Start Wk 8: April 28-May 4: Issues with flexible learning - The modern Internet
at Monday, April 28, 2008
Use of the Internet in education for online learning has evolved over the years from a situation where only programmers and specialists were able to publish materials online, through a phase where learning Management Systems provided easy-to-use online templates which could be filled in by anyone, to social networking, Web 2.0 and more enriched online communities. Which is the best way to use the Internet for learning? What is important about connectivity, communication, online interaction, open source software, open content, and Digital information literacy (access, interpret, use and create). What does it all mean and how does it all relate? The modern Internet offers considerable opportunities to flexible learning, but significant challenges to fair and equitable access persist
To do
- Watch this video presentation by Stephen Downes called Web 2.0 and Your own Learning and Development
- Read Dalsgaard, Christian. (2006). Social software: E-learning beyond learning management systems. European Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning.
- Web 2.0 and socially constructed learning has been a dominant theme for online learning since 2004. Watch this short video that explains Web 2.0 and then read through this debate between David Weinberger and Andrew Keen for and against Web 2.0.
- Post to your blog a response to the following QUESTION:
- What are some of the issues that the video, the debate, and other participants in this course highlight that you think are significant in terms of what the modern internet has to offer to flexible learning?
extra resources
- digital information literacy.
- Other presentations by Stephen Downes
- First Monday: Volume 13, Number 3 - 3 March 2008: Critical Perspectives on Web 2.0
- short video about Web 2.0.
- debate between David Weinberger and Andrew Keen.
- Alastair Smith (2005). Criteria for evaluation of Internet Information Resources.
- Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. Yale University Press 2006
