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Next Gen: "eLearning 2.0" by Guofu Qian, Systems Librarian, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies Library, Guangzhou, China

eLearning 2.0
By Guofu Qian, Systems Librarian, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies Library, Guangzhou, China

Guofu Qian

What is eLearning 2.0? This term refers to ways of thinking about eLearning which have been inspired by the emergence of Web 2.0. In my opinion, eLearning 2.0 is an eLearning environment based on Web 2.0 technologies. The most important characteristic of eLearning 2.0 is collective intelligence, which is also a core characteristic of Web 2.0.

In the world of eLearning 2.0, eLearners can share their knowledge and experience by creating blog, wiki, photo, video and audio content freely and easily. This function gives eLearners an opportunity to become eTeachers, and vice versa. The bottom line? Web 2.0 technology makes all sorts of eLearning platforms easy-to-use.

My eLearning 2.0

Personally, my experience with eLearning 2.0 cannot be separated from my experience with Web 2.0. Following are some specific tools that have contributed to my own eLearning by allowing me to converse, connect, collaborate and share.

• As a Google fan I use many Google products in my daily life. With Google Docs I can write and view remotely-stored documents at home or in my office without having to meet memory or software requirements. I can also share documents and collaborate on them with my friends to finish tasks. Google Reader, my favorite RSS application, provides seamless integration with Google’s other products. Google Notebook is a simple tool that allows me to take desktop notes and save information I find online while I work. Overall, Google tools are wonderful and easy-to-use, and benefit eLearners and eEducators alike.
• Del.icio.us is a free online bookmarking tool that helps me keep track of what I have read online and allows me to organize my bookmarks by date and subject tag.
• 2collab – shown in the screenshot – is a similar free social bookmarking application by Elsevier that has recently gained much popularity among academics. 2collab promotes a group work environment, encouraging group members to add their own bookmarks to the group’s collection or evaluate resources by adding ratings and comments.
• Multimedia-sharing has also become an important tool in facilitating eLearning 2.0. Photo- and video-sharing websites such as Flickr and YouTube make multimedia-sharing easy. For example, I can “virtually” attend ALA meetings by listening to or viewing recordings taken and uploaded by session speakers or participants. By leaving public comments on the content, I interact with my peers online and we all develop a greater collective intelligence. Ten years ago this was impossible.

This 2collab screenshot shows entries and tags on the free social bookmarking tool at www.2collab.com.

Tagging is important

Nearly all of my favorite eLearning tools provide the ability to tag content, an important feature for knowledge organization. A tag is a nonhierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information. Tags are chosen informally and personally by content creators and, depending on the application, can also be added by content viewers. A collection of tags is the foundation of what is known in 2.0 as folksonomy. Folksonomy is an information organization technique that avoids restrictive vocabulary control and allows users to build subject tags based on layman’s terms. Folksonomy tagging offers eLearners a collaborative, user-friendly strategy for creating and managing learning materials.

Support from libraries

ELearning 2.0 is constantly advancing my learning environment. With it I can absorb information more efficiently and expand my arsenal of learning strategies. As we move into 2009, libraries need to support the migration to eLearning 2.0 in the following ways: understand eLearning 2.0, make efforts to help patrons use eLearning 2.0 through information literacy education and re-allocate library resources and services to meet the needs of eLearners.