Abstract
Each new technology, tool, or resource that is introduced in higher education practice with the promise of enhancing the students' learning experience and/or increasing their academic performance is subjected to meticulous scrutiny. In the early days of Web 2.0's implementation in the context of higher education, many educators expressed their concerns and were reluctant to embrace it. As it slowly proved its pedagogical value and an increasingly higher number of teachers began to incorporate it in their teaching practice and courses, the body of evidence speaking to its advantages increased and offered other educators the confidence and proof they required to do the same. This chapter examines Web 2.0 in the context of higher education by debating both its benefits and shortcomings and presenting cases of actual implementation. The cases in question pertain to the use of YouTube, Wikis, and Twitter as valuable resources in the development of different types of skills and to support the acquisition of knowledge.
TopWeb 2.0 In Education
The growing belief that enhanced communication and interaction are key values in learning, positions Web 2.0 at the centre of the new didactic technologies (Walker, 2008). However Web 2.0’s educational potential is questionable and represents a source of divergence inside institutions and among educators and students. In order to successfully apply Web 2.0 to the higher education sector, it is paramount to assess and to comprehend both its advantages and disadvantages when used educationally.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Online communities: Communities which are created and/or maintained on the internet with the assistance of social technologies and that usually are formed and gravitate around common subjects of interest.
User-Generated Content: Content that was created by internet users and that can assume a multiplicity of formats such as text, video, or music.
Social Technologies: Can also be referred to as collaborative technologies and include all the applications, features and tools that allow users to create, edit and share content online, usually in numerous formats.
Web 2.0: Also known as Social Web or Collaborative Web consists in a set of revolutionary, user-centred principles of interaction, collaboration, user content and openness; and the entirety of technologies and tools that derive from and support them.
Collaborative Learning: Relates to learning as a product of the interaction and collaboration between different types of expertise and experiences. It refers to the settings and different approaches that promote the active engagement of individuals in a common task, which depends on the success of their interactions.
Gen Y: The also designated digital natives or Millennials correspond to a generation that was born in the internet era. Some of their main characteristics include their extreme confidence when dealing with technology, their multitasking skills, and their expectations of fast information delivery. Their knowledge and appreciation of digital technology is having an important impact in the way people communicate, interact, and learn.