In today’s world of burgeoning technology, learners most commonly have the internet availability, and connection is possible in almost every public place. For the most part, the internet is asynchronous in nature and is based solely on socialization (translate into entertainment). In order to bring learning experiences to students, the internet needs to be more than socialization; it needs to be more broadly based into communication and collaboration; more focused on community involvement. The newness of wiki and blog sites are coming into their own identity as community builders. With the addition of SKYPE, and like models of F2F communication (commonly Yahoo, MSN Messenger, etc.) make the necessity of building cameras into computer hardware, a necessity. The graphic below seeks to divide the socialization element and the educational element within the internet, using both synchronous (left side) with asynchronous (right side) environments.
Excellent postint! Wikis and blogs are becoming more important in the classrooms today, whether the classrooms are tradional or online learning. I like that you mentioned that Skype can contribute to face-to-face learning even in an online learning environment.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nicole! I'm glad that you see the potential of SKYPE and similar technological environments.
ReplyDeleteChris W.