Just read a really interesting article (thank you Darren!) about Web 2.0 in education. You can access it at: http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/italics/vol5iss4/godwin.pdf.
The article considers the trend towards user-created content - the age of amateurs - and the ways in which this affects students' learning and use of information resources. It goes through the various Web 2.0 technologies suggesting ways in which these can support learning and even be incorporated into it. For example:
Social Networks: these link users to others with similar interests - a way to build up interest groups and research networks?
Wikis: a great way to encourage collaborative working and share information between practitioners
Blogs: "Blogging encourages community, creativity, interaction and reflection.... It can motivate students and allow ideas to be aired, encourage reflection and lead to a synthesis of ideas" (Godwin, 2006, p273).
The article suggests that teachers and librarians have a steep learning curve if they are to keep up to date with Web 2.0 technologies and engage with the Web generation, and also suggests that they have a significant role to play in looking at information quality, authority, and ethical issues.
Do read it - it will feed directly into the issues you have been considering surrounding Web 2.0 and the use of new technologies to support learning. And let me know what you think....!
Godwin, P. (2006). Information Literacy in the age of amateurs: How Google and Web 2.0 affect librarians’ support of Information Literacy. E-Lit [online], 5(4). Available from: <http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/italics/vol5iss4/godwin.pdf> [Accessed 5th March 2007].
