Web 2.0, ubiquitous learning and virtual worlds

The evolution of Web 2.0 has changed the way that we communicate.   The internet has changed from a one-way medium into an environment in which people can communicate, create, contribute and collaborate.   It provides an arena for activism, a culture of participation, opportunities for entrepreneurship and is a vehicle for learning and sharing knowledge.

So how does the advent of Web 2.0 impact on education and educators?

Ubiquitous learning is synonymous with cultural change that has been heralded by the development of technology .  Web 2.0 has contributed to a paradigm shift, in which communication, ownership and construction of knowledge has been redefined.    Our students live in a very different world to one that traditional education was designed for.  Learning is no longer confined to the four walls of the classroom.   Knowledge is no longer exclusively held by  the teacher.

Ubiquitous learning and Web 2.0 seem to be inextricably linked.   In Ubiquitous Learning, Cope & Kalantzis (2009) outline seven “moves” congruent with ubiquitous learning.   The practices that they suggest seem to both support and be sustained by the features of Web 2.0.     We see Web 2.0 blurring the boundaries of education, enabling membership of multiple learning communities and enabling access to a range and mix of representational modes whilst building collaborative knowledge cultures.  We can also see that the development of conceptual capacity and distributed cognition are necessary to effectively operate in the world of Web 2.0 – the world of Ubiquitous learning.

So what does that all actually mean for my practice as an educator?

Web 2.0 has changed the way that I communicate with my colleagues.    For example I  use Facebook to communicate with colleagues from my school and the University of Illinois Masters program, I communicate with colleagues from across the world using synchronous software.   Like many other teachers I also use the internet to research topics, develop and share resources and locate audio visual clips using Youtube, Teacher TV and Scootle.   My colleagues and I  have also set up wikis to enrich student communication and enhance learning through collaborative construction of knowledge.

Yet this is just the very beginning of  a shift in practice.

Today I participated in an amazng workshop  presented by digital designer, Jo Kay.    In her guided tour of the ‘Metaverse’ we explored the islands of  Jokaydia and discovered the incredible potential that virtual worlds present to educators.   The potential for engagement, collaboration, communication and problem solving was immense.   As we walked around Dunsinane Castle, surrounded by ghosts whispering lines from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, my excitement began to tempered by the fact that the site is probably blocked by our school network.   In reality, it is going to be very difficult  for me to organise student access to that castle.   This is disheartening because of the immense potential for learning it presents.

The change in cultural practices brought about by Web 2.0 have  evolved so quickly that, to a large extent, education has been left behind.    Electronic devices continue to be banned in classrooms, resources like wikipedia are deemed ‘unacademic’ and educational authorities are hyper vigilant in their efforts to block Youtube, social networking sites, blogs and chat rooms on school networks.    There are valid ethical issues surrounding the concept of student/teacher digital ‘friendships’ and schools have been confronted with a range of issues relating to cyber bullying and the threat of internet predators.     All of these factors have contributed to the slow adoption of Web 2.0 technologies and practices in schools.   However, it is clear that in order to move school educational practice into the world of ubiquitous learning we need to stop viewing these technologies as a threat.

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