Social networking Blog # 7

From a course Google+ meeting I gleaned that this post is a review or reflection of some of the Web 2.0 items we've been experimenting with, as well as our insights into social media thus far.  For the prezi assignment week, I was going to create one about Web 2.0 items until I was shocked by the plethora of existing ones from the prezi  "Explore" option.  Not only were there many, but also they were beyond my newbie skills.  In particular, Chris Dell (Director K-12 Mathematics and Technology, Redding, CA) took me through a fascinating Web 2.0 prezi journey: Technology in the Classroom and & the Web (Part 1).  He shares YouTube clips of the 21st Century Learner, he lists numerous Web 2.0 options, and asks questions:  "How can I use [these] tools to better my life, my work or the life and work of my teachers?"  His prezi is an overview and assignment for colleagues.  

While I found our course text by Will Richardson Blogs,Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms and his invitation to explore, learn, and possibly teach with social media tools overwhelming, this one prezi listed yet more Web 2.0 options - should I be surprised by now?  No.  Also, while Richardson's tone is one of excitement and possibility, Chris Dell's tone was a little different - get with the program or get left behind!  Dell suggests that educators need to become digital natives or they will not meet the needs of 21st Century learners.  While fear and pressure tactics were probably not his main goal, perhaps it will be the result for apprehensive computer users.  Those of us interested in using Web 2.0 in our educational tool box will have to be sensitive to possible hesitancy if not defensive responses from those we interact with: students less so, but adults for sure.  


A good article about how to approach educators in beginning this professional development journey was twittered out by Gordon Powell, "Schools Must Help Educators Transform "PD" into Personal Discovery: a Five-Step Process for Using Online Learning Networks" by Rob Mancabelli (District Administration (DA) web site)

Despite the seemingly exhaustive list of Dell's social media descriptions, I did value his internet thematic groupings and links.  I will go back to this prezi to explore more options such as Flip the Classroom, TubeChop, graphic organizers such as bubbl.us, www.gliffy.com, www.mywebspiration.com, Rubric Maker , and more, and more, and more... In fact, it took me an hour to get through Dell's site as I kept clicking on links and learning about more Web 2.0 choices.  Characteristically great resources then "had" to be added to the SD83 teacher-librarian wiki as hopefully helpful one-stop shopping and learning for my peers: in particular Free Technololgy for Teachers a blog written by Richard Byrne, and 100 Tools for Learning 2010 a fantastic easy visual overview of popular Web 2.0 items.  Part two of Dell's writings I will also look at in the near future, but before that I wanted to sample another's perspective.

Thus, from that amazing info source, I thought I'd try one more Web 2.0 prezi - and again a plethora of options.  Audrey van de Sandt's  "The Toolbox - Useful Software for Education" copy of Prezi "Bumper List of 165 useful software for education" (@mattewensRSCW) was possibly a large power point at one time, uploaded into prezi.  In any case, because I had been working on "social presentations," her section on "Writing/Presentation/Collaboration" was luring, but also beyond my time and energy level to explore each listing: Open Office, PageFlip-Flap, LiveLoop, TypeWithMe, Scivener, Scribus, PrimaryPad, joliprint, TypingTest.com, WordWeb, Titanpad, LiveBinder, timeglider (interactive timelines), Zoho Show, Empressr, slideshare, and issuu - oh my!  At this point I was so glad I hadn't attempted a prezi on the behomoth topic of Web 2.0. and realized I must pay more attention to credible tech blogs, twitter feeds, and educational articles about solid educational Web 2.0 products in order to weed through the expansive and dynamic choices. 

At this point I felt paradoxically far from being a confident digital native (vs digital immigrant), but also had to chuckle about how in some contexts I appeared tech savvy.  



Above I mention tapping into "credible" experts to make educated choices and plans for using Web 2.0 in education.  "Credibility" resonated with me as I read the "criticism" section and in particular the social impact of Web 2.0 in Wikipedia (a source I've come to appreciate and respect since taking this LIBE 477 course):

     "Web 2.0's social impact, critics such as Andrew Keen argue that Web 2.0 has created a cult of digital        narcissism and amateurism, which undermines the notion of expertise by allowing anybody, anywhere to share and place undue value upon their own opinions about any subject and post any kind of content, regardless of their particular talents, knowledge, credentials, biases or possible hidden agendas. Keen's 2007 book, Cult of the Amateur, argues that the core assumption of Web 2.0, that all opinions and user-generated content are equally valuable and relevant, is misguided. Additionally, Sunday Times reviewer John Flintoff has characterized Web 2.0 as "creating an endless digital forest of mediocrity: uninformed political commentary, unseemly home videos, embarrassingly amateurish music, unreadable poems, essays and novels... [and that Wikipedia is full of] mistakes, half truths and misunderstandings".^[59] Michael Gorman, former president of the American Library Association has been vocal about his opposition to Web 2.0 due to the lack of expertise that it outwardly claims, though he believes that there is hope for the future.^[60]

"The task before us is to extend into the digital world the virtues of authenticity, expertise, and scholarly apparatus that have evolved over the 500 years of print, virtues often absent in the manuscript age that preceded print".

Andrew Keen, John Flintoff, and Michael Gorman make valid points about the amateur and even incorrect writing on the internet.  The Ancient Egypt prezis I explored are a case in point.  It also reminded me of the inexperienced research and critical thinking skills "my" high school students had when booked into the library and they went out searching on the big world wide web.  More often than not, they would end up on web sites created by other students who had created these assumed "cool" end product publishing mediums.  These projects/writings often came across in bird unit style: cut and paste writings, which lacked synthesis, clarity and credibility.  Overall these found student web sites added to plagiarism cycling along with the process of watering down information. 

And yet is it wrong to give amateurs a public writing space?  No.  In fact, potentials for "real audiences" are what excites me and presses me to continue on with learning these tools and inviting nervous educational computer users to try Web 2.0 in their teachings.  I believe young, inexperienced writers will be motivated to improve their writing for genuine "other" audiences rather than traditionally for the solitary teacher.  

 As Chris Kennedy, Superindent North Vancouver, stated at the 2012, BCTLA conference he is writing more now than ever and is motivated to write well so that others want to read his thoughts.  


More intriguing thoughts about futuristic Web 3.0 and 4.0 came from wikipedia as well as a couple of links from Chris Dell's prezi: Stephen Wang, a Catholic Priest Diocese of Westminster, England and the elusive writer Misthaven who discusses his realization that Web 3.0 has already started, and that futuristic Web 4.0 and the potential for artificial intelligence may come with dangerous downsides.   

Misthaven

Web 1.0 

Stephen Wang describes Web 1.0 as the following: "The first generation of internet technology. You call up pages of text and images with incredible speed and facility. It’s no different from strolling through a library, only much quicker. The operative verb is I LOOK. I look at pages on the screen just as I look at pages in a book. All content is provided for you – it’s a form of publishing. It may be updated in a way that is impossible when a solid book is sitting on your shelf, but you can’t change the content yourself." ("Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0: What does it all mean and where is it all going?" September 25, 2012 by Stephen Wang).

Web 2.0 

Web 2.0 I've discussed above, and similar to Web 1.0 but the difference being "I participate." Wang states "You don’t just look at the pages, you alter them. You write your own blog; you comment on someone else’s article in the comment boxes; you edit an entry on Wikipedia. And then, by extension, with basically the same technology, you share your thoughts on a social networking site, which means you are commenting not on a static site, but on something that is itself in flux. You have moved from action to interaction; from connection to interconnection."   

Web 3.0 

Misthaven describes Web 3.0 as "The accepted notion is that Web 3.0 will be more interactive than its predecessors. That is because it will learn about users and tailor searches and content to their interests. StumbleUpon is an example of a website using Web 3.0 technology. By utilizing a simple feature of rating whether users like or dislike a webpage, StumbleUpon is able to learn user patterns and bring about more relevant searches that the user will be more likely to enjoy."

Web 4.0 

Web 4.0 catapults me back to my Star Trek days and the Sciborgs - half human, half machine/computer.  Wang hyothesizes a "seamless integration of the real and the virtual, the personal/biological and the digital" ... "I AM this world and this world is me."  While Wang describes what Web 4.0 may look like, Misthaven goes further warning us of potential power struggles with futuristic robots.  Just how intelligent will artificial intelligence become and what will the pros and cons of that "advancement" be?  " If advanced web technology can solve minor problems like computer glitches on its own, how long is it before the inevitable happens, and they attempt to "solve" the problem of humanity altogether?" (Misthaven)


Source: http://misthaven.hubpages.com/hub/Web-20--Facebook--Web-30--StumbleUpon--Web-40--Skynet#

The technological ball is rolling and appears to be gaining surprising speed.  Can it ever be stopped?  I'm not sure.  But certainly we need to devote some critical thinking towards how we let it shape the future so our entertaining sci fi films such as Total Recall, eXistenZ, and the Matrix do not come to fruition!

I couldn't seem to close off this post until I looked at Chris Dell's Part 2, "Technology in the Classroom & on the Web (Part 2)"  what further questions, and invitations does he propose?  Dells' first main visual is by JB Nesbitt "A Vision of K-12 Students Today" (4:09).  Now five years old, this YouTube clip again discusses the needs of 21st Century learners and how there is a disconnect between private use of the internet and educational experiences.  Nesbitt argues that many students are gaming and participating in Web 2.0 products a great deal in their personal lives and they want this experience to carry over into their educational experience.  

She offers stats of how little teachers are using Web 2.0 items in comparison to the young people they teach which she claims consume it daily: "76% of my teachers have never used wikis, blogs, podcasts ...digital story telling," etc.  Students go on to claim they want teachers to "teach them to think; to create, to analyze, to evaluate, to apply ... engage us."  I argue that we as educators are already doing those things, but Web 2.0 in particular assists with the creativity component as well as collaboration.

The next YouTube clip titled "A Vision of 21st Century Teachers" (Feb. 28th, 2010) has eighteen teachers "speak out" about tech integration into their teaching.   Take a look at it; many of my LIBE 477 peers have begun a similar journey.

Dell, Nesbitt, and these eighteen teachers are obviously advocators for technology, and make a compelling argument for its educational use.  But there is always two sides to the coin.  One response to Nesbitt's YouTube clip points out "It's funny, what I noticed was that the kids spend so much time with their electronics, that they don't use their imaginations, use their critical thinking or even know how to communicate in person. There is no face to face conversations any more or even phone conversations. Technology is great but not when kids seem permanently hooked up to their electronic umbilical cords"  

And so the debate ensues.   

Overall, I'm excited about Web 2.0 resources and its potential for collaboration and creativity.  While I thought I would progress slowly with my educational peers to teach them about these internet possibilities our administrator recently shared with us a YouTube link from our district Superintendent: "Changing Education Paradigms" (11:41) by Sir Ken Robinson ("world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award. For more information on Sir Ken's work visit: http://www.sirkenrobinson.com [Oct 14th, 2010]).  I then realized that the invitation (or potentially perceived by some as pressure) for technology literacy may be upon us sooner than later. Our district leaders are interested in divergent thinking, creativity, multiple intelligences and how best to engage and teach our 21st century learners.  A few Wifi pilots have started across the district and this spring more schools including my elementary school (4 zones which includes the library - yahoo!) will have wifi access too.  Bring your own technology (BYOT) I believe will soon be a reality for our district.


So where from here?  Well that segues into our last assignment, so I'll leave those thoughts until then.  Post away below if you'd like to begin that dialog now.

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LIBE 477 Readings for #7 Post - Richardson: Chapter 6; Recommended: Berger & Trexler: Chapter 7