The fast growing technology does not only affect the technology field itself but it does leave massive and wide footprints in the education field as well. As what it is clearly seen nowadays, education system in most of the countries around the world particularly to be mentioned, those well-developed Western countries. Asian countries are also catching up with the advancement of technology in education including our country Malaysia.
This we can see through the implementation of e-learning or online learning particularly in the higher academic settings or tertiary education.
Talking about online learning, questions always come across our mind on how it is being carried out. Will it benefit both the educators and students or will they cause any long term effects on them? Basically, from my reading it has come to my knowledge that Web 2.0 is one of the tools that support online learning. Web 2.0 is not to be an extraterrestrial term for those who are very computer savvy and clinging so much on the internet for their studies and careers. It is associated with the web applications that facilitate and cater information sharing, user-centered design and collaborative learning on the World Wide Web (WWW). Instances of Web 2.0 tools are social networking as Facebook, blog, wikis, youtube, video conferencing and many more. If I were to list them all out here, surely they will make a super long and wordy list.
High academic settings such as varsities and high schools are the common places where Web 2.0 is widely being used as a tool to carry out online learning. It is very common to see the lecturers and students interact with each other via Facebook, e-mail accounts, blogs and skype. Assignments are sent through e-mail. Whereas blog, Google document, Yahoo group and Facebook group act as the sites for discussion and sharing of ideas as well as opinions among the students involving the lecturers. Besides those mentioned earlier on, skype is also being used widely nowadays. However, personally I think that skype is more to private tutoring. Maybe the discussion or teaching and learning session can be carried out for two or three students in one go but it will not work efficiently in a group of a vast number of students. Still for me, the best is to carry it out personally.
On the surface, Web 2.0 really contributes a lot of pros to the education system especially now that we are going for online learning. By having the teaching and learning online, both parties do not have to spend their time for face to face interaction. Regardless the place and time, lecturers are able to distribute the materials of learning to the students and so do the students. This will help to solve the problem of missing out materials for learning because of absence or sickness. They can make done their group work without seeing each other at all. All they have to do is to make sure that everybody can get access to the internet and do their part with full commitment.
Apart from that, by using Web 2.0 to teach, the educators can involve everybody in the discussion and presentation including the learners who are very silent and timid. In short, Web 2.0 helps to overcome the problem of shy students being left out during class discussion in traditional classrooms. Discussion via internet allows them to speak out their mind on the topic that is being discussed.
Moreover, Web 2.0 benefits the learners for it is pretty economical. They do not have to travel much to meet the lecturers at the main campus or meet the course mates to carry out group work or discussion. With the permit that they have their personal computer or laptop with them equipped with the internet access, they are anytime to be able to download any materials given by the lecturers without delay thus complete their task on time.
From my own experience, when I was in primary and secondary school, online learning was not so much being emphasized. The education system was concentrating on the traditional method which involved compulsory face to face interaction, chalk and talk and books-dependent. But now that I am in a teacher training institute taking up a course that involve collaboration with a well-known varsity in Malaysia that is National Malaysia University, I rely almost 100% with online learning. Yes, we do have lectures which are compulsory to be attended but most of the tasks are given via e-mail. Especially for this semester I am taking up Computer in Education, online learning is so much being emphasized. For that course, I have to sign up for numerous accounts online. I have to have an official Yahoo account, Gmail account, Facebook account, Yahoo Group and create a blog as well. The rational for doing those is for information sharing and discussion with our lecturer here, our course coordinator in UKM and our course mates. No doubt, it does make my life easier. I have no problem in accessing new information from peers and lecturers, share my work, carry out discussion and also do my research.
Nevertheless, I reckon that we should not be too flattered and convenient with the pleasure of using Web 2.0 as a tool in education because there are some cons of it too. From what I have discovered in my researches and readings, the presence of Web 2.0 will promote online learning to spread widely and drastically thus will silently erode our social skills. My partner, Vanessa Cordilia does agree with me too. For we are so convenient of using Web 2.0 tools for sharing information and discussion, we prefer to do everything via internet. We seldom meet our peers for group discussion or assignment. We even do not have to spend our time drive or walk to the campus to see the lecturer just for the purpose of handing in the assignment. Instead, we can just send them via e-mail. So, in my thought, less interaction with the outsiders will erode our social skills as well as communication skills.
Besides, strangers are easily getting access to our personal information. Social networking site such as Facebook is the centre where people share about themselves to their friends all over the world. For viruses are exist to disrupt the computer system, hackers and stalkers are also available to stalk other’s accounts be it for good purposes or vice versa. So, without our conscience, by sharing too much information about ourselves in Facebook or even blog, we are indirectly making ourselves vulnerable to fall as a victim for stalkers and hackers.
In the nutshell, there are really a lot of beneficial things I have learned through this Think, Pair and Share assignment. To be honest, it is not easy to work out an assignment in pairs because different people view things differently. Conflicting ideas and opinions might exist between the two of us. But I am very grateful that Vanessa and I never have conflicts or what so ever. We listened to each other's opinion and choose the best of it. We learn to tolerate and appreciate each other's views. Apart from that, we assisted each other a lot in finding resources and managing them. Indirectly, both of us got to polish up our computer skills. So, it short, it is agreeable that "two heads is better that one".
For further reading on what Vanessa and I have come out with, please visit the following link.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/145705692171230?view=doc&id=147600461981753
*Happy reading*
In the nutshell, there are really a lot of beneficial things I have learned through this Think, Pair and Share assignment. To be honest, it is not easy to work out an assignment in pairs because different people view things differently. Conflicting ideas and opinions might exist between the two of us. But I am very grateful that Vanessa and I never have conflicts or what so ever. We listened to each other's opinion and choose the best of it. We learn to tolerate and appreciate each other's views. Apart from that, we assisted each other a lot in finding resources and managing them. Indirectly, both of us got to polish up our computer skills. So, it short, it is agreeable that "two heads is better that one".
For further reading on what Vanessa and I have come out with, please visit the following link.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/145705692171230?view=doc&id=147600461981753
*Happy reading*
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