Case+3

**Case Title: Teaching with Web 2.0 Technologies: Benefits, Barriers and Lessons Learned**

**Case Description:**


 * **Web 2.0 tools used: blogs, wikis, bookmarking, pod-casting, YouTube, social bookmarking, Myspace, Flickr, Facebook, and Skype.**


 * **Context: The participants were professors at universities who had experience in teaching with web 2.0 technologies. The participants were fourteen professors from universities around the country. They varied in age from 30's to 60's and had an average of 15 years of teaching experience. The professors participated in a web based survey from November 2008 through February 2009.**


 * **Subject and learning objectives: The learning objective of this case study was to find out from web 2.0 "experts" what the benefits of using web 2.0 technologies and the barriers of using web 2.0 technologies. The survey of professors was also used to find out what has not worked with using web 2.0 technologies.**


 * **How Web 2.0 tools were used: Web 2.0 tools were used by the professors to allow students to become creators of content instead of just listening to lectures. The students were also able communicate, collaborate, and interact with other students and the professors better using the Web 2.0 tools.**


 * **Key findings: The survey produced some benefits of using web 2.0 technologies; (1) interaction, communication, and collaboration, (2) knowledge creation, (3) ease of use and flexibility, and (4) writing and technology skills. The survey also produced some barriers to using web 2.0 technologies; (1) uneasiness with openness, (2) technical problems, and (3) time.**


 * **Other critical information: Strategies and tips for using web 2.0 were included from the participants surveys. One tips was to NOT introduce to many technologies new to students in a given semester. Another tip was to NOT use multiple technologies that do the same thing. Some strategies from the surveys included; using a wiki for a collaborative writing project, using a blog as a collaborative learning space, using a social bookmarking site for sharing resources, and having students collaboratively create a podcast or YouTube video.**

**Case Evaluation:**


 * **Evaluate the ways Web 2.0 technologies were used: The case study did not go into detail describing the ways in which web 2.0 technologies were used. The strategies taken from the surveys gives us a good idea of how they were used. It seems as if the professors were using the Web 2.0 technologies so that the students could create content for the class. Wikis used for writing projects and collaborative videos or podcast. By using these Web 2.0 technologies in this way the students become constructors of content not just students listening to lectures.**


 * **Identify strengths and weakness of the instructional methods and strategies used: The strengths of the instructional method is that by allowing the students to use Web 2.0 technologies the professor or teacher is allowing the students to become active participants in the learning environment of the classroom. No longer are the students just sponges that absorb information but rather they become members of the learning community in which they produce the content. Instead of simply "learning about," the students are "learning to be." They are learning to be problem solvers and creators of content. An additional weakness would be the fact that many professors do not use the Web 2.0 tools to their full potential. Instead, they simply plug the tools into their current methods and strategies. The Web 2.0 tools open up entirely new and different ways to teach in a learner-centered environment.**


 * **Team’s suggestions for improvement: The survey itself was great for finding information from "experts" of Web 2.0 technologies but it was lacking in the details of the uses of those technologies. The case study should have not only included if these technologies benefited the learning environment but what specifically about the strategies worked for the professors.**

**References:**

You-Jo, A., & Williams, K. (March, 2010). Teaching with Web 2. technologies: Benefits, barriers and lessons learned. Retrieved on February 28, 2011 from the International Journal of Instructional Technology & Distance Learning Web site: http://itdl.org/Journal/Mar_10/article04.htm