Emerging Technologies in Education

Besides this chapter doing a beautiful job of introducing emerging Web 2.0 technologies, I was really impressed that there were some Web 2.0 technologies that I had not heard about. All of the ITEC classes that I have taken since ITEC 800 have highlighted these technologies. Many of the classes have had students present overviews of them; however, I had not heard any discussion of Peer to Peer (P2P) file sharing as a Web 2.0 technology. Once I read the description I could see that it was not simply file sharing that I was familiar with like Napster or LimeWire, but chatting and Skype. I guess that I had not considered direct sharing of small pieces of information that had not yet been fully created and only in full files that were created and then shared piece by piece to another individual. Other technologies that I had not heard of were the Context-aware environments/devices and smart mobs. Both of these technologies utilize pieces of Web 2.0 technology that I have heard of but the authors do an excellent job of giving the combined big picture view of them.

Other notable points: The discussion on Learning Management Systems being behind the times for Web 2.0 technology. I was under the assumption that LMS/CMS's were considered Web 2.0. The authors describe how the management systems, " are designed for Web 1.0, with minimal capability for fully functioning interactive environment." Recently, I have been really struggling with conceptualizing how to utilize all of the Web 2.0 tools within an LMS and this section really gave me validation that I was rightfully confused. Just thinking about iLearn and our 830 class, I could see how we have to utilize so many sources outside of iLearn to take advantage of Web 2.0 technology.

Finally, hearing that traditional teaching methods will not go away, really eased my concerns that conectivist's theorized that learning could happen within a group without any kind of traditional teaching methods(the television did not kill the radio!). The authors really clarified this by saying, "The new technologies discussed in this chapter will be used primarily for extending the ability to create, communicate, and collaborate."