In the article Web 2.0Technologies as Cognitive Tools of the New Media Age, the authors illustrate how 2.0 tools are used in a social constructivist manner. The three areas they reviewed folksonomy, wiki’s and blogging the one most pertinent to the classes I’ve taken so far and this course in particular is blogging. In the article the authors cited Dickey saying “the use of blogs as a discourse tool for small group learning communities supported the emergence of community by affording students the opportunities to socialize, interact and enter into dialogue, seek support and assistance, and express feelings and emotions.This in turn helped bridge or prevent feelings of isolation.” (page 365).

How appropriate is that quote for online courses such as the one we are in right now? Many times distance learning had been attempted and in most of those previous attempts at distance learning have always had mixed results. I took a couple of courses in the 1980’s and 1990’s just for my own personal learning but did not enjoy the experience and many of the paying students dropped out of those courses in the first few weeks. One of the problems with those courses was that it was all about “push” learning but I’m sure an equal amount was isolation. However, with web 2.0 technology such as blogging, students have the ability to feel part of a larger community. Students can collaborate and have discussions in a number of different ways (google docs, blogging etc.) over distance without feeling on an isolated educational island.

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Although the authors used K through 12 learning as a foundation for this paper I think it highly appropriate in reviewing the 5 web implementations they recommend and thinking about my preferred learning environment and one in particular. I think, the third of the five, provide scaffolding, is critically important when dealing with adults. Working in many areas of higher education, both the faculty and staff very often tend to need a greater level of scaffolding to see the value of adjusting to technology when it comes to instruction. The following quote also applies to trainers and training with some of these populations “it is critical that teachers scaffold their users through modeling and coaching. Teachers can spend some time introducing the technology and provide the reasons why the very technology is used. Before using the technology as a cognitive or collaboration tool, teachers will need to design enabling tasks to help students get used to different functions and the learning environment.” page 367.