Comments on: Social Media in the Classroom http://www.jasonegan.net/2008/10/10/social-media-in-the-classroom/ Marketing Measurement, Site Optimization, Web Analytics, Omniture SiteCatalyst, Omniture Test&Target & Social Media Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:27:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Brad Ovenell-Carter http://www.jasonegan.net/2008/10/10/social-media-in-the-classroom/comment-page-1/#comment-80 Brad Ovenell-Carter Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:31:10 +0000 http://www.jasonegan.net/?p=20#comment-80 The technology is welcome, but not revolutionary, not really. I've written a little about this on my own blog www.primorisres.wordpress.com. The chalkboard was once spoken of in the same breathless voice we now use for Web 2.0 technologies. We've been socializing one way or another for thousands of years. And there are many (ancient) cultures in the world--Canadian First Nations among them--built entirely around socially constructed knowledge. The big challenge will be for leadership: where there is a will there is a way. The old classroom, if I can use that shorthand, is sustained by systems that extend in all directions way beyond the bricks and mortar of the school; down to the family, up to national notions of education. All of that needs to be brought in line. Having said that, I think that in the end, after any switch to the new technologies Egan writes about, we'll see that things will not be all that different. Education is fundamentally teleological. How we reach for the ends may change--indeed it could use a shake up--but we're still after the same thing as we ever were and always will be. The technology is welcome, but not revolutionary, not really. I’ve written a little about this on my own blog http://www.primorisres.wordpress.com. The chalkboard was once spoken of in the same breathless voice we now use for Web 2.0 technologies. We’ve been socializing one way or another for thousands of years. And there are many (ancient) cultures in the world–Canadian First Nations among them–built entirely around socially constructed knowledge.

The big challenge will be for leadership: where there is a will there is a way. The old classroom, if I can use that shorthand, is sustained by systems that extend in all directions way beyond the bricks and mortar of the school; down to the family, up to national notions of education. All of that needs to be brought in line.

Having said that, I think that in the end, after any switch to the new technologies Egan writes about, we’ll see that things will not be all that different. Education is fundamentally teleological. How we reach for the ends may change–indeed it could use a shake up–but we’re still after the same thing as we ever were and always will be.

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