Aha! Some great pondering and argument as to why sense making and reason might just be essential to understanding whether learning 2.0 is in fact part of existing learning theory.
This post by Mark Nichols argues, (quite successfully I might add) that whilst encouraging web2.0; or for that matter learning 2.0, we should not lose sight of the educational tenets that instructional designers and educators alike, have built their knowledge and careers on. These would be cognitive growth, conceptual maturity, the development of reasoning and the opportunity for exposure to alternatives.
Mark goes on to say that web 2.0 should be embraced but not at the expense of the educational objectives.
Now for me this raises the dichotomy of learning 2.0. I have for some time now maintained that individuals, by no more means than their own sense making, develop personal taxonomies for the learning and information that occurs in 'their" learning space. Whilst i think this has evolved over time, I do not think that the individuals "classification" of the information or it's importance, has evolved. This has been part of their formal education and as such all they have done is developed this ability to decide on why something resonates with them and then codify the information based on this understanding or "sense" making.
A study of del.ic.io.us pages will show you exactly how these "personal taxonomies" are recorded and for me this then says that individuals have some understanding and therefore have learned. But have they achieved an objective or outcome that the learning/information/knowledge was intended for?
Do we know how to deal with this as educators? Is this purely social construct and learning happens in spite of it?
Great stuff to ruminate over.......
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