10.18.07 09:59 PM]

barry.b - I'm not necessarily advocating 'free' books, but certainly Wikipedia et. al has demonstrated that passionate people are willing to do a lot of great work on a volunteer basis. I'm a published author whose book is actually being used as a textbook (albeit in a fairly niche market) and that's definitely made me aware of how much profit is built in (for the publisher, NOT the author!) for most books.

Point(s) being:

1) A good 'open-source' textbook would be a reasonable option for a lot of grades and classes.

2) If the only resource we're providing our teachers are based on dead-tree technology, we're really missing the boat.

What this is really going to take is a major school-district or (better yet) an entire state (anybody have Gov. Schwarzenneger's ear?) to put the $$$ towards developing a true 21st century curriculum. No reason why it can't start with a reasonable bite-sized chunk... target '5th grade math' or something and expand from there.

  vishal bathija [11.19.07 07:56 PM]

Do you feel students would use social networks for education?

  MiKu [01.21.08 06:49 AM]

* "Do you feel students would use social networks for education?"
- Definitely... Rather a better word would be 'web 2.0 for education'.

* We can do far better job of new way of learning than government in any country (including mine). Just as a direction, I remember the idea put forwarded in the movie 'Pay it forward'. I do it. At least it gives me the satisfaction of "giving" than waiting for the ideal web 2.0 which will allow it.

I know its a big thing which has to be discussed with the mix of lots of experienced and motivated ones, to put the platform up and running...

* Me too working on similar lines with the resources i have at hand. And of course, ready to help it where its really for public than dollars.

  Will [02.19.08 04:21 AM]

I took WiZiQ ( http://www.wiziq.com ) for a spin and liked a lot of stuff the site offers. They are creating practical web 2.0 education applications. I tried the virtual classroom and the tests feature. Tests let you create questions, which you can share with your students through a web address. They also have presentation sharing capabilities.

  John Thompson [02.19.08 09:03 AM]

Jason,

Teach The People Web site does not seem operational as I put in my info and hit "signup" but nothing happened. No way to designate login id & password.

  John Thompson [02.19.08 09:19 AM]

open-source "textbook" -- I teach a lot of teacher ed grad courses online, using only the Internet for some courses and a textbook in other courses. Obviously grad students appreciate (but never say "thanks") not having to buy a book in the former courses, but the students who have to buy a book are often appreciative because the book selected is really good and they're going to continue using it after the course over.

  Amerigo [02.19.08 01:27 PM]

e-learning 2.0....pleeease!

Let's try going back to slow food, not faster food.

http://www.geoconnexion.com/uploads/slowfood_intv7i2.pdf

ciao,