Web 2.0 is a term used to indicate a particular generation of internet tools, which share a populous, user-generated sensibility. The Web 2.0 Meme Map presented by O’Reilly (2005) visually represents the core shared values of Web 2.0 as being user driven – and he reiterates that the true shared principle of Web 2.0 is “harnessing collective intelligence” five years later (O’Reilly & Battelle, 2009). Examples of Web 2.0 technologies include Second Life, Wikipedia, Tumblr and Facebook – all of which would be devoid of content without intensive user contribution and participation. Web 2.0 technologies have become ubiquitous in student’s and teacher’s lives – so can we use them to our advantage in and out of the classroom? Analysing the potential benefits and disadvantages of three technologies makes a clear case for judicious exploitation of Web 2.0’s features.
YouTube
YouTube provides access to an astonishing variety of videos posted online by users. With such a wide variety of content available, teachers can easily find video content relevant to their curriculum area. YouTube clips are often of high visual impact in a short, punchy timeframe, making them ideal for motivational and scene-setting purposes (Oishi, 2008). Using YouTube videos as an introduction to a topic can also make an event or issue more relevant and real for students – as Hillner points out “it's one thing to talk about Mount St. Helens erupting in science class. It's another thing altogether to watch a video of the mountain's summit exploding into dust” (2010). The video of schoolchildren in Hanoi posted here is an example of how students can share the ordinary lives of their peers in other places, and share their own lives too.
The variety of content that provides such an exciting resource for educational communities also presents a cause for teacher vigilance – anybody can upload anything to YouTube and teachers need to carefully monitor the content they share with their students (Oishi, 2008.) The user-contributed, unverified nature of the content of uploaded clips should also be borne in mind when viewing clips that are ferociously promoting an opinion or single perspective.
Ning
Social networking sites such as Facebook offer an opportunity to extend the educational community in the classroom to home (Tangient LLC, 2010)– but the potential benefits are overshadowed by privacy concerns and the lack of control teachers have over the type of behaviour students exhibit through their personal profiles. Ning is a technology that allows communities to create a closed social network that can offer the same kind of community extension and support availability that a site like Facebook can, but without the privacy concerns.
A more private, focused social network still requires vigilance from the teacher as administrator, in order to prevent online bullying behaviours from becoming acceptable in the network. Access to this virtual extension of the classroom does require internet access for students at home, unfortunately the small minority of students who are already marginalised socially because of lack of technology risk becoming similarly marginalised academically if the their learning community expands to places they cannot reach.
Twitter
Twitter is a microblogging service where user entries or “tweets” are rapidly shared through a network of followers. Twitter can be used in a similar manner to Ning to create a Personal Learning Network (Grosseck & Holotescu, 2008), and as the profile attached to a users Twitter account is much less personal privacy concerns are diminished. Students can also use Twitter to follow individuals or organisations whose work is relevant to a current unit of study – this of course needs to be monitored carefully as there is no controlling or predicting when a Twitter user will tweet or link to something highly inappropriate. Twitter also offers the relevance benefit that YouTube does, offering students the opportunity to engage with real-time reporting and reflections of those in the exciting place at the exciting time (Barrett, 2010).
These three technologies are but a small sample of what is available within Web 2.0 to learning communities and teachers. The potential benefit is too great to ignore, but teachers must remain vigilant, judicious and lead by example in user etiquette to avoid the constant possibility of harm to student learning outcomes through misuse.
References
Barrett, T. (2010). How to use Twitter in the classroom. Retrieved from http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5649046/How-To-Use-Twitter-in-the-Classroom
Grosseck, G., & Holotescu, C. (2008, April). Can we use Twitter for educational activities? Paper to be presented at The 4th International Scientific Conference eLSE "eLearning and Software for Education”.
Hillner, J. (2010). Use Online Video in Your Classroom. from http://www.edutopia.org/youtube-educational-videos-classroom
O’Reilly, T. (2005). What Is Web 2.0. Retrieved from http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html
O’Reilly, T., & Battelle, J. (2009). Web Squared: Web 2.0 Five Years On. Retrieved from http://www.web2summit.com/web2009/public/schedule/detail/10194
Oishi, L. (2008). YouTube’s Educational Potential. Retrieved from http://www.schoolcio.com/ShowArticle/1008
