Online Communication

Here is a suggested list of skills and qualities that could be used to enhance group collaboration and sense of community.

Set some guidelines for communication
   – Tone and language
   – Confidentiality contract
   – Rules for starting topics threads and titles
   – Group objectives and purpose
   – Commitment to communicate
   – Encourage brief introductions

Ensure all participants have access to the technology and know where to get help/support

Provide an FAQ forum for tips, hints and help

Encourage contributions from all participants

Invite participation from quiet participants i.e. lurkers

Resolve/defuse conflict quickly

Allow discussions to continue or close before participants become bored

Provoke discussion and debate with open ended questions

Contribute at point of need to invigorate discussion  

Take care not to overwhelm participants with facilitator discussion

Allow time for reflection from all participants

Summarise discussion threads before archiving

The main page with links to all specified sections

A Great Article

E-learning 2.0 : New Frontier For Student Empowerment; Renner W., University of Sydney, 2006

Abstract: Second-generation web applications (Web 2.0) are transforming elearning and opening new frontiers for learner empowerment, control and engagement. New online technologies allow individuals to filter and control existing content (aggregation), easily create new content (personal publishing) and rapidly communicate, inform and distribute this information with peers through online social networking services. Learners are able to construct highly personalized learning environments, assembled from a very large range of tools available on the internet, including blogs, wikis, podcasts and social bookmarking sites. Together the technical and social advances which characterize this change may even constitute a paradigm shift, which some authors refer to as eLearning 2.0. This paper identifies emergent themes evident in this literature, and relates these themes to social, individual and scholarly empowerment by contrasting traditional eLearning with eLearning 2.0. The analysis is approached from a social constructivist perspective, applied to the technology, its pedagogical rationale and its impact on the university. The paper postulates that if individual empowerment is a necessary precondition for the adoption of these tools, then we will need to reconceptualize the policies, practices and purposes of our educational institutions. [Author abstract]

Slideshare!

http://www.slideshare.net/heyjudeonline/creative-web-20-learning

Linked and below is a great slideshow on Creative Web 2.0 learning.

Hey Jude!

The Hey Jude Web 2.0 Blog is a quality, valuable web.2.0 resource. Its main asset is its massive amount of links to other blogs, websites and other media. These links are incorporated into posts which allows one to easily associate the content with the links to other resources. Thus everything is interlinked and organised to create a very comprehensive, informing blog. It has acted as a catalyst for change within  my peers and I in terms of our attitudes to blogging.

A particularly useful part of this blog is her link to her del.icio.us page. Her del.icio.us is comprised of 200 pages worth of links to resources pertaining to web 2.0; this makes it a very rich source of information and media. Her links include a large number of Podcasting, TeacherTube, YouTube, and Flickr sites, not to mention 65 links to other Del.icio.us bookmaring pages similar to hers. The aforementioned sites are just a very small amount of the array of resources that Hey Jude has compiled. Thus it is obviously a high quality resource blog and one that I will certainly be using in the future.

Web 2.0 and its benefits for the classroom Video

This video defines Web 2.0 and outlines, describes and gives examples of the usefullness and quality of the Web 2.0. It provides ample evidence for how Web 2.0 has changed the dynamic of the classroom and has opened up a new world of oppurtunity. No longer is a classroom isolated and away from the rest of the world; instead its public and students can connect with parents or grandparrents who can then witness the active nature of their learning. It also contains testaments from students and parents who assert that web 2.0 is a great facilitator of deep learning.

Download Video: Posted by suziea at TeacherTube.com.

Web 2.0 – The Next Generation

http://www.oreillynet.com/lpt/a/6228

This website highlights the differences between the contemporary internet (Web 2.0) and the ‘old’ internet and its features. It contains a particularly interesting section about the rise of blogging and social networking and its perceived benefits.

“If an essential part of Web 2.0 is harnessing collective intelligence, turning the web into a kind of global brain, the blogosphere is the equivalent of constant mental chatter in the forebrain, the voice we hear in all of our heads. It may not reflect the deep structure of the brain, which is often unconscious, but is instead the equivalent of conscious thought. And as a reflection of conscious thought and attention, the blogosphere has begun to have a powerful effect.”

At times the article does get a little weighed down in terminology but its a rich source for defining Web 2.0

Web 2.0 – What is it?

The phrase Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second-generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, wikis and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. It became popular following the first O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004,^[1] and has since become widely adopted.

Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to Web technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the web as a platform. According to Tim O’Reilly, “Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.”^[2]

^{This is taken from Wikipedia! For more information on Web 2.0 go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2}

Useful Web 2.0 Article

http://www.solutionwatch.com/512/back-to-school-with-the-class-of-web-20-part-1/

The above link is a wonderful resource that provides hotlinks to an array of different web 2.0 resources that can be used for teaching and learning alike. Mentioned are web 2.0 sites that cater for many different needs including, encyclopedic sites, mathematics sites, social netowkring and blogging sites, grading sites and resources for resume building.

Tadalist

http://www.tadalist.com/

Using the above site is a great way to  organise ones task. It allows a user to create a list of things to do and as they are completed to mark them off as done. This is a great alternative to using a diary as it can be accessed anywhere and at any time when internet is available. This way you’ll never lose track of what assignments you need to complete!

Del.icio.us – Web 2.0 Tool

http://del.icio.us/ 

Delicious is a great Web 2.0 tool for learning as it enables students to bookmark their favourite websites and share them with their fellow classmates. This enables students to pool their resources; giving greater scope to the learning that can be achieved. Instead of one student coming across a useful resource and utilising it solely themselves this site allows the student to share the site with others and consequently facilitate learning in their classroom. What this means is that the student is an active participant in their learning rather then passive. This interaction creates a dynamic environment in which students are more willing to communicate ideas and this website is the medium through which resources that enforce these ideas can be shared.

Whilst the presentation of Delicious isn’t very engaging it is simple and effective. The website itself is easy to navigate and quick and free to register. It is also quite easy to connect the students within a group; if students provide eachother with their user names then they can be connected instantly.