melaniemcbride.net

I, along with many other educators, have been eagerly awaiting news of Howard Rheingold’s radical new social media / virtual communities course at Stanford. What makes this course so different is the focus. Instead of stand and deliver lecture format, Rheingold’s students will direct their own learning through student-led inquiry and cooperative projects:

“Within less than a year, my expanded syllabi, resource wiki, social media online classroom and instructional videos should be ready to deploy widely by any student or educator with Web access. I need help with information graphics and animations, consultation with educational design technology specialists, graphic design and web design consultation, a programmer, and some of my own time to produce the videos and syllabi.” (via Smartmobs)

Drawing on constructivist, collaborative and emergent pedagogy, Rheingold hopes to transform the classroom into a more dynamic space that has real relevance and value for today’s wired learners.