‘Does Web 2.0 Herald the end of in-house development and provision of IT services?‘ Paul Walk, UKOLN.

As previously discussed, the answer to this question is not clear cut. The critical mass of usage (and/or the weight of the Market) appears to demand branded, recognisable web 2.0 products in all things, but whether this is a demand is ergonomic, and within the academic and personal sphere is unclear. Walk cited two students’ assertion of gmail’s prowess in comparison to their own institutions web services at a conference in Edinburgh. During my MA research, students with disabilities expressed similar sentiments, and (albeit good humoured) dismay concerning the learning curve of associated computer services in general. For accessible, searchable, inboxes gmail won out. Walk suggests institutions learning from commercial 2.0 approaches to development and considering some of the benefits, and costs, of institutional use of third party services.

References:

• Elgg spaces
• Yahoo Pipes
• Net Vibes
• Page Flakes

I’ve had a request for a bit more on the Shock of the Social conference in March. Here is the first part of my edited highlights…

Keynote: ‘Social Software and Personal Learning Environments: Do they really fit with Formal Education?’ Dr Terry Anderson, Athabasca University.

I had an inkling that the answer to this question would be ‘yes’ and I wasn’t disappointed. Dr Anderson stated that the affordances of ‘educational semantic web’ encourage participative learning. ‘The decline of the compliant learner’ (Goodyear, 2004) along with Paulsen’s conception of networked learner as negotiating and codetermining educational factors such as time and place, learning tools, content, pace, evaluation and delivery of education (Paulsen, 1993) puts the social web at the heart of e-learning and educational discourse. He describes Social Networking technologies as the ‘elephant at the table’. Furthermore, Anderson outlined Content as necessary, but no longer sufficient to online learning. This is where the strength of the PLE for inculcating ownership (custom control), social presence – arguably the cornerstone for cognitive presence so necessary for deep learning online (my words, not his) – and identity is founded. As such, he set the stage for the day’s ‘social web’ proceedings. ANSWER: Yes!

Further references:

• Futurelab (2006) Social Software and Learning
• Derek Wenmoth (2006)
• David White, JISC ‘spire’ project (2007)
• http://my-world.typepad.com
• Cameron, D. & Anderson, T. “Comparing Weblogs to Threaded Discussion Tools in Online Educational Contexts.” Instructional Technology & Distance Learning (2006).