Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools, Chapter 9

Chapter 9: New Schools in Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools covers what could be the future way students learn in schools (the technology is out there now). I like the idea of “harnessing the collective intelligence” (p. 178). This is where data from students would be evaluated to see how each student learns best and what would work to improve his/her learning. Sites would be recommended from these results and students would be more of a virtual learner than someone sitting in the classroom. I am thinking that students would still come to school for much of their learning including time spent as virtual learners.


Also covered in this chapter that I agree with is what Jeff Utecht wrote in “Creators in the Classroom” (p. 184) and what David Warlick wrote in “Learning from Games” (pp. 185-86). Utecht addresses how social sites are important to student learning and how they can create and share with the world instead of just in the classroom. He ends by stating, “If we continue to fight them, I’m afraid it is a battle we will lose.” Warlick discusses the importance of video games and how it is important to look at more than graphics and sound; look at the experience instead. The five components of a game that teach students and/or enhance learning are “responsiveness, convert-able and convers-able rewards, personal investment, identity building, and dependability.”