The
greatest invention since sliced bread?
The extent of the hype around Web 2.0 in education seems even to dwarf the
hype around Web 2.0 itself. Numerous times I've encountered enthused reports
along the lines of "this is truly the future of education!!" which tell
us of a Skype conversation between a few people, or of a podcast. With all due
respect (and I'm convinced that cellular phones have an important role to play
in the future of education, though that's a topic for a perhaps future column)
all we're really talking about here is a telephone conversation, or making what
we used to call a tape recording. More often than not, what actually happens is
that the Skype conversation, or the podcast, is a string of Wow's and Cool's and
Boy, can we do something with this's, rather than an
actual use of the tool.
But as I write this I'm well aware that I'm
being somewhat unfair. After all, I'm not an outside observer, but someone who
to a great extent identifies with the camp I'm criticizing. Quite a number of
years of experience have brought me to the belief that the basics of education
aren't, and won't be, changed because of the integration of internet technologies
into the classroom. On the other hand, I'm firmly convinced that if today the
possibility exists for the realization of a constructivist approach to learning
on a broad scale, it's because of the opportunities that internet technologies
offer us. The internet is perhaps the best thing that could have happened to constructivism
- it's precisely what such an educational approach was waiting for. If the internet
didn't exist, constructivism would have had to create it. Constructivism, however,
doesn't posit that we simply plop our pupils down inside the sandbox and wait
around until they start constructing the Taj Mahal. We still have to nudge them,
to point them in the right direction. And we have to give them sustenance for
the journey - a rich enough background so that they can start making intelligent
decisions. Too much of what the blog evangelists seem to be writing seems to assume
that our pupils already have these capabilities.
And as much as I'd like to agree with that assumption, my experience tells me
otherwise.
Go to: A magic strand?