The E-Learning Industry: Facing the challenges of Web 2.0

O’Brien, Mary. 2009. The E-Learning Industry: Facing the challenges of Web 2.0. Rocky Mountain Communication Review 6 (1):57-61

Purpose and Audience
The purpose of the article “The E-Learning Industry: Facing the challenges of Web 2.0” by Mary O’Brien of Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design, and Technology was discuss the current state of E-Learning as well as the future implications of E-Learning in Web 2.0. The audience is those in education, technical communication, and business communication fields with interest in E-Learning.

Organization

The organization of article is as follows:
• Introduction/body (untitled) – Two factors have helped mitigate against a theory of isolation in E-learning: people have always been learning through informal channels, such as experts and peers; and a shift in how people relate to each other online with the advent of the Web 2.0 with blogs, forums, wikis, YouTube, Facebook, etc., and these channels are occurring in E-learning. Future opportunities for E-Learning include 3-D virtual worlds such as Second Life and video games. O’Brien also mentions that instructional designers should consider instant messaging, social networking, and mobile phones.
• The Future – How do we maximize learner freedom while simultaneously ensuring effective learning? Which forms of interaction, and among whom, are the right ones and for which contexts: peer-to-peer, student-to-teacher, student-to content (Anderson, 2005a)? Most importantly, how do we manage all these interactions—or do we? How much freedom is too much? How much guidance is required and from whom?
• References