Learning in a Virtual Environment III

"Minds on Fire, Open Source, and Learning 2.0" by John Seely Brown and Richard P. Adler was the article this week we had to review. It was interesting in that it said that future learning would become more of a social learning vs. book learning with regurgitation of knowledge in the next 20 years. Online universities would have to spring up to teach new skills for newer jobs requiring computer skills. We were asked to give the pros and cons of each experience of creating a Facebook page and PBWorks page. I discussed how PBWorks is more geared towards teachers, while Facebook is more of a social website.  But you could monitor it by having a secret or private group.

For one discussion question I commented:  It is possible that these applications, PBWorks, Facebook and Ning will replace if not accompany the others. Reggie said: “their utility will be directly related to the teaching concepts of the teacher applying them.” I think the teachers have to supply the framework and objectives for the lesson, then make certain that the tools of the application are compliant with these objectives. Also, when the teacher finds something that works for them, i.e. PBWorks or Moodle they should stay with it to teach their classes. Apply the old expression “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”