Week 1: Beam Me Up! Getting Started

There's a joke:

Q: How many staff and faculty does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Change!!?!!

OK, so maybe the only person who doesn't fear change is a baby that has a wet diaper. Yet, Web 2.0 is affecting the way those in higher education interact with students. "It is no longer enough to pump out information like gasoline and expect authentic learning to take place - the new generation of learners demand to be engaged, active and part of a collaborative knowledge building community" (Thompson, 2007). This blog hopes to encourage your exploration of Web 2.0 new technologies in a fun and easy manner.

If at any time you have a question, please contact me via the “IM Chat” box that is located in the right hand column of this blog. Simply type your question in the box and hit enter. I will try to be available as much as possible. However, if my status shows me as "off line" please feel free to post a question to the blog under the “Comments” section for that week. (Learn how in this week's Trek 3). I will do my best to respond quickly.

Course Structure:

This Internet Trek will run for 8 weeks, beginning the week of January 19, 2009 and finishing the week of March 12, 2009. Every week you are encouraged to complete the given exercises ("treks") and post to the blog about that week’s assignment. If you would like to see future topics, please refer to Course Outline link in the right hand tool bar.

In order to properly access assignment materials posted on the Internet, please make sure that your computer is equipped with either headphones or speakers and that the sound in not muted.

Everything is online; if you get busy and miss a week or two, it won't be a problem. Each week's information will be available by linking to the Blog Archive page in the right hand column of this blog. Access the information at your own pace and at your own convenience.

Since you will be creating many new Internet accounts, I recommend that you create a Word doc. table for easy username and password retrieval. (A sample template is attached to the email I sent out earlier). If you keep track of your accounts in this manner, you won't have to worry about remembering all of the various site addresses and account information. Believe me, they can easily be forgotten, especially if you don't come back to them for a few week or months. The table can include the site's URL address, your username, and your password. Save it in your Docs folder or print out the template to hand-write the information as it comes up each week.

The Next Generation: an Introduction

So what is the difference between the NEXT Generation (Web 2.0) and the Previous Generation (Web 1.0)? Basically, Web 1.0 included many restrictions, the most prevalent being privacy concerns, computer illiteracy, and slow Internet connections. This produced a one-way flow of information with websites consisting of "read-only'"resources. In contrast, Web 2.0 allows users to do more than simply read information; it promotes networking, with many users being contributors and producers of information. Thus, this NEXT Generation is characterized by an inter-connectivity and interactivity of web-delivered content.

For example, personal webpages were popular in Web 1.0, consisting of mainly static pages. Today, dynamically generated blogs and social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, are more common, since they allow visitors to share their thoughts in a way that was not available with Web 1.0.

Trek 1: Watch this video; it will help explain the differences:

Trek 2: Read the following articles:

• What Web 2.0 Can Teach Us About Learning



• SocialLearn: Bridging the Gap Between Web 2.0 and Higher Education

Trek 3: Leave a Comment!

Introduce yourself to the rest of the "crew" and include what you hope to learn from the course.

(One "posts" when a new topic is introduced and one "comments" when responding to a post or another comment.) To create a Comment:

• Simply click on the "Post a Comment" link found at the bottom of this post.
  
• A new page will appear; type your comment in the box found towards the upper right-hand corner
• Complete the word verification and enter the letters/ characters you see in the box
  
• Choose your identity via:
  --- Google/ Blogger (If you already have a Google account, you can choose this option)
  --- Open ID (If you have an AIM or Wordpress account)
  --- Name/ URL (This is probably the simplest one to choose)
  --- Anonymous (If you don't want to share your name)
• Click the orange Publish Your Comment button
  

Students today arrive at our university expecting a trans-formative education. How will we react to these students that are accustomed to the Web 2.0 world? Will the use of these new applications cause fear and consternation, or will we learn to incorporate them in a positive and educational way? "It will not be easy, but the next generation will create new models of scholarly publishing and learning, regardless of whether we choose to participate. The only question will be what role we carve out for ourselves" (Thompson, 2007).


Works Cited

Maloney, E. (2007, January 5). What web 2.0 can teach us about learning. Chronicle of Higher Education, 53(18), B26-B27.

Thompson, J. (2007, April 20). Is Education 1.0 ready for Web 2.0 students? Retrieved November 6, 2008 from http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2007/04/20/web_20_takes_on_colleges.htm

Weller, M. (2008, June 16). SocialLearn: bridging the gap between Web 2.0 and higher education. Retrieved November 6, 2008 from http://mfeldstein.com/sociallearn-bridging-the-gap-between-web-20-and-higher-education/

Prepare for warp speed on January 26th with "Resistance is Futile: The Blog!"