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If Writing on the Wall author Tom Standage could comment about using Web 2.0 tools for creativity, what would he say? Before we consider Standage's point of view, let's review the "Web" tool designations. Users access Web 1.0 tools, such as hyperlinked webpages, for searching for and sorting information. Information is static, non-interactive, and published in a centralized, top-down model from author to audience. As global interconnectivity has increased, more users have the ability to not only consume but also create AND share content with the world--thanks to Web 2.0 and 3.0 tools. Web 2.0 tools, such as video editing tools and blogs, allow for communication, creation, and synthesis of information across interactive platforms between multiple Internet users. Web 2.0 tools are an invaluable asset that PK-12 students use to connect with one another both inside the classroom and with the global community.
So would Standage recommend Web 1.0 or Web 2.0 tools? Standage emphasizes that both information spreads along dispersed social networks. Author and audience--even if separated by time and space--can freely discuss and collaborate to generate new information and interpretations of extant information. Blog readers, consider how we are using these blogs to interact in a geographically-dispersed community of practice. As I construct and share knowledge, you read, create meaning, and comment to create a back-and-forth author-audience dialogue. Standage discusses Web 2.0 blogs and social media networking platforms in comparison to and as a natural evolution of historical social media networks at multiple points in Writing on the Wall:
- "The copying and sharing of documents meant that [ancient Roman] letters...could quickly ...find a wide readership and generate further discussion." (p. 27)
- "Like Internet users setting up blogs or social-media profiles...people enjoy being able to articulate their interests and define themselves by selectively compiling and resharing content created by others." (pp. 74-76)
- "...the pamphlets of the 1640s existed in an interconnected web, constantly referring to, quoting, or in dialogue with each other, like blog posts today." (p. 95)
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| Tom Standage: "People have shared information with their peers for millennia." ~From the back cover of Writing on the Wall |
Standage's contrasts social media with mass media: newspapers and radio and television broadcast corporations. Mass media is centralized and controlled by news corporations and pushed out to a mass audience for passive consumption. Standage might consider Web 1.0 tools to be the Internet equivalent of a mass media system, which does not allow for the same consumer interaction as social media systems do.
Do Web 1.0 tools have a place in the classroom? They are certainly very useful for building knowledge, but Web 2.0 tools are more effective for constructing and sharing knowledge with a wider audience.
I had to re-read how Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 differ a few times before I got it. LOL. I think when we design lessons, we can use Web 1.0 as a starting point for conversations and information gathering, but then we need the Web 2.0 to share the knowledge, as you say. Now that we are teaching online, we can use the former to assign students reading but move forward to sharing the information.
ReplyDeleteI had to do a few searches before I could articulate Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0. I agree with you that Web 1.0 is a good starting point. Anything beyond that--in the creating, communicating, and sharing stages--uses Web 2.0 tools. I have really enjoyed thinking about how Web 2.0 tools can help connect us (teachers and students, classrooms and school) now more than ever before during a pandemic. These CoP blogs are a great example of that!
DeleteI think hyperdocs and webquests are the perfect hybrid of Web 1.0 and 2.0 tools. Just as Ms. Dove mentioned in her comment, Web 1.0 tools make a great starting point. Hyperlinks to online published material and resources can be used to introduce students to new content and topics, but sharing and synthesizing what they have learned requires a new kind of tool, which is where Web 2.0 comes in. Hyperdocs (as well as webquests) do just that; they build background knowledge with they hyperlinks and other Web 1.0 tools, and then, once the students have had the opportunity to do that, they are directed to demonstrate what they have learned through Padlets, Flipgrids, creating Quizizz, or some other interactive media. I used to create hyperdocs for my students all the time until I discovered Google Websites, which I started using almost as a blog to keep my students engaged throughout the school year. Eventually I started having students create their own Google sites to capture what they learned throughout the year. They absolutely loved it! What are some of the most successful ways you've managed to incorporate these tools into your own instruction?
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