University 2.0
I’ve been doing some reading on the concept of “Teaching 2.0”–a loosely defined response to the Web 2.0 concept that is transforming some of our most basic social, political, economic, and personal communication models through increased emphasis on social networking, collaborating, and sharing of information. Web 2.0 technologies–chats, blogs, IM, wikis, social networks (e.g., FaceBook, Del.icio.us, Flickr, etc.), podcasting, YouTube–have transformed the way a generation interacts and relates to the world at large. Advocates of Teaching 2.0 are working with these technologies to provide students with more access to primary source knowledge and to give them the opportunity to work with the context of subject matter rather than just the subject matter itself.
“University 2.0” is an outgrowth of the Teaching 2.0 concept. Practitioners are dedicated to using Web 2.0 concepts to transform teaching at the college level through enhanced course design, teaching methods, and student expectations. A question recently posted to eLearnSpace nicely summed up the need for examining University 2.0:
“…what are universities across the world doing about this information revolution? How are we demonstrating to our future students that we are not only a part of this human network but that we are leaders in the movement? Most universities were built and designed to function effectively in a single geographic location to a specific group of people in a print based environment. Now that we can communicate with people around the world instantly and access books, journals, presentations, videos, and more online, we should think of the world as our classroom. Future students understand this information age and expect universities to be on the front lines. As the world moves toward a global economy and information can be accessed from anywhere in the world, universities need to think more critically about how they want to proceed in developing leaders of this brave new digital age.”
Ken Yarmosh offers some additional insights into the effectiveness of University 2.0 with a post to TechnoSight. I was particularly drawn to this quote:
“University 2.0 or perhaps Education 2.0 is the ultimate way that we can ensure learning really never stops. I’d love to read the blogs or listen to the podcasts of some of the professors and teachers I had throughout high school and college…”
In the real world of UAF SOE, it has often struck me that we need to figure out some way to support our students once they have their own classrooms and are looking for current information about issues relating to their own teaching. How cool would it be to be able to read a favorite instructor’s blog on current practices, to listen to a podcast or view a video that kept the former student connected to the university and also provided him/her with current information? Further, what if that former student could respond with real world observations from his/her classroom that could enhance the instructor’s insights into teaching practices and expectations? They can, of course, if the instructor and/or the former student maintains a blog…
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Blogs and Wikis in Teaching
Still very interested in investigating the idea of evaluating blogs, I recently came across an entry from the TechLearning Blog that caught my attention. An elementary school teacher in Shanghai who blogs with his students had some of his fifth grade students come up with their own rubrics for evaluating blogs. The results are interesting and can be seen on this page.
But once you get there, keep reading. The discussion evolves into a more general discussion of digital writing and wikis, with some interesting remarks from a high school social studies teacher who uses wikis to help students understand complex concepts through collaborative wiki writing.
In many places in the discussion, the term “Teaching 2.0” is mentioned. Here is a quote from the Techlearning Blog about the nature of Teaching 2.0:
“Teacher 2.0 puts students at the center of the learning experience; they [sic] allow students to control the learning environment and create content that contributes to the global body of information. Teacher 2.0 creates an environment that allows learning to happen. They [sic] guide students by engaging in conversations either virtual or face-to-face.Teacher 2.0 understands that learning occurs when every member of the class is both a student and a teacher. That teaching and learning goes beyond the walls of the physical classroom. [sic] Teacher 2.0 understands that content is ever changing; therefore focusing on skills that help us understand the changing nature of content is more critical than the content itself. Teacher 2.0 is caring, compassionate, and is willing to take risks.”
I am not aware of the term “Teaching 2.0.” I’m going to investigate it more. Perhaps it will become the focal point of another blog entry.
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