"Classroom 2.0" 

Definition

"Classroom 2.0" is little more than a marketing term, akin to Web 2.0.  When referring to "Classroom 2.0," participants are acknowledging that the classroom can be a student-driven environment where students engage in communicative, collaborative, and participatory behaviors to construct knowledge, rather than having it given to them.  The teacher becomes a model for active and lifelong learning, engaging in inquiry and discovery along with the students.

Though "Classroom 2.0" sounds like "Web 2.0," there's no requirement that a teacher use technology to engage in these behaviors.  Technology merely allows for access to new tools that might simplify some aspects of the learning process for the teacher or students.

The key concept to creating "Classroom 2.0" is digital citizenship-- preparing students for grassroots economies, social and "smart" networks, and the blurring between cyberspace and the real world.  In fact, "Classroom 2.0" might not be a contiguous physical space-- or a physical space at all.

Advantages

• prepares for real-world learning
• students feel ownership (perhaps even more than the teacher?) and pride when their content is released to the world, and therefore put more effort into accuracy and thoroughness
• students are already using tools like text messaging, blogging and Facebook, so this utilizes a pre-existing skillset
• students who are normally quiet are active participants-- they have time to process, compose, or edit, and a sense of anonymity that is freeing
• online work allows for more reflective time, which may lead to higher-order thinking
• getting kids to write means more writing practice
• allows students to share work easily with parents when they ask, "What did you do in school today?"
• many students have access at any time except when they are at school-- we are asking them to "shut down"
• information is always up-to-date
• hands-on learning helps students remember what they learn
• students take part in content creation from an early age
• students are more engaged and therefore cause fewer behavioral problems
• students collaborate, learn from one another, and learn to "police" or manage themselves through accountability to peers
• narrows the "digital divide"

Drawbacks & Concerns

• evaluating whether or not students have learned required materials
• teacher must engage as an active participant in the learning process, which may mean giving up some control over processes (even if outcomes remain fairly controlled)
• teachers fear not knowing how things will work, or what the outcomes may be
• teachers fear looking foolish in front of students
• systems have many of the tools blocked by filters and firewalls
• communicating with system personnel about the instructional value of these tools in a way they can understand
• copyright and fair use are difficult for teachers to navigate
• school acceptable use policies may not allow for some "Classroom 2.0" activities
• bullying and cyber-bullying
• strong need for information literacy on the part of both teachers and students
• how do we discern between education and entertainment?
• students may take advantage of the opportunity to get off track -- calls for careful (if not tight) classroom management
• securing online space to keep out non-students

Links

http://instructify.com