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Introduction: Web 2.0 for School 2.0
Web 2.0 is the culture of the competent internet user - the Net Native who wants to take an active role in shaping the design and content of a system his or her parents, members of the Net Generation (Tapscott, 1998) who grew up with computer culture, used as a service. ICT competence in the school age population shows a steady rise (cf. Education at a Glance, OECD, 1996, 2006), and so does teachers' willingness to customise and develop digital learning content. According to SITES Module 2,1 in which research teams from 28 countries in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia collected 174 case studies about technology supported classroom innovation, the emergence of an internet-based, computer-supported educational community with high level skills in social knowledge construction was revealed (SITES Module 2, 2003; Kozma, 2004).
Web 2.0 is characterised by personal learning spaces designed and maintained by learners (Coach nd). The most important feature of Web 2.0 for language education is the change of direction in communication on the internet: while Web 1.0 was the "readable web", where the dominant activity was reception of texts, sounds and images, Web 2.0 is the "writable web", where creation of new content is dominant. The same change of direction is observable in the mass media. Digital television offers view on demand, with the opportunity to select the language of a film. Interactive broadcasting features voting, quiz participation and expression of opinion by telephone that includes the definition of content and form of future programs. Home video has become an established part of the program both on public and private channels - a paradigmatic example of private turned public turned private again, as the audience feels included in the friendship circle of the amateur filmmaker while watching his family fun.
The concept of "Web 2.0" is similar to these collaborative creation models in education and media. The phrase was coined by Tim O'Reilly (2004) who realised that, even after the "dot com collapse", the bankruptcy of many internet based companies, the world-wide web was more important than ever, with exciting new applications and sites emerging rapidly. Companies that had survived the collapse seemed to...