Dear partners,

This report synthesises the outcomes of the research project “Learning 2.0 – the Impact of Web 2.0 Innovations on Education and Training in Europe”,1 launched by the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) in collaboration with the European Commission Directorate General Education and Culture (DG EAC) at the beginning of 2008. The project aims to gather evidence on the take up of social computing by European Education and Training (E&T) institutions, to understand its impact on innovations in educational practice and its potential for a more inclusive European knowledge society, and to identify challenges and bottlenecks so as to devise policy options for European decision makers. Based on the evidence collected, this report describes how the emergence of new technologies can foster the development of innovative practices in the E&T domain. It discusses how the incorporation of new tools into learning and teaching activities opens up new opportunities for redefining educational strategies and formats. It further elaborates the implications of this ongoing transformation at the level of organisations and organisational culture.

This final report integrates the outcomes of the different components of the project. It should be underlined that the focus of this study is on the use of social computing in formal education, emphasizing its role in promoting pedagogical and organisational innovation in E&T institutions in Europe.

A parallel IPTS study is devoted to assessing the potential of ICT in general and social computing in particular for facilitating informal and non-formal learning in ICT-facilitated learning communities.

The study aims to evaluate the projected impact of social computing on learning and to analyse its potential in supporting innovation and inclusion within Education and Training. The primary aim of this final report is to summarise and assess the evidence collected in the course of the project on the ways in which social computing applications change learning patterns and give rise to new learning opportunities.

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