Learning 2.0 - Social Constructivism ?

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, in her 21st Century Collaborative article, discusses Learning 2.0 and asks "How and will Web 2.0 shape the way we learn?" She suggests that as we use different Web 2.0 tools and ways to collaboratively process information, we may change how we learn and how we teach. She says,

Ultimately, 21^st Century teaching is constructivist teaching, using digital technologies and the Internet.

This statement really caught my eye. In our grant-funded professional development projects the past several years, we have definitely emphasized constructivist approaches to teaching and learning... Project STAIRS, Project WRITE, Project Big6 and Club 6. We have focused on project-based learning, problem-based learning, the research process in a digital world, cooperative learning, information & technology literacy standards and skills, teacher as facilitator and not "sage on the stage". We have introduced and supported new ways to find, evaluate, synthesize, and present information to others. But as I reflect on what we have done -- all of these things have been in a Web 1.0 world. Have our grant participants changed what they do in the classroom? Have lesson plan designs become more constructivist, more problem-based, with more options for students? Certainly. But Learning 2.0? I think not. I think we have tweaked traditional ways of teaching and learning, made them more organized and fun and more relevant to the digital age. But I haven't seen learning transformed -- not for teachers, not for students.

Last week I facilitated a three-day introductory course on Moodle. We started off with a "What is Moodle" discussion. 1) Australian slang that means “to toss around an idea in your head for a while to look at different aspects of it.”
2) an e-learning management system based on an educational philosophy of social constructivism.

We struggled with the definition of social constructivism and came up with three main ideas:

1) a belief that learners (and not just teachers) can contribute to the educational experience in many ways
2) modules or learning opportunities that center on tools for discussion and sharing
3) Focus on sharing ideas and engaging in the construction of knowledge, not on delivering information

Moodle, blogs, wikis, many of the collaborative Web 2.0 digital tools seem to me to be the vehicles for actually changing the way we teach and learn via collaboration and reflective inquiry. Learning 2.0 seems to me to be a real possibility if we as educators begin to accept and adopt the philosophy of social constructivism and teach and use the Web 2.0 tools well.