Archive for June 4th, 2009

Collaborative Learning In Pakistan Part 1

Published by Babar Bhatti on June 4, 2009 under Broadband Internet, Education, Information Technology, Networks, Pakistan, Search, User Generated Content

Guest Post By Phil Cruver

The technological evolution of Web 2.0 tools has produced a global platform that empowers the collective wisdom and intelligence of the crowd. Powerful arrays of technologies are emerging as ecosystems for extending, enhancing and enabling learning in an accelerated mode.

Deemed Learning 2.0, these online collaborative, interactive, and just-in-time information delivery technologies are encroaching on mainstream education in developed economies. These new and innovative technologies are not intended as a replacement for traditional education, but rather as an extension for learning in deep and powerful ways.

Tagging, the practice of attaching a descriptive word or phrase to a piece of online content for the purpose of linking it to other related digital media, is a well-known web phenomenon. Students searching for those tags can retrieve that specific and relevant content; thus, facilitating just-in-time learning and creating new possibilities for creative expression.

The Learning 2.0 Platform for Teachers and Students in Pakistan has introduced a new technology that provides the capability to transcend the limitations of simple tagging for describing an entire chunk of rich media. This next generation of tagging and its derivative progeny – linking and searching – allows the creation of direct links to specific parts within a larger selection of media. By indexing metadata, which enables tagging specific sections, you get deeper data information with the descriptor “deep tagging”.

Consider the possibilities for just-in-time learning: educators record their multi-hour lectures with a simple webcam, tag and upload them to the Learning 2.0 Platform as small interactive chunks. Students can repeatedly review the relevant information without enduring the entire session. Deep tagging metadata allows them to jump instantly to that specific section within the video for the information they need to learn.

The above image illustrates how deep tagging enhances collaborative learning. Abdul Aziz Bhatti, Principal at the Federal Government Model School for Boys G-0/4 in Islamabad was videotaped giving a lecture about Chemistry. Students tag the video while watching and their tags are indexed and made available to all who subsequently watch the presentation. Students can also comment upon their peers’ tags and all comments are emailed to the teacher for response and interaction.