Some of the most interesting data about Web 2.0 pertains to recent research about the amount of people registered on Facebook in Canada. Dawson, B., et al. write that at the time of their writing (early 2008) there were 7 million Facebook profiles out of a population of 32 million. A third (more than 263,000) of Ottawa’s population is registered and roughly 51% of Canada’s population is using some sort of social networking (Web 2.0) application and 80% of this number is using Facebook. They also report that the population with the most growth is those over the age of 35.
Learning Theories
Multiple Intelligences- Howard Gardner
Nine separate human faculties that “process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems create products that are of value in a culture”
“[p]eople have a wide range of capacities. Person’s strength in one area of performance simply does not predict any comparable strengths in other areas.” (p. 31).
In essence, Gardner is arguing that different individuals have different strengths and methods of understanding events and the world that surrounds them as well as possessing different modalities for communicating this understanding.
We have difficulty remembering such abstractions, but we can more easily remember a good story. Stories give life to past experience" (p.10). Using and understanding these life events to construct personal narratives and stories will assist an individual to learn, understand and attach their lives.
Intelligence, in the popular mind, refers to the capacity to solve complex problems, but another way of looking at the issues might be to say that intelligence is really about understanding what has happened well enough to be able to predict when it might happen again. .... Explaining the world (at least to yourself) is a critical aspect of intelligence. Comprehending events around you depends on having a memory of prior events available for helping in the interpretation of new events.
Communities of Learners- Seymour Papert
In “The Children’s Machine”, Seymour Papert describes how groups of learners of any age come together and form communities of learners. These communities are not limited only to traditional schools; they can be seen in Brazilian samba academies, Chinese kung-fu schools and Jewish Yeshivas. Papert provides examples that illustrate that there are no limits to defining what students are, other then individuals who possess the desire to learn and participate. Novices are taught by the experienced and will later pass on the knowledge and skills gained to other novices that are not geographically bound.
Creativity and Problem Solving- Ken Robinson
Sir Kenneth Robinson eloquently states that we are in the midst of a paradigm shift in our approach to learning because of the increasing complexity of human society caused in part by the intersection of culture, technology and communication. Many models of learning and education were developed the previous 200 years in response to the industrial revolution and are rapidly loosing their relevance. The current information revolution requires the development of a model that encourages creative and critical thinking and problem solving.
Scientific American is running a major article on Science 2.0, or the use of Web 2.0 applications and techniques by scientists to collaborate and publish in new ways. "Under [the] radically transparent 'open notebook' approach, everything goes online: experimental protocols, successful outcomes, failed attempts, even discussions of papers being prepared for publication... The time stamps on every entry not only establish priority but allow anyone to track the contributions of every person, even in a large collaboration." One project profiled is MIT's OpenWetWare, launched in 2005. The wiki-based project now encompasses more than 6,100 Web pages edited by 3,000 registered users. Last year the NSF awarded OpenWetWare a 5-year grant to "transform the platform into a self-sustaining community independent of its current base at MIT... the grant will also support creation of a generic version of OpenWetWare that other research communities can use." The article also gives air time to Science 2.0 skeptics. "It's so antithetical to the way scientists are trained," one Duke University geneticist said, though he eventually became a convert.
Bernstein, S., Where Do We Go From Here? Continuing with Web 2.0 at the Brooklyn Museum, in J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.). Museums and the Web 2008: Proceedings, Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics. Published March 5, 2008. Consulted March 14, 2008. www.archimuse.com/mw2008/papers/bernstein/bernsteinhtml
Bowen, J., Wiki Software and Facilities for Museums, in J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.). Museums and the Web 2008: Proceedings, Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics. Published March 5, 2008. Consulted March 14, 2008. http://www.archimuse.com/mw2008/papers/bowen/bowen.html
Dawson, B., et al., Social Presence: New Value For Museums And Networked Audiences, in J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.). Museums and the Web 2008: Proceedings, Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics. Published March 5, 2008. Consulted March 14, 2008. http://www.archimuse.com/mw2008/papers/dawson/dawson.html
Durbin, G., Just Do It! Web 2.0 As Task, Not Technology, in J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.). Museums and the Web 2008: Proceedings, Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics. Published March 5, 2008. Consulted March 14, 2008.
Greenfield, D., YouTube To MuseTube - Now We Have Web 2.0 Tools, How Do We Use Them?, in J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.). Museums and the Web 2008: Proceedings, Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics. Published March 5, 2008. Consulted March 14, 2008. http://www.archimuse.com/mw2008/papers/ greenfield/greenfield.html
This is your Sidebar, which you can edit like any other wiki page.
This Sidebar appears everywhere on your wiki. Add to it whatever you like -- a navigation section, a link to your favorite web sites, or anything else.
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.