Technology+Leadership+Book+Summary

How Web Technology Is Revolutionizing Education

 * Curtis J. Bonk**

This book makes an analysis in how web technologies are increasingly involved in Education. Indeed, it is a thought in how Education is changing into a new paradigm in which Education could take place in any place, at any time and make knowledge democratic as never before by coining the phrase “WE-ALL-LEARN” (Bonk, 2009, p. 8). The phrase is the acronym for the ten openers that the author talks about.

The author also makes a derivation of the three “p” of Friedman -the new economic //players// from China, India and Eastern Blok countries, a flattened //playing field// from using collaborative technologies and more horizontal and less hierarchical management //processes//- into the educational field, so he mentioned //pages// of content, //piping// of technological infrastructure and //participatory// learning culture.

We can notice a huge leap in how the author’s parents learned in the classroom and a magical place that he called “The web of Learning” where teaching and learning never ends. It is the way the next generations will learn.

Through the evolution towards Web 2.0, global citizens expand their learning possibilities, but on the other hand, it requires higher thinking, collaborative and interdisciplinary skills to be emphasized.

The ten openers:

1) **W**eb Searching in the World of E-books. With the everyday lower costs of bandwidth, storage and processing it is possible to have the fingertip knowledge and there are some initiatives from organizations and institutions to create a mass e-library (Bonk, 2009, pp. 55-90).

2) **E**-Learning and Blending Learning, it is stated that informal courses comprise 70 to 80 percent of learning and the notion of standard-prepackaged course is dead and workers need just-in-time and on-demand learning (Bonk, 2009, pp. 91-137).

3) **A**vailability of Open Source. The trend is the expansion of open source and free software and talks about “copyleft” opposed to copyright referring to the use of GPL (General Public License) and certain degree of freedom: freedom 0 to run software, freedom 1 to change the software, freedom 2 to make copies and distribute it and freedom 3 to publish modified versions (Bonk, 2009, pp. 139-161).

4) **L**everaged Resources and OpenCourse Ware. MIT initiative called open courseware (OCW) by placing free content on Internet for anyone to use, have evolved so rapidly that in 2007 MIT had complete virtually all courses (Bonk, 2009, p. 163). Universities around the globe have been following this trend.

5) **L**earning Object Repositories and Portals. Learning portals and repositories are growing in quantity and quality, from the opening of online museums like The National Museum of African American History and Culture to the availability of Darwin’s private notes of his theory (Bonk, 2009, pp. 183-202).

6) **L**earner Participation in Open Information Communities. This is the other part of the process, the need of tools that allow individuals to generate content (Bonk, 2009, p. 209). Learners are enriching continuously the Web of Learning by videoconferencing, making contributions like //teachertube// or writing in wikis.

7) **E**lectronic Collaboration. Collaborate or Die! is the premise since the last two decades and is imperative today in schools and industry in order to be competitive. In fact, collaboration and teamwork are increasingly taught in schools (Lipponen, 1999).

8) **A**lternate Reality Learning. It proposes that gaming could be utilized in education and business training and remarks the advantages of virtual worlds (Bonk, 2009, pp. 275-291).

9) **R**eal-Time Mobility and Portability. Portability and mobility of devices open the possibilities to ubiquitous learning (Bonk, 2009, pp. 293-326).

10) **N**etworks of Personalized Learning. Learner-centered tools and resources are adopted. Virtual teachers, mentors and tutors are included, as well (Bonk, 2009, pp. 327-354).

The author gives the wide variety of learning possibilities and offers a framework to be aware of that.

References:

Bonk, Curtis J. (2009). //The world is open: How web technology is revolutionizing education//. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Lipponen, L. (1999). The challenges for computer supported collaborative learning in elementary and secondary level: Finnish perspectives. C. M. Hoadley and J. Roschelle, Eds. Computer Support for Collaborative Learning. International Society of the Learning Sciences, 46.