AHEAD OF THE GAME: ADOPTING 21ST CENTURY LEARNING APPROACHES SUPPORTED BY VIDEO-BASED WEB CONFERENCING TECHNOLOGY IN A ROMANIAN PROFESSIONAL TRAINING MILITARY CONTEXT

Recent major political uprisings are indicating the extent to which social learning Web 2.0 technologies, can infl uence change in informal learning settings. Recognition and a discussion of the potential of that infl uence in formal learning settings have only just begun. This article describes a study of an international distance learning project in 2004, using a variety of Web 2.0 technologies, including video-based web conferencing, that sought to initiate and respond to this urgent need for dialogue in the research. Self-selected participants took part in a 5-week English as a foreign language (EFL) program, a joint NATO sponsored Canadian and Romanian Ministry of Defense-supported initiative. Clear evidence of linguistic knowledge construction and of important changes to participants’ learner identities, indicates the power of these technologies to support the kind of learning that can lead to the development of global citizens and the skills they will increasingly require in the 21st century.