Saturday, April 04, 2009
Web 2.0 for Schools
It's been a while since we've "been here", such have been the exigencies of trying to keep heads above water in too many different places.
But what better way to "get back" than with the happy news that Julia Davies and Guy Merchant's book, Web 2.0 for Schools is now published.
"In the last five years, Web 2.0 applications - vast virtual worlds, multiplayer online games, social networking, and file sharing among them - have inspired new notions of what it might mean to be literate in the twenty-first century. While previous scholarship on Web 2.0 has focused on its social and recreational uses, this book explores its ability to enrich and transform the educational experience of children and young people. It discusses the opportunities and risks presented by this large-scale shift in popular engagement with new media, and uses illustrative vignettes to document the work of innovative educators who construct new ways of thinking and being around Web 2.0." (Book synopsis)
We are thrilled to see this book out, and wish it all the best.
Jennifer Rowsell's cover endorsement hits the nail on the head. Jennifer says:
"Blogs, Flickr, wikis, Second Life, memes - no stone is unturned in Julia Davies and Guy Merchant's roadmap to Web 2.0. From their clear and insightful look at digital epistemologies to the implications of new habits of mind for educational practice, Davies and Merchant have crafted a book that must sit on the bookshelf of every school and university faced with the challenge of twenty-first century literacies. Building on their own and other research and writing, Davies and Merchant provide us with a textured picture of how virtual worlds make us think and act."
Congratulations, Julia and Guy. It's great to have the book out and about. Look for it at AERA, all you conference goers.
