Web 2.0 Technologies: Is it advantageous in the education industry?

Abstract:
World wide web has changed the role of an individual from an spectator to an actor (Kristaly et al 2008). From being a group work tool for scientists at CERN to becoming a global information space, the web has grown in the past 15 years. Almost all industries have used the services of web 2.0 technologies and the latest to evolve is the education institutes. In this paper, we analyze the potential of web 2.0 technologies in new educational institutes. We shall look at how these technologies have an impact on the education system and whether it is advantageous to promote the use of web 2.0 technologies in educational institutes.
Introduction:
Web 2.0 technologies typically consist of enhancing the use of podcasts, blogs and other discussion forums. New applications like social book-marking, wikis are emerging rapidly. Researches have previously been done on these new technologies in e-learning and traditional educational environments (Rolet et al 2007, Karer 2006, Maloney 2007, D’souza 2007). The attitude of learning is either classified as active or passive. While active learning involves personnel’s, passive learning is defined as a self learning process. This is the area under discussion. Self learning is achieved through the use of web technologies. Web 2.0 technologies promote the use of such learning environments.

Web 2.0 Technologies: Advantages of its use in the educational system.
According to a study conducted by National Training Laboratory in bethel, a lecture is the worst thing in a educational system with an average retention of 5%. With the web 2.0 technologies, we hope to replace the active side of learning with a passive learning. Passive learning or self learning can be achieved through the use of web 2.0 technologies like wikis, blogs etc. By doing this, students can hope to learn in what is called as a “virtual environment”. The benefits of such a system are many. For instance, it reduces the burden on the teaching faculties since they can upload it on the common platform (such as intranet site, blogs etc) and complete their responsibility. This can reduce the time involved in teaching to an enormous extent. Another major advantage of having such a system is that students can self learn the key concepts and gain knowledge through thorough research. Whether or not this system is beneficial is a topic of debate amongst the whole academia. It would be out of our scope to think whether such a system would be “for the good” or “not so good” for the students. But what we can do is to list down the advantages and disadvantages of using the technologies. Other advantages include the right for students to express their own opinions about the subject matter openly. Discussion forms an integral part of knowledge and by such systems we are only promoting the use of discussions. Blogs and wiki’s are good entertainers for some students as well. Such innovative studying increases a student’s interest in studies.

Web 2.0 Technologies: Disadvantages of its use in the educational system:
While the above advantages are all true for the use of such technologies in the academia, a lot of negative points develop while implementing such systems. Firstly, use of systems such as Podcasts means that students would not “bother” to attend classes. This would mean additional burden on the organization (university or college) of employing man-power in the form of faculties and paying them even when there is hardly a response. Another major disadvantage of using such systems is the increase in the man-power in terms of employing more man-power to support the system. Evaluation of systems is a huge problem in such technologies. Whether or not students use this system with good effect is also an area worth considering. Educational organizations need to give out positive results in order to gain competitive edge in the market. With such systems, they need to be making sure they work. Developing such systems is a complex and a monetarily heavy project. Therefore, the organizations need to have a perfect knowledge of the R.O.I that they expect.

Conclusions:
Web 2.0 technologies have a important part to play in educational organizations. These are expensive and complex systems that need a good amount of thinking before organizations can implement them. Based from the potential that these systems give, the advantages of implementing web 2.0 technologies far out number its disadvantages. Therefore, web 2.0 technologies are important to give learning a new innovative experience.


References:
1: Dominic Mircea KRISTALY, Francisc SISAK, Ion TRUICAN, Sorin-Aurel MORARU, Florin SANDU, 2008- Web 2.0 technologies in web application development.

2: Rollett, H., Lux, M., Strohmaier, M., Dosinger, G., Tochtermann, K. The web 2.0
way of learning with technologies, Int. J. of Learning Technology, 3(1), 87-107,
2007.

3: D'Souza, Q., 100+ web 2.0 ideas for educators: a guide to RSS and more, 2006

4: Karrer, T., Personal learning for learning professionals - using web 2.0 tools to
make reading & research more effective, Mar. 2006

5: Maloney, E. J., What web 2.0 can teach us about learning, The Chronicle:
Information Technology, 53(18), 2007.