Your avatar at school in Web 2.0
The internet is popularly regarded as being all about 'information.' However, as the web develops, its focus and function is evolving. The term Web 2.0 has been coined to describe a second generation of internet use, which increasingly manifests itself in: • Communication between individuals and groups • Community forming and building • Contributing to large collaborative ventures.
Rather than simply downloading information from websites, more and more users are uploading weblogs, participating in forums and contributing to a collaborative body of information.
To get a sense of how Web 2.0 is affecting schools, Options talked to Bill Badke, author of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Meaning of Everything and Research Strategies: Finding your way through the information fog. He is also an associate professor and librarian at Trinity Western University.
Courseware and 3D Second Life
Colleges and Universities, Badke noted, are increasingly using 'courseware' - programs such as WebCT and Moodle - to help run many of their courses. These packages allow for a range of digital (and paperless) interaction - both between students, and with instructors. Courseware is now well-established, and is spawning an increase in distance education.
A brand new development Badke spoke of is an online 3D 'virtual world' phenomenon called Second Life (SL).
SL's appearance and functionality are somewhat similar to online games like World of Warcraft. Users ('SL residents') are able to create a graphical representation of themselves, commonly called 'avatars' (a concept which has no relation to the spiritual use of the term in Hinduism). As in video games, the user interacts with (and within) a somewhat rudimentary - but improving - 3D world.
Since its inception in 2003, SL has grown explosively. Its virtual environment is now 'inhabited' by some 3,141,640 people worldwide.
Unlike a video game, the Second Life environment is largely created by the users - and even has its own economy.
Tools available in this virtual world enable residents to create homes, cars, toys - in fact, anything. These items can be sold to other SL residents with virtual money, that is given real dollar value.
What this has to do with education may not be immediately apparent.
However, according to a recent report on CBC's The National, some 60 schools are using this 'world' to deliver courses.
Among them are Harvard and Stanford along with Montreal's La Salle and Toronto's Loyalist College. The latest version of SL supports VoIP (Voice-over Internet Protocol), so students can interact with their classes in a range of ways.
In his November 2006 article, 'The School of Second Life, Wagner James Au comments: "For those who grew up on computer and video games over the past 30 years, it's no surprise that games have become a full-fledged educational tool, merging play with learning in a way that speaks to the digital generation's technical literacy. Adding heft to this development, the Federation of American Scientists recently published the results of a year-long study suggesting that games have the power to teach analytical skills, team building and problem solving on the fly."
Badke is not aware of any Christian schools in Canada experimenting with SL; however, he thinks it is only a matter of time. What is now becoming self-evident is that the internet is changing the way students interact with education and view the acquisition of knowledge.
A recent extensive report by Sara de Freitas, 'Learning in immersive worlds,' concludes: "The rapidly changing landscape of games and simulation development is bringing new potential for learning in immersive worlds using multiple media. Moreover, the speed of uptake in leisure contexts, and the expectations of younger learners in particular, have deep implications upon how game-based learning will be used in practice.
"With a greater emphasis upon learning experiences, game-based learning may provide significant challenges to our institutions and teaching strategies. However, it may also provide new opportunities for reconsidering how we learn - and for supporting the development of new immersive spaces where learners may produce their own materials, share learning experiences and practice skills for the 'real world.' This may give an indication of the kinds of forms that may have an influence upon how we learn over the next few years, - as the 'digital natives,' who may be more interested in active 'street gaming' than watching television, become the teachers, managers and policy makers of 2020."
Wikipedia +
Badke also talked about the continuing growth and use of the free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia.org. Although he confirmed that most professors are still hesitant about accepting it as a reliable information source, more and more students are going there for background information.
Wikipedia began in 2001, and now features more than 1.6 million articles, contributed -Êand refined - by volunteers. It is perhaps the clearest example of pure Web 2.0 - because the expectation that collaboration among users would improve articles over time has been confirmed. Badke commented: "I am becoming increasingly confident of information provided by Wikipedia. They've made some recent moves to tighten up spurious revisionism."
He also noted an emerging off shoot of Wikipedia, called Citizendium. Described as "a citizens' compendium of everything," the project aims to improve on the Wikipedia model - by adding "gentle expert oversight," and requiring contributors to use their real names.
"It has taken on a life of its own - and will, perhaps, become the flagship of a new set of responsibly managed free knowledge projects," said Badke.
