When reading both of these articles, I was struck by how similar they were even though they were written from such different perspectives. Bryan Alexander writes from the perspective of a researcher while Trent Batson writes from the viewpoint of a professor. Yet both articles share much ideology--that Web 2.0 is a social software that encourages cooperation, that it expands horizons and creates openness never before seen on the internet, and that it emphasizes personal control and creativity. And although they write from different perspectives, they share a common purpose--to streamline teaching through the advent of a more advanced and interactive internet. Both authors view the invention and implementation of Web 2.0 as a natural progression, though in different lights; Alexander sees it as the child of preexisting social networks, while Batson sees it as the child of an innate human efficiency that arises through increased cooperation.
On the other hand, discord is evident in their descriptions of the Web 2.0 movement--Alexander describes the shift to Web 2.0 as a gradual shift from the old web and as "the gradual emergence of a new type of practice." He seems to think that Web 2.0 has made life easier and more efficient, but has not really provided a game changer in teaching terms. Batson, though, seems to view the advent of Web 2.0 as a total paradigm shift, which should change classroom discourse. He claims that Web 2.0 emphasizes communication and cooperation in such a way that schools ought to discard lecture classes because they are outdated and don't emphasize cooperation. In addition, the aforementioned difference in perspective is a major difference in the pieces, if not in content then at the very least in style and outlook. Batson talks about Web 2.0 in terms of teaching practices, while Alexander discusses Web 2.0 in terms of its technical advancements.
Ultimately, the articles seem to differ more in style than in substance because the authors share similar views but lack similar viewpoints.
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I have to agree with your thoughts on a sudden shift vs the gradual change. Its the only difference that I think matters because it deals with the content of the piece rather than how its presented. I wish now that I saw that difference before I posted my blog entry. I only looked at how the backgrounds of the authors effected their work.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Batson focuses more on a sudden paradigm shift in the classroom, whereas Alexander focuses more on the gradual development of Web 2.0 over time. I agree that Batson really does focus more on the classroom, and how Web 2.0 can change the way students will be able to access information on the web. However, Alexander focuses more on how this information is getting on to the web for the students to access. Herein lies the key content difference between the two articles.
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