Web 2.0 refers to a trend in web design and technology that facilitates the publishing and sharing of information among internet users. The term was first used by technology commentator Tim O’Reilly in 2004 to describe a new direction in web use, distinguished by increased interactivity between users. Web 2.0 encourages the development of a participatory culture, where users contribute content back to the web rather than merely consuming it. Traditionally, websites consisted of static pages for commerce and the one-way delivery of information. Now applications such as blogs and social networks enable users to contribute and share information in ways that did not even exist a few years ago. Web 2.0 sites such as Wikipedia, MySpace and Facebook are now household names, with over half of our surveyed respondents acknowledging the use of these tools in their personal and professional lives.
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The fact that you are reading this handbook probably means that you are experienced in e-Learning implementation at a university or similar institution. You will probably be aware of the tools and styles of working on LMS, and will be used to communicating whilst working and learning online. But at the same time, by surfing the net and probably by observing your students, you will clearly see that changes are coming. Freely available new technologies, common access to the Internet and to information, new types of social interactions mediated by technology; all of these things require a shift in the way that we learn and teach. e-Learning using new technologies is an innovative learning method.
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Tim Berners-Lee’s vision of the World Wide Web was for a tool which created and gathered knowledge through human interaction and collaboration. Web 2.0 is a stage of development in which the Web is progressing towards this goal. Most analysts define Web 2.0 in terms of the tools that foster online participation in content creation and social interaction. This tends only to produce lists of new software applications or claims of ‘we are the web’, ‘web 2.0 is people’ etc etc. What I’ve attempted to tease out – following examples from Tim O’Reilly and Danah Boyd – is what lies beneath these tools: what makes them so important or useful? Why are they soaring in popularity?
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Activote is Promethean’s integrated personal response system that is designed to encourage student participation and enhance learning. This could be as straightforward as determining whether pupils are following a lesson, or it could be the basis for planned discussion. And it’s all done by asking students to make a choice and press a button. Capturing student responses when they are questioned can be a powerful tool in influencing the direction of a lesson or the planning of future work. Activote allows the answers of each pupil to be saved for retrieval later - individually or as a class. Results can also be exported to Excel for record keeping and further analysis where appropriate.
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A Hands-on Intensive Workshop on agent development using JADE framework, organized by the Gerstner Laboratory. JADE (Java Agent DEvelopment framework) is runtime environment for development of FIPA compliant inter- operable agents. Currently in version 3.0, JADE is the most widely used agent development framework. JADE is open source, distributed under Lesser General Public License. The course is intended for people familiar with Java programming language and the basic concepts of multi-agent systems, who want to start developing agents using JADE. No prior experience with agent programming is needed. Each course participant receives a CD with JADE in- stallation, documentation and course material (slides and example source codes).
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