Web 2.0 and its Role in Teaching and Learning
What is Web 2.0 and how is it different from the first generation World Wide Web?
The Internet has changed substantially since the early- to mid-1990s, when it first became generally available outside the defense research community. Education technology researchers Greenhow, Robelia, and Hughes (2009) identify learner participation, opportunities for enhancing creativity, and identity formation as the important characteristics that differentiate Web 2.0 from the first generation World Wide Web, or Web 1.0, which served chiefly as an information repository, avenue for communication, and source of connections to learners across the globe. Social networking sites, wikis, RSS feeds, and video sharing sites are just some of the transformational features of Web 2.0. While Web 1.0 was primarily a "read-only" source of information provided by a limited number of content providers, Web 2.0 represents a "read/write" venue for discussion, creation, collaboration, and social interaction. Web 2.0 helps users be producers of knowledge and information and not simply consumers of it.
What Role can Web 2.0 Play in Student and Teacher Learning?
Harvard University professor of learning technologies Chris Dede (2007) states that while educational institutions still remain largely grounded in the traditional view of knowledge, expertise, and learning, "this is a pivotal time for reinventing the role of information and communications technologies in teaching and learning." He calls for development of alternative models of education that use emerging technologies to reinvent many aspects of teaching, learning, and schooling.
In June 2008, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) released a report asserting that "High-speed broadband access and connectivity are vital for economic growth, global competitiveness, education, innovation, and creativity." The statement went on to say that, "teachers and students need high-speed broadband access in their schools to take advantage of a wide range of new and rich educational tools and resources available for learning anytime, anywhere."
What value can Web 2.0 applications bring to education settings? Interactive Educational Systems Design (IESD), a media and technology consulting firm, cites the three most frequently cited goals and priorities driving district use of Web 2.0 as:
- Addressing students' individual learning needs
- Engaging student interest
- Increasing students' options for access to teaching and learning (2009)
Israeli researchers and technologists Shoshani and Hazi (2007) studied the role of the Internet in enhancing creativity. They preface their study by stating,
"The use of the Internet environment for developing higher level learning skills has recently become a prime educational concern. The highest of these skills, creative thinking, has a most significant impact in all aspects of our life. It has always been the origin of innovation and has yielded most of the physical and intellectual assets from which we benefit today. Hence one of the most important objectives of education at all levels, from kindergarten to higher education, is to encourage creative students to be able to meet the challenges of highly competitive society in our era of rapidly developing science, technologies, design, and the humanities."
During their study, they learned that the most important ways in which the Internet enhances creativity are: promoting cooperation vs. individuality, constructivism, flexibility, and multiculturalism.
IESD also reports that posting online content such as lesson plans and using online collaboration tools such as blogs, bulletin boards, and wikis are the most prevalent teacher uses of Web 2.0 technologies. In its 2008 report, SETDA states that teachers need high-speed broadband access for professional development, and engaging in professional learning communities as well as accessing new educational resources such as curriculum cadres and education portals. Dutch university researchers Geijsel and Meijers argue that the learning of teachers not only should be viewed as a process of social construction, but also one of individual sense-making. They go on to say that additional platforms for dialogue are needed that offer understanding of the professional learning of teachers in terms of constructive sense-making and meaning-giving. They assert that the creation of those platforms ought to be priority number one for school leaders who have the intention of initiating and facilitating processes of learning and change.
What challenges does Web 2.0 present to traditional notions of knowledge creation?
University of Albany professor Jianwei Zhang examined how Web 2.0 tools and spaces can help to leverage collaborative creative work of students and teachers in light of the latest research on creativity and knowledge creation, and identified some specific challenges it presents to traditional views of knowledge creation. Zhang cites embedded and dispersed knowledge representation, weak commitment to and support for progress in knowledge development, judgment of contributions on the basis of popularity rather than knowledge advancement, and conflict between the chaotic emergent Web and rigidly organized schooling as issues that impede the acceptance of Web 2.0 applications in the scholarly community.
References
Dede, C. (2007). Reinventing the role of information and communication technologies in education. In L. Smolin, K. Lawless, & N. C. Burbules (Eds.), Information and communication technologies: Considerations of current practices for teachers and teacher educators: 106th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (Part 2, pp. 11-38). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Geijsel, F., & Meijers, F. (2005). Identity learning: the core process of educational change. Educational Studies, 31(4), 419-430.
Greenhow, C., Robelia, B., & Hughes, J. E. (2009, May). Learning, teaching and scholarship in a digital age. Web 2.0 and classroom research: What path should we take now? Educational Researcher, 38(4), 246-259.
Interactive Educational Systems Design, Inc. (IESD) (2009, April). Safe schools in a Web 2.0 world initiative: National online survey of district technology directors exploring district use of Web 2.0 technologies. Santa Monica, CA: Milken Family Foundation.
Shoshani, Y., & Hazi, R. B. (2007, March). The use of the Internet environment for enhancing creativity. Educational Media International, 44(1), 17-32.
State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA). (2008, June). High-speed broadband access for all kids: Breaking through the barriers.
Zhang, J. (2009, May). Toward a creative social Web for learners and teachers. Educational Researcher, 38(4), 274-279.