Review of Article: Web 2.0, New Literacies, and the Idea of Learning through Participation. English Teaching:

Summary
This research study identifies and discusses current work on the theme of participation and digital literacy. Merchant conducted the research to open further debate on the relationship between interaction, collaboration and learning in online environments. He discusses the potential of incorporating informal out-of-school work in Web 2.0 spaces into the school environment. HE offers some ideas about socially-situated cognition. Merchant conducted his research keeping in mind four main ideas: of: 1) the wisdom of crowds; 2) participatory culture; 3) sociocultural accounts of learning and, 4) the remix metaphor. He writes that, the internet can often substitute for traditional face-to face teaching. Merchant suggests that Web. 2.0interactive technologies can and should be employed in curriculum planning. By anyone who can read a lesson plan.
Analysis:
Teachers have long fought the idea that they can be replaced. The problem is that as teaching becomes a profession instead of an art, the public may view teaching skills as easily translatable to computers. In an era of draconian budget cuts and finger pointing in education, the idea of mechanizing education could seem appealing. This problem of perception has come along before when teachers were up in arms about television programs replacing teachers. As a student, I have taken online courses and many more in person and it must be stated that online courses lack not only personal interaction, but any real possibility for original communication. However, with Web 2.0 interactive technology, the distance learning model may become less distant.

Resources:
Merchant, G. (2009). Web 2.0, New Literacies, and the Idea of Learning through Participation. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 8(3), 107-122. Retrieved from ERIC database.