Ian MacLeod

I think that a place/wiki/seminar where we can come together an share/gather/catalogue our experiences with all of the Web2.0 (and beyond) tools and technologies that are springing up daily (it seems) is a fantastic idea.

As an active explorer and user of Web 2.0 tools, it would be great to have a place to talk about their uses in adult education and to find out what others are doing with them.


Cheers



Ian

That's great Sylvia - can't wait - my calendar is marked! I think that PLEs have a lot to offer for engaging learners and providing them with an optimal learning experience.


Cheers


Ian

I agree with you Emma. Not only will the devices we use to connect change, but we will also be exploring and discovering new ways to connect with each other to share information across social, physical, and virtual networks. It's the depth and complexity of these new networking opportunities and the sheer mass of information that they will create that will present us with challenges as we move forward.

I also think that it will take time to integrate all of the different forms of media/language/device translations, but not sure it will take 10 years - with quad-core processors and potentially TBs of RAM and data storage being accessed, I think it will happen much sooner than that.

But you are right - the keys will be inclusion and engagement of all learners and it's figuring out how we will do that that is the real challenge

I think that the increased use of Web 2.0 tools and technologies (and Web 3.0, 4.0, etc....) will add a greater "social" aspect to online learning and online facilitation. What this means to me is that as an online facilitator I will be able to engage learners in ways that I have not even fully thought out or realized yet, and they will be able to engage each other in ways not yet fully explored, resulting in a much richer learning experience with a collective approach to information gathering and dissemination.

Learners will develop their own personal learning environments (PLEs) around tools and technologies that they want to use rather than tools assigned or provided to them. This means as a facilitator I will have to be aware of these diverse tools and technologies.

I think that the traditional LMS will evolve or be replaced by these open, customizable Web 2.0 (and follow-on ) tools and that the emphasis on creating the learning environment will transfer from the facilitator to the learner. Our job as online facilitators will be to guide learners through the process of developing their PLEs and helping them  find the content that meets their learning needs - learner-defined content, not facilitator- provided content.

As a facilitator my concern is that the learning outcomes are met, how the learners get there should not be their concern, not mine. It will mean that we will be supporting multiple learning environments, not one that is constrained by a LMS that does not meet the needs of all learners.

I hope that one of the things that the use of Web 2.0 tools will do for online facilitation is give learners more options to create and develop learning spaces that better suit their learning styles and needs (PLEs?). What this could mean for us as online facilitators is a need to be aware of and conversant in a broad spectrum of tools and technologies in order to assist learners in maximizing their learning opportunities and environments.



Ian