Web 2.0: Comments

While I am planning on continuing to review more types of Web 2.0 tools I wanted to pause and comment on why. All of the Web 2.0 tools have strengths and weaknesses. And it is undoubtedly true that they add yet another layer of technical complexity to our courses. However they also give faculty new ways to move learners out of the course box. We all believe that the material covered in our courses is needed for more reasons than simply to check off on a transcript that a learner fulfilled that particular requirement. Web 2.0 tools give learners more ways to interact with the content and to apply it to their own lives in their own ways. By moving outside of the course box we tell send a powerful message that this content is important stuff and it belongs in their lives outside of the classroom. So give it a try--- move a piece of your course out into the world of Web 2.0.