Idit Harel Caperton gave a challenging, research and student focused, keynote address to officially close NECC 2008. It was titled “The Transformational Power of Social Media Technology in Learning: Inspiring Stories from the Classroom and Beyond!”

The emphasis, like much of NECC this year (so influenced by Web 2.0) was on collaboration. She raised the need for continued and greater real world collaboration, for activism, for schools, students and teachers to make connections with people in other countries.

Her current project is the World Wide Workshop Project…

www.worldwideworkshop.org

She is currently continuing her passion and belief in Constructionist Learning through Student Game Design and Production.

In this age of “user-generated content”, she called for an education with a social purpose (most schools don’t do this yet). She called for our school projects and tasks to be much more complex and to fit better with the cognitive natures/abilities of students. For her, constructionist learning is more relevant than ever today.

She had 10 years at MIT Media lab (80s)

Built Mamamedia.com (90s) and is carrying this forth in her current projects … “Students as Designers” can learn from building games (constructivist) from designing software to teach their peers

She showed a moving research documentary of hers from 1989 – about a young (disinterested) student who developed important skills through constructing teaching resources for other primary kids using the programming language, logo. By the end of the segment shown, this little girl had “appropriated” the concept of fractions for herself, she had taken ownership of it, and she had enjoyed taking on the role of “teacher” – this had certainly increased her interest in learning. Emotional, social and academic change for the better was certainly evident.

For Caperton, the Early 1990’s  were about integrating old media into the web.

The Late 1990’s – MaMaMedia – were about exploration, expression, exchange. Where you could create content, send to friends, self-expression, create your own media. Browser based programming. Play and Learn. Global. Hosted on corporate server. MaMaMedia is still available.

Now in 2008 we have the challenge of a transition to Web 2.0 in education.

“Content was King. Now Contact is King.” – great quote!

It is now a participation web. Its abouting sharing not consuming. There is the opportunity for everyone to exchange knowledge. Connect, Contact, Contribute.

There is the ability for schools, student, teacfhers to Participate in more complex global projects on a rather large scale, for more Cross Cultural exchanges.

She showed short interview with a lot of poster session people from the conference  … TiG -ed; Tellingstories.org (one of my favourite student video production projects EVER!) ; and iEarn.

Then she called for “Constructionism 2.0″ (a necessary update to Constructionism) that acknowledges the networked environment during the collaboration on media projects

For constructionists, writing has always been very important, for them we learn best by making things.

Now have to also be a connector – this is the new literacy.

In the coming economy, the winners will be the masters of web 2.0, who can create new products, processes, new relationships

A new digital divide will spring up – web2.0 literacies and those who don’t have them.

The mastery of the new abilities and the new spaces for learning to learn, for Caperton, can occur in ….

GAME BUILDING – more precisely – designing games in a networked environment.

She sees Computer Game Building as being able to develop a new group of development abilities (fluencies, competencies)  for dealing with a Web2.0 world named  “the 6 contemporary learning abilities” with new technologies …

Abilities Set 1- invention, progression, completion of an original project: program an educational game, wiki or simulation

Abilities Set 2: project-based learning in web 2.0 environments, and processing complex project management (programmable wiki systems)

Abilities Set 3: producing, programing, publishing and distributing interactive purposeful digital media

Abilities Set 4: information-based learning, search and exploration

Abilities Set 5: social learning, participation and exchange

Abilities Set 6: thoughtful surfing websites and web applications

—-

What learning activities will promote these new fluencies?

most school-based programs for 21st century skills just focus on abilities 4 and 6

Example of student projects created with MicroWorlds EX

Other sessions at NECC this session were Mitch Resnick’s presentation about Scratch.

—-

Then she turned to her newest project/website … Globaloria

- networked participants learn to design and program original interactive media, simulations and web-games with social and educatioanl purposes

Part of Globaloria is  My Global Life

(WikiPedia article for My Global Life) …. My Global Life (MyGLife.org) is a worldwide network of educational, programmable websites and related wikis designed to empower youth in developing countries and emerging markets to learn, create and collaborate online. The goal of this non-profit project is to help the world’s youth experience and master technology tools and methods for democracy and globalization. Site users are mentored to learn Internet technology skills (including wiki development, graphic design and Flash programming skills), build global awareness, and at the same time, experience positive communication with other communities.

—-

What will web 2.0 “best practices” look like for the purpose of knowledge development? Caperton is after “interaction and impact”. She is concerned with questions like …

1- what is the time duration
2- what is the scope and scale
3- is it purposeful participation
4- is there an exhibtion hall? open source spirit?
5- is there global reach

She closed the keynote by calling on us to think BIG and to enjoy living in ETERNAL BETA – where we should relish being constantly ‘under construction’, not wait for a finished product, and constantly share where we are ‘currently up to.’