Joyce Valenza Ph.D

Learning 2.0: collaborating on definition and direction

Special report: We take a break in our regularly scheduled bloggraming of useful 2.0 resources to point you to a critical blog post.

As many of us struggle to understand and communicate changes in information and communication culture and potential changes we see for the culture of learning and teaching, Sheryl Nussbaum Beach offers a brilliant starting point in her 21st Century Collaborative: Learning 2.0 post.

The post and its provocative comments help us begin to define the shifts and to understand direction. I'll be using it in my upcoming workshops. 

Sheryl's four core components for learning 2.0:

Knowledge: Realizing, that with knowledge increasing at its current rate "none of us is as good as all of us." No one can master all the content that comprises a particular discipline.  Our job is to help students and ourselves become producers of knowledge and to help each other understand the transformative potential of Web 2.0 tools in a global perspective and context. Learning 2.0 is about reversed mentorship and transforming our classrooms into learning ecologies. 

Pedagogy: Creating an understanding of the shifting learning literacies that the 21 Century demands and how those literacies translate to classroom practice. Ultimately, 21^st Century teaching is constructivist teaching, using digital technologies and the Internet; John Dewey revisited or Alan Levine's Rip Mix Learn.

Connections: Modeling for students (and in some cases them modeling for us) the creation of sustained professional learning networks where we can all begin experimenting and sharing with online colleagues from around the world. Learning 2.0 is about making connections to content experts and using the new tools for 21st Century scholarship. (BTW, Sheryl used Twitter to alert her own learning community of this blog discussion.)

Capacity: Today’s web technologies make it possible to build formal and informal human networks -- using tools like blogs, wikis, and social networking software -- to build human capital in our students in such a way that they become the visionaries for giving back to society in an effort to end human suffering.

All four of Sheryl's components have direct impact on how teacher-librarians might, no should, work with their learning communities.  Are we exploring new ways to sybiotically create new knowledge?  Are we learning how to create and share new, real-world knowledge products? Are we helping teachers and other learners to create and sustain professional learning networks?  Are we discovering how and when digital technologies enhance classroom practice and motivate learners?  Are we using the potential of our new networks to investigate authentic problems, make decisions, contribute to shared knowledge and the invention of real solutions?

Join this discussion and add your own wisdom to the comments.  And for this forum, how does Sheryl's post inform our vision for learning in or through school libraries?

Update: Just saw another of Sheryl's not-to-be-missed posts: The Art of Building Virtual Communities.  Read it. Share it.

Posted by Joyce Valenza Ph.D on August 5, 2007 | Comments (0)