I feel very strongly that learning should be much more bottom-up than top-down. Now that information is so widely available and easily shared, students should be empowered to make more choices about what they want to learn and how they want to learn it, including from each other.

Steve Hargadon had an interesting blog post earlier this month about Web 2.0 and how it’s the future of education. He makes some great points and here are clips from some of my favorite:

“Trend #4: The New Pro-sumers. The word “pro-sumer” is a combination of the words “producer” and “consumer.” More and more companies are engaging their customers in the creation of the product they sell them. The nature not just of how knowledge is acquired, but how it is produced, is changing”

Absolutely agree here. Who is better at describing what they need from a product than the consumer? What we’re seeing now with technology is one step further. The consumers are not only providing input, but they’re often creating the product. Check out this vocabulary game our members started on their own. It’s such a simple concept but it works so well and is one of the most popular threads on our site.

“Trend #7: The World Gets Even Flatter and Faster. Yes, and even if that “flat” world is “spiky” or “wrinkled,” it’s still getting pretty darn flat. That anyone, anywhere in the world, can study using over the material from over 1800 open courses at MIT is astounding, and it’s only the start.”

Right on. That someone in Zimbabwe can easily ask for English advice and become friends with someone in China is absolutely amazing.

“Trend #8: Social Learning Moves Toward Center Stage. …JSB discusses a study that showed that one of the strongest determinants of success in higher education is the ability to form or participate in study groups. In the video of his lecture he makes the point that study groups using electronic methods have almost the exact same results as physical study groups. The conclusion is somewhat stunning–electronic collaborative study technologies = success?”

The best teachers I had in school were the ones who naturally led us to learn from and share information with each other. The teachers I learned the least from were those who pushed information down to us and asked for regurgitation at test time. Students want to actively learn. Just take a look at one of our recent lessons where we brought up the topic of taking time off before college. We produced one page on the subject, then our members created 9 more.

Technology has been influencing education for years. But now it’s doing so at a faster pace than ever seen before, mostly because students are finally getting a voice.

It appears that Do-Heon Kim, one of Korea’s best soccer players, has impressed the West Bromwich Albion Football Club during his trial with the team.  In just a few days he has received positive feedback from the coaching staff and vows to learn English to help his bid to become part of the team.
Speaking through a translator, he says he’ll start studying English twice a week.  We’d like to do our part to help him assimilate as well and look forward to the day we see him guessing our Slang of the Week.

We find Japan’s fantasy culture amazing.  From hostess clubs to themed love hotels, the country has countless opportunities to escape reality and disappear into worlds catered exactly to your dreams.

One of the latest stories to come from Tokyo is no exception.  In an effort to spice up their lives and receive emotional satisfaction, women are heading to Butlers Cafe, a coffee shop where English speaking men dressed as butlers will treat them like the princesses they wish to be – and throw in an English lesson or two.

We’re trying to get a couple applications for part-time gigs for Jason and Captain Jeff.

It has been interesting watching the evolution of social networks here in the U.S.  A few years ago sites like Facebook and MySpace wanted little to do with international users and analysts pointed to Friendster as a miserable failure because of the huge number of users outside of the U.S.  What was most important then was U.S. advertising dollars, which meant traffic from the U.S. was what mattered most.

Then came News Corp’s acquisition of MySpace and its international charge into countries such as China.  It seemed they realized that their product could be used worldwide and expansion beyond the U.S. was a tremendous opportunity.

Over the past year Facebook has gotten into the international game and is touting its growth in other countries.  We’re now watching a race to grab customers outside of the U.S.

USA Today recently posted an article about the global expansion of social networks as well.  Things are heating up.

As one of the few social networks concentrating solely on the international market, we’ve recognized the huge potential of users around the world from Day 1.  And while other social networks seem to be focusing their international efforts on establishing country-specific sites, Ebaby! has a rare opportunity to have one site for everyone, effectively connecting the world.

Stay tuned for more activity in the social networking space as our world gets smaller and smaller.

In an effort to welcome the world to their upcoming Summer Olympics in Beijing, China’s government is pushing its citizens to learn English like never before.  Everyone, young and old, is being encouraged to improve their language skills.

China’s interest in learning English has amazed us here at Ebaby!  Both the government and the people believe it’s a key component of their economic future.  We agree 100%.

We just learned that Sega is making a game called English of the Dead where Japanese players must write English words to kill zombies. In English of the Dead the zombies’ words are in Japanese and players must translate them into English in order to win the battles. There’s also a listening mode where the zombies speak English. Very cool.

It’s great to see Sega mixing entertainment and education and this is an idea that needs to be taken worldwide. Every human on the planet has the right to have fun while learning English.

Our goal at Ebaby! is to virtually immerse English language learners in young American culture.  By showcasing real conversations by native English speakers and using examples of popular culture to demonstrate how English is being used today, we try to replicate what it’s like to live here.

It sounds like the Taiwanese government strongly believes in the value of immersion as well after their recent announcement of an English Village for children.  Learners there can choose from 21 differently themed rooms that simulate living in an English speaking country – from restaurants to airports.

We love the idea of setting up real world environments like this one.  Might be a bit tough to scale, but great for the kids in Taipei.

Many articles have been written about social networks and education and how teachers can leverage websites such as Facebook and MySpace to help educate their students. We’ve seen some good examples of using these sites to support classroom teaching and believe there can be some crossover. However, the reason students are using these sites isn’t to learn – it’s to network with their peers, and that’s what they’ll do.

This doesn’t mean that social networking doesn’t have its place in education. We actually believe that using the core concepts of interactivity and user-generated content can produce a highly educational environment. Students and teachers agree that some of the best learning happens when students have the ability to practice the skills they’re learning with their peers, which is exactly what can happen in a social network.

To make a social network educational, it should start out with that goal in mind. The early adopters will quickly start building a culture of their own and set the pace, but they need the correct foundation to build from. And the beauty of a social network is that a site doesn’t need fancy features to accomplish its goal – it simply needs the right people contributing content.

There should be social networks for every educational topic imaginable. Students of English, math, science, history, economics, psychology and computers would benefit from an online environment where they can learn, practice what they’re learning, and meet other like-minded individuals. The markets will vary in size, but where there’s passion for learning, there’s a website waiting to be built.

If you’re considering building your own educational social network, check out Ning. Lots of interesting sites are popping up, as shown by Steve Hargadon in his blog about education and social networking.