The Digital diviide

I've been asked to produce a report of the Web 2.0 day for reading room colleagues so here it is in bite-sized chunks.

The first speaker was Ros Smith who was involved in producing a report called 'Exploring the learner's perspective on E-learning. She talked about how the tools and techniques of social computing (such as using facebook) could be used to change the way we learn. VLEs (Virtual learning environments) are a means for lecturers and students to communicate remotely, for example lecture notes might be posted there and a bulletin board for student's questions, and there might be internet resources suggested by the university. Other examples of e-learning include using digital image manipulation software and using instant messaging. Students doing teacher training placements were able to keep a blog to record their experiences and at the same time stay in touch with their fellow students and support each other. We saw a film of two students telling how they had grasped the new technologies (despite initial reservations) and now would not be without it.

Ros also spoke of the dangers of a digital divide emerging. Some students arrive at university knowing well versed in such technology, others are complete beginners. Lecturers casually tell students to produced a powerpoint presentation without any guidance in how to do it. We need highly resourced spaces to foster this new learning. Some institutions block access to particular forms of social software even though students are using it as part of their learning and not just their social life. Sometimes the tutors are not au fait with the technologies.

If anyone wants to know more, I have a booklet and a CD-rom you may borrow.

Widgets

I'n now more than halfway through the Web 2.0 and my mind is buzzing with new words like pageflakes, RSS feeds, tags and wikis. But my favourite words has to be widget. I'm now at the hands on session so I'm taking the opportunity to try some things out on here. Such as adding another picture, like this one of the more traditional form of widget.

We've also been asked to add some links so here are a few blogs by other librarians:


http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/index.php) and


http://plinyyoung.blogspot.com/ (Look at his previous posts, I'd just like to add that so are women!)



I've just added an external link. This is for Musyck Anon, the small choir that I conduct.

The mystery of Web 2.0

I've booked to go on the Web 2.0 course tomorrow because it is something I know absolutely nothing about. Until I heard someone else mention the course, I wasn't even sure how to pronounce it, whether it was Web two oh or Web two point zero or web two dot nought. I'm hoping the course will start right at the beginning and explain what web 2.0 is and not assume any prior knowledge. I also hope there won't be too much jargon.I've heard of Facebook and the like but it seems an odd concept to me, posting your news on a site that lots of people can access rather than communicating with specific people directly. But then I'm someone who still writes letters with pen and paper! But I can see that a site that lots of people can access would be good for an organization like a library. It's also interesting when you come across sites that people can add comments to and start a discussion. I'm really looking forward to the course and learning new things.