Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Why Web 2.0 is Good for Teaching and Learning

by Amber O'Casey
Cluster Specialist
Government & Public Administration
Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security


 What is Web 2.0?
Web 2.0 is the next step for the World Wide Web. It includes webpages and applications (apps) that encourage community and collaboration by allowing anyone to contribute content. It is about social participation, including networking/collaborating focused on common interests or on shared projects (Clowes, 2007). Some examples of Web 2.0 tools are wikis, social networking sites (i.e. Facebook, Myspace, etc.), content hosting services (i.e. YouTube, Dropbox, etc.), podcasting, and blogs. 
 
Why use Web 2.0 in the classroom?
Web 2.0 applications can enhance the learning experiences of students by allowing them to utilize their creative potential while simultaneously developing marketable skills. Most Web 2.0 applications are available at no-cost and user-friendly. Here are some of the benefits of using Web 2.0:
 
  • Helps students to access, generate and store prior/new knowledge (Boateng, 2010) 
  • Creates interaction between students (Boateng, 2010) 
  • Enables knowledge sharing (Boateng, 2010) 
  • Increases course satisfaction (Ajjan, 2009) 
  • Improves learning and writing ability (Ajjan, 2009) 
  • Increases interaction with other students and teachers (Ajjan, 2009) 
  • Creates a context that is relevant (Benjamin, 2008) 
  • Demonstrates how the world of conducting business has changed (Benjamin, 2008) 
  • Illustrates how we must embrace the developing communities and networks on the web (Benjamin, 2008)  
How do you implement Web 2.0 in a way that facilitates learning? 
There are numerous ways to implement Web 2.0 to facilitate learning. Here are a few examples: 
 
Next generation presentation tools (EDUCAUSE, 2010a) 
  • Take presentations from the desktop and move them to the Internet 
  • Allow collaboration between multiple authors  
  • Use nonlinear branching that illustrates the various connections within the information which provides flexibility and promotes audience participation 
  • Support dynamic teaching and learning  
  • Encourage a new presentation paradigm that includes audience collaboration, multimedia integration, and cross-platform viewing  
  • Include

Prezi, SlideShare, SlideRocket, and Zoho Show 
 
Online team-based learning (EDUCAUSE, 2010b)
  • Is effective for group work by students on project- or problem-based assignments
  • Inspires deeper student engagement in the learning process
  • Provides the opportunity to practice and apply collaborative skills (EDUCAUSE, 2010b) 
Online media editing (EDUCAUSE, 2010c) 
  • Are cloud-based media editing applications that allow students with a computing device and web access to edit or contribute to media such as video, photographs, and music  
  • Are often provided at no cost 
  • Are cross-platform and device-independent 
  • Allow students to collaborate and create with causal user skills 
  • Include programs such as
YouTube (video-editing and music swap services), Picasa (image editing), and Picnik (image editing) (EDUCAUSE, 2010c) 

Works Cited

Ajjan, H. & Hartshorne, R. (2009) Examining student decisions to adopt Web 2.0 technologies: theory and empirical tests, Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 21(3), 183 – 198.

Benjamin, R. I., Birkland, J. L. H., & Wigand, R. T. (2008) Web 2.0 and beyond: implications for electronic commerce, In ICEC '08: Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Electronic commerce, 1 – 5.

Boateng, R., Mbarika, V., & Thomas, C. (2010) When Web 2.0 becomes an organizational learning tool: evaluating Web 2.0 tools, Development and Learning in Organizations, 24(3), 17 – 20.

Clowes, M. (2007). Web 2.0 – the possibilities, Libraries For Nursing Bulletin, 27(2-3), 31 – 41.

EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. (2010a, January). 7 things you should know about next-generation presentation tools. Retrieved from
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7056.pdf

EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. (2010b, August). 7 things you should know about online team-based learning. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7063.pdf

EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. (2010c, October). 7 things you should know about online media editing. Retrieved from
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7065.pdf

7 comments:

  1. You presented some interesting information. I like the format of your blog- nice and easy to read. Well done!

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  2. I love the way that you explain that Web 2.0 can enhance a student's learning experience by "allowing them to utilize their creative potential while simultaneously developing marketable skills." I enjoyed reading through your blog. The way you have it presented it breaks it down into simpler terms, which I am a fan of. I did not think about doing this for my own blog posting, but will definitely keep it in mind for future reference.

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  3. Good blog post! I enjoyed how you broke all of the information down to be understandable for your readers. If I was an administrator at a school where Web 2.0 was not yet in effect in the classrooms, I would certainly be convinced by your blog. I found that Web 2.0 technologies are quite useful as tools in education, teachers just need to know how to effectively integrate them into their lessons. Thanks for the thorough information!
    ~Clarissa Maldonado, EDUC518

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  4. agreed. awesome format in which to present your information on web 2.0. prezi, especially is my favorite and easiest tool ive found to use. "allow colloaboration between multiple authors" is my favorite part. these authors probably too, will never even meet, but their shared ideas and experiences will lead others to a more favorable outcome as a result. thanks!

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  5. No-cost and user friendly... what else could be more marketable to students? Very effective format for delivering your information. Increased interaction between students and teacher is valuable, even more so is interaction between student and student. web 2.0 has become a platform lending itself to creativity but also enhancing a student's opportunities to draw upon several perspectives of knowledge regarding a single topic. good discussion. thanks!

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  6. Great blog. I like the layout and you made good points to demonstrate the need for using Web 2.0 technologies

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  7. I really liked your blog! It was easy to read and organized very nicely. I also liked that you put direct links for some of the Web 2.0 technologies. Great job!

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