The school is not a bubble; it is part of society: social media (Web 2.0) and 21st century school health education

Abstract

Stemming from the social media (Web 2.0) phenomenon, this paper will discuss how such modern communication technologies are inadvertently causing a paradigm shift to occur throughout the Australian school health education landscape. Furthermore, attention will be directed towards investigating the ensuing challenges, potentials and transformations occurring to the learner engagement and interaction processes these technologies are collectively promoting. In particular, this paper will present the wider repercussions such modern forms of communication will have on future issues relating to the national curriculum (ACARA), pedagogy and epistemology. Moreover, deliberation will be directed towards presenting contemporary case studies which illustrate how early 21st century technologies are being implemented to heighten health information retrieval and support collaborative learning environments. This paper identifies that Web 2.0 adoption and absorption into the educational ecosystem is still very much in its infancy and will require a rigorous effort by educationalists if its full potential is to be realised and harnessed for future 21st century school health education settings.