Abstract
Internet has lately become a buzz-word of daily life, of the educational and social environment, an informative tool, a transaction medium and a hidden witness for individuals' moods. Within this circle traced by internet, new media is often taken for web 2.0 or social media as little research has looked into these delineations. To differentiate from it all, New Media is the philosophy whose tangible facets are represented by web 2.0, the technology that is harnessed and saddled to education, information and socially driven actions. Web 2.0 is participative and collaborative, as the information submitted as such can be spread on a large scale and in high frequency by the users for a potentially unlimited public which can answer in various ways- with text, image, audio, video to the uploaded and shared content. Thus it greatly contributes to education and information in a different way than the "brick and mortar" type. How this new technology, new media, contributes to training in a higher education environment and which tools does it act upon, towards which targets and how effective is that all, this paper is going to answer along with means to an end in providing alternative ways for different types of education. As users we continuously learn, formally and informally, we develop and establish connections to then share what we know or we have learned from others. Networks are thus formed, networks of knowledge and individuals, of collaboration and of learning. How these networks function and what they bring along with learning and how the educational process benefits all this is to be showcased in the present paper. |
Keywords
new media, alternative education, web 2.0, social learning, constructivism, social media |