The Use of Web 2.0 Technologies in Education - Essay Example

An analysis of the relationships between Web2.0 technologies and Constructivist approaches to learning in Higher Education within Saudi Arabia Abstract The paper presents an analysis of the relationships between web 2.0 technologies and Constructivist approaches to learning in Higher Education within Saudi Arabia. With the growth of web 2.0 tools such as facebook, flickr, wikipedia, MySpace, blogs and other such interesting web-based mediums, the student community has also started using them in a big way. Thus, it is to be seen whether such popular web tools could be used for imparting higher education, especially focusing on the case of Saudi Arabia. Introduction In the field of education, the rise of technologies specifically with regards to Internet can be categorised under web 2.0 heading. As this is because of its popularity with websites hosted such as facebook, flickr, wikipedia, MySpace and others which are very interesting prodigy. Also, as the users of these sites keep coming back, brings a lot of revenue to the firm and making the business strategy a success. However, what is interesting is to be seen whether these popular web 2.0 tools can also be for learning in higher education. The use of web 2.0 technologies in education has been yielding returns as the outreach of the learning and content has driven beyond traditional methods. Using e-learning applications as well as incorporating web 2.0, it supports the non-traditional learners which are part-time learners or in case of distance education or work-based students. This allows them to become members who can contribute in the learning community. Also, web 2.0 technologies in the higher education is able to create some time efficient methodology which allows the university or college staff as well as the students towards concentrating on the core roles in the campus itself. By submitting assignments or checking grades, getting faculty advice and participating in the group work through a remote locations has been able to save some a lot of time. Thus, students are given more time to focus on learning and the faculty members can get more time to teach. Some of the other benefits include the ability for the students for interacting beyond boundaries of the classrooms, countries or campuses. With the cross-campus collaborations, the scope for sharing experiences, ideas and knowledge is able to build various skills which can be essential for the workplace. By using web 2.0 technology, there can be development of new sense of the community with regards to student’s networks or interest (Weinberger, 2007). Several universities all over the world are using information and communication technologies (ICT) to impart education to the students in higher education level. Such efforts are also being made in the universities in the Saudi Arabia with the help of the Ministry of Higher Education in the country. In fact, as per the ninth annual Global Information Technology Report (GITR) 2010, Saudi Arabia has been ranked as fourth in the Arab world and 38th in the world. Such a ranking reflects the commitment of the country towards implementing ICT and making it an information society. Thus, the country is aggressively investing into knowledge-based economy such as information technology, innovation and importantly learning and education. However, only the implementation of ICT is not enough, in today’s fast-paced world, it is imperative to integrate web 2.0 as well in the education sector to motivate and collaborate with the students in an effective manner (Weinberger, 2007). Research indicates that most universities in Saudi Arabia are still focusing on traditional means of imparting education through face-to-face interactions in a classroom, especially in case of universities for women. However, with the implementation of web 2.0 such traditional interactions may give way to modern technologies, which might help in effectively teaching the students in a collaborative and interactive environment. Thus, this paper focuses on how web 2.0 could be used as constructivist approach to learning in Higher Education within Saudi Arabia. The paper would first and foremost define the theory of constructivist approach and thereafter focus on the benefits of implementation of web 2.0 in higher education. Further, the paper would understand how web 2.0 could be implemented in higher education in Saudi Arabia. Understanding the constructivist approach Constructivism is based on the context that students have their own perspective of the world from the experience of the individual and schema. It prime agenda is to prepare the learner to solve problem in any situation that can be ambiguous (Wilson, 1997). Bartlett (1932) was one of the pioneers for elucidating the constructivist approach in the past. One of the belief that is laid down by constructivists is that as the learners are able to form their own reality or are able to interpret their thoughts which is based on the perceptions they have of the experiences, thus the knowledge of the individual has to be with the function of the experiences gained previously. It can also be with mental structures as well as beliefs which can be used for interpreting events and objects. If one perceives something as grounded in sense of its being physical or social, it can be comprehended by the mind and nothing else. (Jonasson, 1991). In case a person has his own about a situation or reality then as we being a part of society may not be able to change it or able to communicate or even coexist. As per Jonassenin some of the common misconception of the constructivism can be related to the inference that we are able to construct to form a unique reality, the reality that has been the mind of the knower and can doubtlessly lead towards intellectual anarchy. One of the responses can be the criticism which has been provided by Gibsonian perspective. The perspective states that in the physical world, physical law exists and we know this the same way as those of the physical laws are perceived by humans in a similar fashion. It also believes that much of the reality can be shared by the process of social negotiation. In case, research is conducted mining the psychological and philosophical theories in the past, threads of constructivism can be found in the materials written by Ulrick, Bruner, Neiser, Kant, Goodman, Kuhn, Habermas and Dewey. One of the influential writers was Jean Piaget (Schwier, 1995). Web 2.0 technologies in higher education The communication between people, interaction and experience sharing with each other has been transformed completely by web 2.0 technologies, as it allows people at becoming become active participants for sharing and sharing the content on the web. This can be stated as an era that uses Internet for retrieving content is diminishing while interaction and sharing with collaboration anywhere and anytime around the world has been the latest trend. The practices of learning and teaching pupil has also changed rapidly over the last decades which has been able to keep a pace with the new technological advances along with the communication technology (ICT). The education institutions are now adopting some of the key elements of web 2.0 technologies for servicing various constituents as well facilitate and collaborate some of the service learning environments. Students are now able to access technologies which enable collaboration, communication, sharing and participation inside the campus as they would have done on Wikis, Facebook, or blogs. Additionally, Web 2.0 is also able to provide capabilities for webcase or podcast that involves delivering audio visual content such as lecture recordings to the students on their personal computers or the hand held devices that use Really Simple Syndication or RSS feeds (Laurillard, 2001). There can be universities who are experienced with the technology-driven learning environments others are just beginning with the experiment to launch courses using web 2.0. For instance in the Gulf countries, they are driving to seek excellence in education by investing substantially for using information technology as the basis for their education system. As per the research conducted by O’Reiley Research, stated that the highest age demographic for using Facebook in the North Africa and Middle East is between the age bracket of 15 and 25. Most of the people in the age bracket are pursuing higher education and expect that the demand for change in the academic environments, would urge the institutions to employ web 2.0. The increased usage of collaborative websites such as Facebook, MySpace or YouTube has paved way for the institutions to think creatively (Weinberger, 2007). The countries in the Middle East are able to adopt and evolve as knowledge economies, one of the success factors would be the ‘political will’ as well as ‘technology’ that has been provided by the United Nations Arab Human Development Report. The administrators of Higher education across the GCC have realized the opportunity that exists with the inclusion of IT in the teaching and learning arena. Although faced with challenges, the Gulf is able to maintain steady approach for investing into education with the special focus on increasing access and improving infrastructure and quality within the systems. In the recent past, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced that budget in 2010 for education would be around 13 per cent higher to be at $ 36.7 billion. In order to further develop knowledge and inclination demonstrated by GCC countries, also provides the opportunity in business, research, innovation and exploiting the young minds for creating new trajectories (Weinberger, 2007). Web2.0 and constructivist approaches to learning in higher education in Saudi Arabia At par with the trend followed by various higher educational institutions world over, even Saudi Arabia is witnessing a shift towards e-learning from the traditional face-to-face classes and lecturing. Researchers believe that most of the universities in Saudi Arabia are focusing towards increasing their educational technique by incorporating e-learning and replacing traditional learning materials with e-learning materials or by bundling the traditional curricula with e-learning. In fact, the Higher Education Ministry has also established an e-learning material repository which would help the universities to adopt various e-learning initiatives. The ministry also plans to launch various e-books on the subject of computer science, medical, engineering and humanities courses (Al-Yousif, 2008). Web 2.0 tools along with collaborative mechanisms such as video conferencing, webinars and meeting spaces, would help in providing interactive learning to higher education students and promote discussions and interactions among students sitting even in remote locations, thereby removing the constraint of time and space. The challenge that the country may face is to implement such a collaborative mechanism in a universal manner across all the universities and colleges. Currently, it has been found that Saudi Arabia is directing most of its energies towards implementing ICT in vocational and higher education. Some of the universities in Saudi Arabia that has already implemented ICT as a part of deploying education include King Abdul Aziz University, Madinah Islamic University, King Saud University, Baha University, Qassim University and Taiba University. Additionally, Saudi Arabia in 2007 undertook a unique initiative by establishing a new university, known as the Knowledge International University KIU, which is being dedicated towards using e-learning resources (Al-Yousif, 2008). In the developing countries, educational technologies have been changing the learning and teaching environments. Saudi Arabia, being one of the countries which can be considered to be orthodox in their viewpoint has shown keen interest in the implementing educational technologies. At the same time, the country pledges that nearly 26 percent of the budget from the year 2006 was for building nearly 2,600 schools (Al-Faisal, 2006). One of the examples is the exemplary use of educational technology at Dar Al-Fikr private school which is based out of Jeddah. A curriculum that was developed in 2002 by the Ministry of Education has been able to establish a general consensus. It was done to improve the curriculum of different subjects so that modern technologies could be included. This also aims at emphasizing the importance for implementing these technologies for the process of reconstruction. In order to provide an effective method, it also tries to accomplish educational policy by integrating IT to its sphere. This was done by interacting and including the new educational technologies. This was also done by linking information with the day-to-day life by developing critical thinking methods. The Ministry of Education in the strategic plan which was carved for ten years was able to establish in the year 2004, and stated that Information and communication technology (ICT) was its main goal for developing the infrastructure and the communication technology by employing people in the sector. Some of the dissertations on the K-12 Education found that only fewer studies were conducted on higher education e-learning in the country. In such study, Al-Hareky (1983) was able to elucidate the effectiveness of modern educational technology in the mathematics subject by performing with elementary students. It found that there was significant difference in the mean of achievement scores and was really higher than the computer group which controlled them. Additionally, the total mean of achievement scores of the group which was keen into television was found to be better than the previous one i.e. control group. It also concluded that, positive attitude was found in the students and teachers with regards to computer based instruction as well as instructional television. It was also revealed that there was no significant difference in the total mean that was achieved in the scores females and males in each group. Another study conducted by Issa-Fullata (1982) provided the impact of modernizing instruction by the educational technology on the student’s achievement in the country. Nearly four instructional treatments were utilized, which was control group; regular teacher in the classroom, one of the experimental group which was with the tape/slide instructional program along with the teacher, and another group, which was experimental as well that had self-contained instructional tape or program which did not have any teacher. To measure the students, two instruments were used. Another achievement is through the use of paper-pencil or a visual/tape format. With this, the variance analysis was conducted that showed that the group 1 which was paper-pencil subgroup exhibited significant difference which was close to P < .05. It was also seen that teachers showed positive attitudes towards educational technology as well as instructional design. Some of the barriers for using technology in the country had to be overcome to achieve the desired result and for spreading the benefits to numerous students in the country. Some of the barriers were communication infrastructure was very feeble this gave rise to employing technology specialists. Technological knowledge was lacking in teachers as well as administrators along with the barrier to speak English language, thus posing a greater risk for large scale implementation. Al-Abdulkareem (2008) also talks about the lack of information reality for implementing educational technologies in Saudi Arabia educational system along with the barriers. The need for investigating into the reality of the situation for helping to overcoming the barriers has been the need of the hour. Overcoming cultural and other barriers As per the constructivist approach, students have their own perspective of the world from the experience of the individual and schema. Thus, it can also be applied to in the context of Saudi Arabia, wherein the students have certain cultural and other barriers to overcome while undertaking higher education. This also leads to various differences in the manner the web 2.0 communities need to be utilised within the Saudi Arabia universities. For instance, difference in ideologies and opinions could also be discussed through the various web 2.0 communities, which would help in bringing different perspectives on a common theme and thereby, enriching the learning curve of the students as well (Laurillard, 2001). In case if we are able to compare these values which has enshrined in the education system and its practices, although they might not have any direct conflict but the clashes can be too many. It has been seen that education is considered to be system arranged hierarchically with lecturers and professors as well as part-time support staff who are able to educate students on various subjects. Quality has always been a high priority for assuring content can be delivered to the students so that they are able to benefit from it later in the lifetime. It can be achieved through top-down process, as well as a in the form of assessment which filters the participation and the ability to comprehend the subject by the student. The education could be seen as a process that can be uncultured into the academic practice. For example, a PhD student might not be conducting full research on the subject, but may be learning to be a researcher and publishing materials (Weinberger, 2007). This is said to be a really different and removes barriers with regards to participation, and are able to use some popular tools such as tagging, metrics which can be number of links as well the quotes to an article that can be filtered and the appropriateness of the article can be filtered for its appropriateness and quality. As per Weinberger (2007), this process is defined as filtering the way out. Although a lot of areas of conflict have emerged between higher education as well as the web 2.0, as an example, ‘perpetual beta’ approaches towards a software development revealed fundamentally different belief which is not only the software but the project development as well. On the other hand, Weller (2007) states that the institution imparting higher education are able to give rigorous, and consultative approaches when developing or even adopting a software that has a specific process which might take months or years to reach the final destination. This kind of approach does not deal with the faster, rapid, loose knit turnover with regards to web 2.0. It is said that the most significant has been the belief in the system of education which can be a better way to conduct work which is essentially what a person teaching holds. The knowledge of how students are able to learn faster is determined by the person who teaches. In the web 2.0 diversity and its personalization, can be championed through various approach for applying it in the field of education. Some shift has been seen towards being constructive in the field of education in the recent past, which has been acknowledged as the role and the experience gained by an individual during the process of learning. One of the key functions however, is to overcome Meno’s paradox that states how a person can inquire about a subject or topic that he doesn’t know anything about (Yang, 2006). Some of the key elements of the online course design as well as pedagogy as by research are to promote effective learning which can be discussed through constructivist epistemology. The content presentation, relationship between instructor and the student, along with student’s interactions, also, group and individual activities are example of how a student can be assessed. One of the focuses of recognition and learning has been that from time-to-time every student is able to become experts through experiences and views from the world with the task of learning the subject. The past experience gained along with the interaction with members of the community, behavior of the instructor, group activities and assessment into diverse tasks with detailed feedback and timely assessment is important for the students to be good at their tasks (Liu and Hwang, 2009). Using Twitter Twitter, considered as one of the most popular web 2.0 technology, is also flourishing in the educational sector as well. The registered users in Twitter in fact talks about the popularity of the social networking site, with 73 per cent of users being registered with in the first five months of 2009. Various case studies and reports have been conducted to understand the usage of Twitter for educational purposes, especially focusing on the developing and developed nations. However, most of these reports emphasised on the fact that the real value of Twitter can only be realised if teachers are able to use Twitter to their benefit as a teaching tool (Costa et al., 2008). Although, being faced with various criticisms from different quarters regarding the use of the social networking site as only a fad and not of any real use, Twitter might be used as a good teaching tool, especially in higher education. Twitter for instance may help in solving various issues that are being constantly faced by higher educational professionals which include problems to undertake communication, collaborating with colleagues or conducting group meetings, constant interaction between teachers, students and parents, conducting informal conferencing, providing job posting, circulating important department news, developing personal space through personal networking, learning new languages, participating in the classroom, tracking attendance and even to be aware of the current issues (Grosseck and Holotescu, 2008). Although, Twitter has several potential of being used in education, there are several situations that Twitter faces which might result in restricting its growth in education. The restrictions in the number of characters for instance are a big caveat in developing Twitter as an educational tool. Developing confidence Use of online tools has also been seen as best methods to enable students to take up more responsibility in terms of their learning. In order to develop the self-esteem of a student, it is important to create autonomous methods such as using ICT and web 2.0. Technology can especially help teachers who want to aid students to learn and adopt in a faster manner (Rollin-Harrap, 2005). Research indicates that digital writing would mean use of better cognitive aspects that are being related to sound and words. Such a method allows students to revise and re-elaborate the text in a far quicker manner than manual process. The students may use several features such as deleting, copying, pasting, changing colours and fonts to make their text attractive. Such use of tools not only increases the efficiency of the students but also motivates them and builds their confidence level. Further, using multimedia technology and ICT web-based tools such as emails, blogs and wikis also help students to communicate with each other and their teachers in a quicker and efficient manner. Such tools encourages discussions between the students, and people who might shy away from participating in the classroom can also come out openly and discuss in such online forums (Ruhe, 1998; Turner & Crews, 2005). Often students hesitate to speak in the classroom due to lack of confidence. Such issues can be easily overcome through the use of technological tools such as online forums and blogs, wherein students can express their ideas easily (Schnackenberg, 1997). It is also been seen that most students find it much more stimulating to write a blog entry or participate in a forum discussion rather than undertaking a composition exercise in a traditional classroom set-up. The same is true for higher education students in Saudi Arabia as well. Such students may find it a boring exercise to write an essay and read it out in front of the classroom. Most would not even learn from the entire exercise. However, if the same exercise is conducted through a blog, wherein the student is asked to write or submit an audio about a certain topic he or she might be more interested (Chen, 2004). Further, the fellow students can also comment on the post at a click of a button, making it interactive and informative at the same time. Also, such tools can be used in the comfort of one’s home and give added benefits to the students, especially women students in Saudi Arabia (Al-Hazmi & Scholfield, 2007). The country being a patriarch society does not allow women to intermingle with the men folk freely and therefore, interaction between men and women students are very minimal. However, use of such technology tools may enhance such interactions and help both the gender to converse with each other in a second language confidently. With the coming of the computer age, higher education learning has become much more sophisticated as the students are able to learn and re-learn through the use of ICT and with minimal support from the teachers. Further, the students can access the expert advices of the teachers at the touch of a button due to the advances in ICT and web 2.0 (Turner & Crews, 2005). Conclusion With new channels opened by ICT, Information distribution and communicative dialogue between people around different geographies has been possible. It has evolved a new culture in media and seen as a "cultural literacy" in understanding and knowing a subject line. Teachers who are trained in the subject are applying the newly adorned skills for their classroom teaching. They are in the favor of using tools such as blogs, wikis, powerpoint, or even international collaborative projects and enriching the WikiFables anthology. It can been seen as a flourishing method for bringing back and also preserving the learning experience through face-to-face interaction which has been diminishing in the digital future. Pupils from various backgrounds have differing perceptions for using technology. Teachers on the other hand, can redirect the focus for using instructional technology. The teachers however should assure the students and encourage them to use technology whenever they detect some students are not comfortable using any technology. Further, the teachers should focus on providing collaboration between the peers to help the students work with each other on various technologies Although, using web 2.0 has many benefits, it has also needs to be seen how the students perceive of such technologies, as it has been found that the success of a technology is highly dependent on the perception of the students. 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