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Monday, March 8, 2010

Web 2.0 = Pedagogy 2.0

With the increasing interactivity available with Web 2.0, there is a greater need for teachers to be open to experimentation and inquiry-based learning within the classroom. A constructivist approach needs to be used, with ICTs used as a tool and integrated across all learning areas. For this to happen, teachers need to be aware of Web 2.0 functions and students are capable of achieving using the internet. From what I have seen in schools there is a shift taking place amongst students, where new technology is being brought in and teachers are using it in their lessons (sometimes against their will).

A lot of what I see is still very much Web 1.0 based and there seems to be resistance in allowing students to do more complex and interactive Web 2.0 activities. There is still an awe factor in classrooms that make using computers something special, instead of something normal - I've seen students in year 7 shout "Yes!!!" when they are allowed to use the internet for a project. I think teachers are beginning to understand the value of having ICTs in the classroom, but we're still a while away from total normalisation (depending on the school). To change the students' thinking we need to change our teaching, so I propose shifting to Pedagogy 2.0, with more interaction, more questioning, more social construction and more guided discovery. More on that in a later post.

And trust the British to come up with a comedy skit that perfectly demonstrates the "wow" factor of "The Internet" - this is how I currently see the internet being treated in schools and it needs to change. (Unfortunately I'm not able to embed the video, as the embedding has been disabled - but here's the link:)

"The Internet"

5 comments:

  1. Pedagogy 2.0 ... nice idea! Do you see it as some kind of fusion of social constructivism/inquiry-based learning/problem-based learning? And is it necessarily technologically enabled?

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  2. Yeah, exactly that - with teachers as facilitators of active learning on the students' part. Technology should be a tool used in this facilitation process, but it doesn't have to be technologically enabled - teachers can still allow students to follow an inquiry-based process without using computers, mathematics comes to mind (whilst I know there are some good maths programs available, e.g. Mathletics, they're not a curriculum replacement, rather a curriculum enhancer and I haven't found a maths program that really allows students to be active learners). Science is an area that seems to be taking off in an inquiry-based approach, but the process of learning still needs to start with the teacher by setting up the task/learning objectives.

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  3. Yes, well said. Ideally, 'Pedagogy 2.0' would leave open the option of any relevant technology being used, from pencils to web 2.0. And there are doubtless tasks which would benefit from no technology use at all ...

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  4. I think the above is true given the need for independent-thinking type citizens - in traditional pedagogy it took a gifted teacher to do it; now even the below=average are to be required to. This will be very hard for some, which adds to the responsibilities of those who enjoy it - at the mimimum, as caring coworkers.

    Incidentally -
    I tried the link and Lo! A clip from the IT crowd (my boys requested/got the DVDs as a present) - and the second most painful episode, too. Painful because horribly possible.

    A warning to any teacher who trusts the expert adolescent without some reservation.

    On the interconnectedness of everything, I noticed (for the first time) the Anonymous Guy Fawkes mask on the wall in the video (time 0.24) - a symbol of the power of web 2.0 for good or ill.

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  5. Drat - forgot to add my name for your info
    Julie

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