Weekly Summary (Week 4_Robinson)

EDU651: Collaboration & Learning in a Virtual Environment

Most of Week 4 was spent on tweaking Facebook, Ning, and PBWorks (wiki) classrooms. Clearly, those sites cannot compare to Blackboard, Moodle or any other LMS unless significant changes occur. The intent of Facebook and other comparable sites is geared toward social networking, so using such sites for classrooms may not be that easy or advisable. Ning and PBWorks were easier to work with for a classroom scenario than Facebook. Though, I believe all three can be used as a learning environment on a small scale. Videos, links, and discussions can occur on all three sites. Today’s 2.0 learning is about learning through non-traditional venues. The standard teacher teaches and student learns in a brick and mortar setting is being replaced with social learning among peers near and far away. And the aforementioned sites are a few examples of the new teaching technology learning tools for 2.0 learning.