Building a Web 2.0 Classroom (Pt.2)

In part 2, Mr. Murphy takes the audience through a research project and demonstrates how each of the ten skills is used to gather info and media to produce a multimedia project within a wiki. The whole process ultimately becomes a "community of online projects" which then allows for comments, elaboration, and collaboration. "Community needs to be infused" into a Web 2.0 classroom to allow the "conversation" to take place. The conversation becomes just as important as the project because it makes the project more valuable and meaningful.

Mr. Murphy explains it better than I am able:

Content is cool but……its all about the community conversations!

This idea refers to the deeper value of web 2.0 for teachers and students. Often the initial attraction to the web involves the ability to self publish, use images, slideshow, video etc. And teachers and students take the self publishing processes as the primary participation in the web 2.0 experience. What these participants soon discover, however, is that the value of content is not in making and presenting it, but in having it viewed and commented on and the ensuing conversations that come out of the content presentation process. Making content without audience is a process that ends right when it should be growing. The online world lets the conversation continue and gives the content making process more value and meaning.

Another point that I found revealing is Mr. Murphy's discussion of the "process of proximity." In the video he demonstrates how cutting & pasting, moving & aligning, etc. are actually ways to gather and place info closer together for easier understanding. And Web 2.0 is a process that brings people closer together in terms of time and space.

I highly recommend this K12OnlineConference2007 presentation, the author's blog and his GoogleVideos to anyone who wants to understand Web 2.0 and how it will allow classroom learning to become more meaningful for students in today's world.