Blog #2 - Learning 2.0

Is there a new paradigm in learning. There is a phrase making its way through education known as 'Learning 2.0.' The basis behind this phrase is a change in what is effective in educating the students of today. With the exponential growth of computers and information technology, students are now immersed in a world of technology on a daily basis. Because of this, they process information in a different way and are motivated by things their parents do not understand.

If you Google search the term 'learning 2.0' you will find many blogs about what this term refers to, but there is still a nebulous around it that to many does not make sense. A video I recently viewed put a little light to the term, and I want to share it with you.



In this video Jay Cross shares an analogy that represents Learning 2.0 in a very practical way, he tells of a university who builds a new campus and instead of putting in sidewalks that may not be used, they plant grass and wait a year to find the areas of grass that are worn down, so they will know the most effective places to put them. In the vain of this analogy, Learning 2.0 follows the idea of how do the target audience (students, employees, viewers, etc.) learn best? What motivates them to continue the course? Or, what technologies, tools, or philosophical and theoretical frameworks produce, or exceed, the desired outcomes in training and education?

These questions bring about knowledge of how people need to be educated in out modern environment. Students who are motivated by games will not learn properly from a 10 year old textbook, or possibly any textbook. The idea behind 'Learning 2.0' is taking the restraints from paper and pen, the forever and supreme end, and allowing further questioning and comments to answer the original question.

Case Western Reserve University has welcomed this shift and now focuses it educational practice with the idea of student first. One of their promotional videos describes their philosophy.



What will our leaning society be when our students are allowed to teach the rest of their class the facts they recently learned through a blog or social networking post? What would happen if this was the way their class was facilitated? Our students need to understand the culture they are in, but our education culture also needs to understand the students they now seek to educate. If we can harness the creativity and productivity of the motivated students around us the possibilities of what might be discovered or invented is limitless.