Building cognitive maps for the read/write web

The volume, diversity, and power of new read/write web or web 2.0 tools which continue to emerge almost every day is amazing. While these tools can be awe-inspiring, the fact that many classroom teachers remain unfamiliar with more "mature" read/write web tools as well as newer ones represents a "digital knowledge divide" that is widening fast. When I share collaborative research, learning and digital storytelling tools like Flickr, del.icio.us, Google Notebook, Google Reader and Ning with many classroom teachers, I sense I'm unintentionally inviting a "shock and awe" experience instead of one where teachers walk away empowered and confident in their ability to use new tools effectively with students. Such an outcome is counterproductive to the goal of helping teachers use digital technologies effectively for learning. I'm finding the video "Introducing the Book" to be better and less threatening to use in starting educational technology workshops with classroom teachers, rather than movies like "Did You Know" or "The Machine is Us/ing Us."

I don't see any signs the proliferation of read/write web tools is going to slow down soon. There are many places to go to learn about new (and "older" / more mature) web 2.0 technologies. Karen Montgomery has a good list of sources, including S. Summerford's Filamentality hotlist "Web 2.0 for the Classroom Teacher" and "Go2Web2.0."

More than a comprehensive hotlist, however, I'm seeking frameworks for "cognitive maps" that can help me as well as other teachers better understand the FUNCTIONS, respective PURPOSES, and appropriate CONTEXTS for using read/write technologies for learning. Although there is obviously overlap, I'm wondering if most tools can be categorized into the following groups:
- Collaborative tools
- Research tools
- Digital storytelling tools

I've been reflecting even more generally, beyond just web 2.0 applications, on the ways we should be thinking about using educational technologies in the classroom. In striving to make more read/write learning opportunities available for students, I'm wondering if more school leaders should be asking how digital technologies can be used as AMPLIFIERS for learning, rather than as strictly FUNNELS or RULERS:



Andrew Churches has done some great work along these lines as well, tying in Bloom's taxonomy, and created the wiki "Educational Origami" in response to the post "Read/Write Tools Chart" by Miguel Guhlin. Andrew's framework and lists include desktop applications (mainly for Windows-based computers) as well as web-based tools, contrasting traditional versus digital approaches to teaching as well as how the 2001 revision to Bloom's taxonomy by Anderson and Krathwohl relates to digital teaching alternatives.

Which framework is best or will prevail? I won't claim to know, but I think each of these reflections can add to our own cognative map building of web 2.0 tools and appropriate uses. Our digital toolset will continue to morph and grow in the years ahead, while our need to understand appropriate uses for these protean tools will undoubtedly persist.

Big Brother or "Big Mother"

A few years ago Coca-Cola ran a promotion called "The Unexpected Summer." In it a combo cellphone GPS device was rigged to look like a can of Coke and placed in over a hundred 12-packs around the country. A companion Web site allowed people to watch the blips as satellites tracked the lucky winners within 50 feet of anywhere the US.

Recently a few news items reminded me of this and the role of technology in keeping track of our whereabouts. Hitachi has developed a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) "powder." The chip measures .05 millimeters square and 5 microns thick, about the size of a grain of sand. Another interesting development in the world of RFID was a patent taken out in February by Kodak for an edible RFID chip. Among other potential uses is for nurses to know if you've taken your medicine.

Less invasive might be the GPS sneakers now on sale from Isaac Daniel. The sneakers work when the wearer presses a button on the shoe to activate the GPS. In some emergencies -- such as lost child or Alzheimer's patient -- a parent, spouse or guardian can call the monitoring service, and operators can activate the GPS remotely.

We could add to this list the cell phone services and GPS car units designed to let parents know where their children are - out of harms way, one hopes. What will be very interesting as these technological developments continue is who monitors them and for what purpose.

In 1984, Orwell invoked a Fascist "Big Brother," representing the power and interests of the state. In "Big Brother - the TV series," a house and voyeuristic citizens take the role of omniscient observer of our every move. As Web 2.0 technologies converge with mobile communications, multi-nationals and corporate marketers anticipate the day when our physical location and long tail of previous purchases unite in an endless stream of opportunities to "impulse buy."

Stopping this movement isn't within our means. What might be - for those of us who are parents and teachers - is to advocate and champion a human side to this potential. In other words, demand educational applications that side-step Big Brother in favor of "Big Mother."

• We know what people surf for, but do we have an algorithm to help us match students' learning to their interests?
• Databases keep track of what we buy online, but can teachers access a similar tool that provides information about an individual's knowledge, skills and attitudes?
• Social networking sites match us up with thousands of "friends," but can the software also help us reflect on the wisdom of our choices?

Web 2.0 - Future Classic Video

What does the average teacher need to know about the Web, Bogs, Tags, XML or RSS?

Michael Wesch, an assistant professor at Kansas State University, provides The Machine is Us/ing Us as a convincing 5 minute video that illustrates the above acronyms. Yet it does more than that.

Sure, those who have witnessed Web history from its birth will enjoy seeing it replayed, but for the typical person, the video highlights the cultural shifts that the Web and Web 2.0 usher in. For those of us raised on reruns of I Love Lucy and Top 40 AM radio, the "everything" that is now available - on call - is radically opposite to what we have been brought up expecting. Yet it's the air waves our teenagers breathe.

As a classroom activity, why not watch the video together and discuss:

1. How we use the Web?
2. What the Web means to us?

The video concludes by suggesting, "We need to rethink a few things..." Wesch offers some examples, but how about something like, "how these Web 2.0 applications shift learning from the factory model to that of an open source mashup?"

If you want to spend more time with the text of the video, you can read it. You can also download YouTube videos and save them as .flv (flash video) files that can be viewed offline.

If the video gets you or students intrigued, take a look at Wesch's second draft of the video and the "Spot Sets" others have added to it.