Web 2.0: Liberating the learner Eric Baber Open University IATEFL BESIG Joint coordinator Any questions/comments?

“Second generation of the World Wide Web” Term first popularised in 2004 by O'Reilly Media and MediaLive International when used as conference title Web 1.0: a medium. Web 2.0: a platform. Any questions/comments? Web 2.0

Means of connecting people, allowing them to discover others with similar interests Community-building tools such as, Frappr, Facebook, YahoogroupsFrappr FacebookYahoogroups Leads to communities such as Webheads, ExtremeTechnoELTWebheads ExtremeTechnoELT Any questions/comments? Social phenomenon

Content creation no longer domain of individuals or organisations (e.g. lecturers, publishers) Collaborative content-creation and sharing is key: Wikipedia, Google docs, Flickr, del.icio.usWikipediaGoogle docsFlickrdel.icio.us Any questions/comments? Content revolution

Any questions/comments?

Back One of many blog hosts Allows individual students and teachers to set up their own blogs (‘weblogs’) Can be used for disseminating information/ ideas, practising writing, reflective learning… Readers can comment on blog entries and other comments E.g: Dekita Orchard, Mr. Paetkau, Anne Fox, Y.H.Chen, LeylopDekita OrchardMr. PaetkauAnne Fox Y.H.ChenLeylop Any questions/comments?

Back One of many RSS readers (‘aggregators’) Allows a user to ‘subscribe’ (free) to a blog or other RSS-enabled website Informs you of updates to the blogs/ websites to which you’re subscribed Means you can save a LOT of time by not visiting sites with no new content E.g: Bloglines, SharpReader, FeedDemonBloglinesSharpReaderFeedDemon Any questions/comments?

Back Podcasts are audio files that can be downloaded via RSS Podcasts can be saved on computer, MP3 player, burned onto CD for later listening Good for listening practice, especially when accompanied by exercises E.g. Listen to English, BusinessEnglishPod, Aiden Yeh’s Speech Class, PadPodListen to EnglishBusinessEnglishPod Aiden Yeh’s Speech ClassPadPod Any questions/comments?

Home Any questions/comments?

Home Skype Enables synchronous online meetings/ lessons Audio/video (video WindowsXP only), audio conference max. 5 people One-to-one/group text-chat With plugin Unyte desktop sharing & collaborating Any questions/comments?

Home Webheads Community of language learners and teachers interested in the use of communications technologies Free to join; very active discussion group Have held “convergences” for past two years – online conferences Any questions/comments?

Liberating the learner Learners now have free and easy recourse not only to English-language content, but to other speakers of English (native and non-native) Host of communications mechanisms Can focus on a topic, with English being merely a tool Can focus on the process of learning English Any questions/comments?

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