Our little Web 1.0 is finally growing up. He has come a long way, but he is finally starting to open up to others. He is now more social, has more friends, interacts with others better, accepts new ideas with open arms, and accepts new changes into his life without any resistance. This is Web 2.0; the newest sensation that is changing the ways we can access and view content on the web, at least according to the articles written by Bryan Alexander and Trent Batson. Both authors agree that Web 2.0 has transformed the face of the internet, making websites much easier to use, and giving users much more customization freedoms. This new concept has emerged in the forms of blogging, wikis, podcasting, and social networking sites, such as Facebook or Myspace. As a result, the internet is no longer “an exclusive domain of the geek or the brave,” rather it has become a gathering place of individuals all across the globe, allowing them to share ideas, converse, and collaborate with others in real time.
Although both authors would agree that this openness is crucial to the success of Web 2.0, Trent Batson, focuses much more on the small scale implications of Web 2.0, whereas Bryan Alexander focuses more on the birth and development of it. Alexander’s title implies that Web 2.0 may be a new wave of innovation for teaching and learning, but Batson centers his argument specifically on the way in which Web 2.0 is changing the face of higher education, and more specifically, how it is changing the classroom. In the past, traditional classroom instruction was typically a one way interaction between teacher and student, whereas Web 2.0 is now creating a three way interaction between teacher, student, and technology. Batson argues that computers will soon begin to replace textbooks and teacher instruction as the primary learning tools of the twenty first century. The way that students will be able to interact and collaborate with other students will become crucial to the learning environment, more so than the lecturing aspect of class. To sum up, the primary difference between the two articles lies within the content. Whereas Alexander focuses on a much broader aspect on how we can modify the web in the forms of “microcontent,” Batson focuses on the way that students will be able to access all these open resources and create their own new knowledge, thus creating a new form of open education. Whether or not Alexander and Batson would agree on the same application use of Web 2.0, they both could agree on one thing: Web 2.0 is ushering in a new age of internet freedom, giving users an abundance of resources and tools that has not been seen before.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree with you about the differences of the two articles. I also noticed, and found it a little strange, that Alexander's title implies that it would discuss Web2.0's implications in higher learning much more than it actually did. I was expecting both articles to focus on how Web2.0 would change higher education, however only Batson's article did this.
ReplyDelete