In the last five years, Web 2.0 applications vast virtual worlds, multiplayer online games, social networking, and file sharing among them have inspired new notions of what it might mean to be literate in the twenty-first century. While previous scholarship on Web 2.0 has focused on its social and recreational uses, this book explores its ability to enrich and transform the educational experience of children and young people. It discusses the opportunities and risks presented by this large-scale shift in popular engagement with new media, and uses illustrative vignettes to document the work of innovative educators who construct new ways of thinking and being around Web 2.0.

Autorentext

The Authors: Julia Davies is based at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom where she directs an online Masters program in new literacies; she has a Masters in educational research, and an Ed.D. in literacy and language. Her research focuses on online digital practices and social learning. Her numerous article and chapter publications include «Pay and Display: The Digital Literacies of Online Shoppers» in Digital Literacies: Concepts, Policies and Practices, edited by Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel (Lang, 2008). Guy Merchant is Professor of Literacy in Education at Sheffield Hallam University, where he coordinates the work of the Language and Literacy Research Group. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on digital literacy and is co-editor of the Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. His research focuses on children and young people s uses of on-screen writing and how this can be incorporated into the school curriculum.

Klappentext

In the last five years, Web 2.0 applications vast virtual worlds, multiplayer online games, social networking, and file sharing among them have inspired new notions of what it might mean to be literate in the twenty-first century. While previous scholarship on Web 2.0 has focused on its social and recreational uses, this book explores its ability to enrich and transform the educational experience of children and young people. It discusses the opportunities and risks presented by this large-scale shift in popular engagement with new media, and uses illustrative vignettes to document the work of innovative educators who construct new ways of thinking and being around Web 2.0.