Web 2.0 in Hardcover: A recommended reading list on 2.0 and education

I love books, especially the actual physical ones. I madly scribble notes in the margins, and stuff them with related articles as if they were file folders. I can think of no better afternoon than one spent indulging in the discovery of ideas within a library or bookstore.

Here are some titles that I think significantly inform the conversation about Web 2.0 in education, along with their accompanying blog or Web site, where readers can continue the conversation. Upcoming or recorded interviews with these authors are available on my FutureofEducation.com site.

Here Comes Everybody (Penguin, 2008) by Clay Shirky. Shirky’s landmark book describes the Web as a platform for historic changes in culture and society through user participation..

Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives (Little Brown, 2009) by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler. An academic treatise that boldly recasts our culture in the context of social networks.

Why Students Don’t Like School (Wiley, 2009) by Dan Willingham. A cognitive psychologist examines how students really learn. For a blog post that I wrote for Britannica, Willingham wrote the rebuttal. www.danielwillingham.com.

Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns (McGraw-Hill, 2008) by Clayton Christensen, Curtis W. Johnson, and Michael B. Horn. This consideration of online learning famously predicted that 50 percent of all high school courses will be Web-based by 2019. disruptingclass.mhprofessional.com/apps/ab.

The World Is Open: How Web Technology Is Revolutionizing Education (Jossey-Bass, 2009) by Curtis J. Bonk. A hefty tome that nevertheless provides valuable, wide-ranging examples of the changes taking place in education worldwide. worldisopen.com.

Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives (Basic Books, 2008) by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser. A balanced approach to the good and bad effects of technology on youth and the value of adult and parental oversight. The Web site links to an ongoing study.