So I've been mulling this over for a couple of months, and I think we should do it.

I'd like to propose that as a community we work together to create a book on the uses and impact of Web 2.0 in education. This could be in the form of a wiki or a downloadable PDF file, or both, and would involve the outlining of the the book's contents, then working together to write it. We would want chapters introducing Web 2.0 principles and pedagogies, specific technologies by category (blogs, wikis, social networks, etc.), and give lots of practical examples of their actual use both for classroom application and professional development.

Of course, the content will need to be updated and/or changed with some regularity, but if this idea is a good one, we could schedule to do minor changes every 6 months and major changes every year.
If we were to have a print version (Lulu?), or if a publisher (dreaming?) wanted to pick it up, we could use any revenues to help sponsor the free workshop series.

There are a number of questions we'd have to answer if we decided to do this: how do we delegate and oversee contributions, who would do final edits, what platform would we use to write it (wiki, Google docs, other?), what license to release it under, and many more I'm sure you will think of that I haven't. I'm going to propose that we hold an Elluminate session to talk these through and do the initial organizing, but before we do so I thought it might be good to get some feedback from you first.

Do you like the idea? Do you have any initial thoughts?

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Classroom 2.0 has a 100+ user account, courtesy of Elluminate. I think there's been a good discussion here about when that's useful and when it's not, and I think it will be very useful at the start with the core group that wants to map this out and for on-going management of the project.
I'm thinking about effective ways to have a synchronous, collaborative conversation. One idea that comes to mind:

Discussion Leader creates an agenda of topics to cover and consider.
DL creates a wikispace with one page for each topic on the wiki. Appoints topic leaders to edit the corresponding wiki page.
Participants are divided into groups of 4-10 and group leader is the only one that communicates ideas to the appropriate topic leaders.
You might have a logistics coordinator to assign participants to groups as they come online.

Hmmm... I'll keep thinking.
This is the crux of the matter, and why I'm not rushing right now.

I have a feeling that the more we try to coordinate the collaboration, the harder the project will be. I like the idea of a coordinating council, and then letting anyone who wants contribute in any way that they want. One person, for example, might want to write a few paragraphs about the use of wikis in science. Two other people might want to work together to outline the use of Voicethread for middle-school kids.

The wiki includes all the articles, but we choose which we are going to include in the book. And we might even encourage certain kinds of work, or contribute bridge chapters ourselves that we think are important.

I'm not sure that's a final vision...
Steve, I totally agree with you. Wikipedia still amazes me in that it would have started with a few people, found direction and content, and more and more have come on and given it the richness it now displays. Those who have commented here will be the keenest to get a start and I know that more will come on board as it prospers.
Steve,
Great idea...You rock!
Count me in.
Bill Brennan
Well, it sounds as if you are finding some ideas that you find effective. I will be ready to help whenever you get to a point that this all solidifies.
Steve,
I would love to contribute in anyway I can to a digital book project. I am a math teacher and I think there is always a need for practical application of Web 2.0 technologies in math classes.

Fantastic idea.
Christine
Terry Freedman has a book with lots of ideas here: http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/free_web2/Web_2.0_Projects.pdf
I think this is an interesting idea, and I'd like to follow how it develops. Although I am not able to contribute right now, due to other commitments, I'd like to stay in the loop if possible. Any updates?

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