An LCSS-LR Guide to... USING WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES TO ENHANCE

University of Glamorgan
An LCSS-LR Guide to...
USING WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES TO ENHANCE
TEACHING, LEARNING AND RESEARCH
Web 2.0 refers to a second generation of web-based communities and hosted
services that aim to facilitate collaboration, communication, content
generation and sharing between users. Although the term Web 2.0 suggests
a new version of the web, it does not refer to an update of any technical
specifications. It means that there has been a change in the way that software
developers and end-users use the web.
We can now all use the Internet to do things for ourselves, without needing
any technical knowledge and mostly free of charge. Web 2.0 is a generic term
for a wide range of resources, known as social tools, now available on the
Internet; also a generic term for a massive change in culture.
This guide provides examples of ways in which Web 2.0 technologies —
normally regarded as leisure activities — can be used to engage learners in
the 21st Century. Web 2.0 is not only changing the way we learn, but also
how we:
use the web;
find information;
use information;
do our jobs;
interact with people; and
look at everything!
Contents
Connect with friends and family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Connect with colleagues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Share information with other people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
enhancing
Send short, quick messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
through
Share your research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
learning
technology
Share your thoughts in an online diary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Make your own audio or video broadcasts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Build a collaborative website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Stay up to date with RSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Common Craft Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
THIS IS ONE OF A SERIES OF GUIDES FROM LCSS LEARNING RESOURCES
IS Customer Support Services (LCSS) issupport@glam.ac.uk +44 (0)1443 482882
EST152-01LRC released March 2009 • © University of Glamorgan 2009
LRC Guide… Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Enhance Teaching, Learning and Research
If you are interested in Web 2.0, then the only way to really ‘get’ it is to participate
and join the conversation. Try to embrace the functionality of the tools, but not the
tools themselves as you may find that they will come and go. Think of Web 2.0 as a
state of mind, and you will quickly discover how many of the tools will save you time
and make your life easier, whilst others are just for fun.
The examples listed in this guide have been selected because of their popularity,
they give a rough idea of Web 2.0 functionality, and we believe they are what
people at the University are using now.
Connect with friends and and family
Implications for teaching, learning and research
The general view of younger generations is that ‘e-mail is for old people’. Social
networking sites have become part of the daily routine for millions of Internet users,
and they are where our students congregate.
Maybe we now need to find ways to take our expertise and learning processes to
where they are (that is if they want us there!). An understanding of privacy issues on
such services is important. It will help us to emphasise to students that, as they reach
their final years of study, they need to present themselves in a good light when
seeking employment. Many employers are known to look up job applicants on such
sites. Students may also need advice on privacy and security issues.
Examples of social networking tools
http://www.bebo.com
http://www.facebook.com
http://www.friendsreunited.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com
http://www.ning.com (create your own social networking site)
http://secondlife.com (a 3-D virtual world created entirely by its residents)
Connect with colleagues to create professional or business networks
Implications for teaching, learning and research
Social networking sites also cater for networking on a professional level. These sites
provide various ways in which you can make connections, so why not set up a
personal profile, link it with your colleagues’ profiles, and see where it takes you?
Examples of professional networking tools
http://www.academia.edu
http://www.linkedin.com
http://secondlifegrid.net (enables your organisation to create a public or
private space on Second Life™ using their 3-D virtual world technology)
2
THIS IS ONE OF A SERIES OF GUIDES FROM LCSS LEARNING RESOURCES
Share information with other people
Implications for teaching, learning and research
Content sharing allows for improved collaboration on all sorts of things. You could
send/share files, so that, for example, ‘work in progress’ is available for comment.
Or, you can simply share your favourite bookmarks (i.e. links to your favoured
websites), video clips, your PowerPoint slides, spreadsheets etc., with selected
people, the whole world, or no one if you prefer!
To make it easier to share content, tagging services (where available), allow you to
‘tag’, with a word meaningful to you, resources within a web site (e.g. an advert to
sell your banjo on Inform, a well-used website bookmarked using del.icio.us, or a
favourite photograph uploaded to Flickr). Tagging make it easier for you to find things
again, as well as to share your favourites with other people. Furthermore, tags are
useful for people who prefer to use layman’s terms to find information, because they
bridge the gap between controlled vocabulary indexing and the use of plain language.
Examples of content sharing tools
Documents:
http://www.sharecow.com
http://docs.google.com
Flow charts, diagrams etc:
http://www.gliffy.com
Photographs:
http://www.flickr.com
http://photobucket.com (photograph management sites give students
studying photography or other art-related subjects the opportunity to
receive feedback, and engage with both experts and amateur enthusiasts)
PowerPoint Slides:
http://www.slideshare.net
Social Bookmarking:
http://del.icio.us
http://digg.com
http://discover.theiet.org (the Institution of Engineering and Technology
has created ‘IET Discover’ to allow engineers to search peer-reviewed
articles, reports and resources that other engineers are finding useful)
http://www.furl.net
http://www.stumbleupon.com
Spreadsheets:
http://numsum.com
To-do Lists:
http://www.tadalist.com
Video Clips:
http://www.teachertube.com
http://www.youtube.com
THIS IS ONE OF A SERIES OF GUIDES FROM LCSS LEARNING RESOURCES
3
LRC Guide… Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Enhance Teaching, Learning and Research
Send short, quick messages
Implications for teaching, learning and research
Instant messaging (IM) is a form of real-time synchronous online chat. If you type an
instant message, it goes straight to the person and appears on their computer
screen almost immediately.
Examples of instant messaging tools
http://www.meebo.com
http://webmessenger.msn.com
http://www.plugoo.com
http://www.skype.com
http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
IM can also be used to send files or to conduct voice conversations over the Internet.
It can provide many benefits as an instant and effective method of communicating,
especially for those who are geographically challenged.
Share your thoughts in an online diary or journal, or simply let
other people know what you are doing
Implications for teaching, learning and research
A blog, short for weblog, is a form of online diary or journal, and its popularity has
grown remarkably in recent years. Blogs are commonly used as a tool for teaching
and reflection, as well as for one-to-many communication. For example, an
academic could use a blog for sharing course announcements, news and feedback
with students.
Microblogging is a variation that typically involves publishing very short messages
instead of lengthy prose. This can be as simple as updating your Facebook status to
let your friends know what you are doing now, but the best current example is
known as ‘twittering’ (see below).
Examples of blogging tools
http://www.blogger.com
http://www.glam.ac.uk/blogs/1441 (see all Glamorgan blogs in the
University’s Blog Network)
http://www.typepad.com
http://www.livejournal.com
http://twitter.com (provide updates for family and friends about the basic
question: “What are you doing?”)
http://wordpress.com
4
THIS IS ONE OF A SERIES OF GUIDES FROM LCSS LEARNING RESOURCES
Make your own audio or video broadcasts
Implications for teaching, learning and research
Podcasts were originally popularised by the introduction of iPods, and as such the name
comes from a blend of the words ‘iPod’ and ‘broadcast’. A podcast is essentially an
audio broadcast that is hosted on a web site, and thus becomes available on demand.
Video podcasts (sometimes shortened to vidcast or vodcast) are used to deliver video
clips. Both can be listened to or watched online, or downloaded to a ‘podcatcher’ such
as iTunes, or to a portable device such as an iPod or MP3 player.
Podcasting for pedagogic purposes is an emerging force in Higher Education. It is
now possible for you to create your own interesting and stimulating content, and all
you need is a microphone, video camera and a connection to the Internet. There are
endless possibilities for the use of podcasts in education. For example, students
could use podcasts as an alternative publishing tool for assignments and
presentations. You could use podcasts to broadcast many types of messages for
example, to preview forthcoming lectures, to record and share discussion groups or
maybe even an interview with a professional in your field, to provide faculty or
campus tours, and so on.
Podcasting is particularly useful in distance learning to enhance tutor-student presence,
and external podcasts from sites such as the BBC, or online newspapers or journals can
be a useful resource for study.
Examples of podcasting tools
http://www.impala.ac.uk (a Higher Education Academy project investigating
the impact of podcasting on student learning)
http://podcastingforpp.pbwiki.com
http://www.podomatic.com
http://podcasting.weblog.glam.ac.uk (Glamorgan’s blog about all things to
do with podcasting)
Share your research
Implications for teaching, learning and research
Many universities are now setting up their own open access repositories for research.
The ‘Registry of Open Access Repositories’ and ‘Sherpa’ are both investigating issues in
the future of scholarly communication, and both provide access to institutional
repositories in universities to facilitate the rapid and efficient worldwide dissemination
of research.
Examples of research repositories
http://dspace1.isd.glam.ac.uk/dspace (University of Glamorgan Online
Research Repository)
http://roar.eprints.org
http://www.sherpa.ac.uk
http://intute.ac.uk/irs (Intute Repository Search)
THIS IS ONE OF A SERIES OF GUIDES FROM LCSS LEARNING RESOURCES
5
5
LRC Guide… Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Enhance Teaching, Learning and Research
Stay up to date with RSS
Implications for teaching, learning and research
There is some discussion about what RSS stands for; most people choose 'Really
Simple Syndication', with the emphasis on ‘simple’. RSS essentially provides a way
to package updates about the content of a resource; think of it is a vehicle for
distribution.
With RSS, you no longer need to waste time visiting news sites or blogs to see if
there have been any updates. Instead, the updates come to you, in one place.
Examples of RSS readers
http://www.bloglines.com
http://www.google.com/reader
http://www.pageflakes.com
http://pipes.yahoo.com
Implications for teaching, learning and research
If you check web sites for new content on a regular basis, then simply choose an
RSS reader to subscribe to (they’re free!) or use the one built in to your browser (if
you use, for example, Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer 7). Once your subscription
is set up, whenever there is new content you will receive the headline, maybe a brief
summary of the information, and a link to the full content.
BBC News famously uses RSS feeds to send content to their subscribers; keeping
them up-to-date with the very latest headlines. BBC content is broken down into
discrete items so that it is easy to subscribe to different parts, such as the latest
world news, or news from the UK, or Wales, or just South East Wales if you prefer.
Or you may prefer to subscribe to the latest in education, entertainment, sport (or
just the football results), or weather forecasts (choose your next holiday destination
or Pontypridd) and so on.
RSS feeds are offered by nearly all news and blog sites, and any other web pages,
displaying an icon such as the standard orange
or something similar.
Example of an easy-to-use RSS feed:
http://news.bbc.co.uk
Build a collaborative website
Implications for teaching, learning and research
Most of us have used the world’s most famous wiki, Wikipedia, to look something
up, but have you ever seen or used any other kind of wiki? If the answer is no, it may
be time to start adding wikis to the tools you use to increase student engagement.
6
THIS IS ONE OF A SERIES OF GUIDES FROM LCSS LEARNING RESOURCES
How to…
Wikis are relatively easy set up, and provide a way for any number of people to
create shared content and collaborate on projects (even if it is only to organise a
camping trip together) in a co-ordinated way. With wikis, your students can work
together in one place to outline, draft and edit projects; you could post assignments,
course materials, study guides, etc.
Students could be motivated by being allowed the freedom of expression, and the
ability to work with a wide range of people. It is also a possibility that you could ask
your students to build and share their own search engines or portals on any given
topic (see examples below).
Examples of collaborative tools
Create a wiki:
http://pbwiki.com/education.wiki
http://wikisineducation.wetpaint.com
http://www.wikispaces.com
Create a search engine or portal:
http://www.eurekster.com
http://www.rollyo.com
Use other wikis:
http://knol.google.com (allows you to create and share ‘knols’
(units of knowledge) with a by-line, about your own area of expertise)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki (the original wiki)
The Common Craft Show: video explanations of
Web 2.0 tools
Common Craft has produced a series of short videos in plain English, offering simple
but effective explanations about complex topics. There is a ‘social tools’ collection
that covers many of the technologies mentioned in this guide eg.’RSS’, ‘Wikis’,
‘Social networking’, ‘Social bookmarking’, ‘Blogs’, ‘Online photo sharing’,
‘Podcasting’, ‘Twitter’ etc.
You can access these online at:
http://www.commoncraft.com/show and
http://www.youtube.com/user/leelefever
THIS IS ONE OF A SERIES OF GUIDES FROM LCSS LEARNING RESOURCES
7
LRC Guide… Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Enhance Teaching, Learning and Research
Bibliography
Bradley, P., 2007. How to use Web 2.0 in your library, London: Facet.
Briggs, L.L., 2008. The power of wikis in Higher Ed. Chatsworth, CA: Campus
Technology. Available from:
http://www.campustechnology.com/articles/2008/08/the-power-of-wikis-in-highered.aspx [Accessed 28 August 2008]
Franklin, T. and Harmelen, M. van (2007), Web 2.0 for content for learning and
teaching in Higher Education, Bristol : JISC. Available from:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/digitalrepositories/web2content-learning-and-teaching.pdf [Accessed 16 December 2008]
Godwin, P. and Parker, J., 2008. Information literacy meets Library 2.0,
London: Facet.
iTunes, 2008. Making a podcast. Cupertino, CA: Apple. Available from:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcaststechspecs.html [Accessed 29 August 2008]
Kirriemuir, J., 2008. A spring 2008 "snapshot" of UK Higher and Further Education
developments in Second Life, Bath: Eduserv Foundation. Available from:
http://www.eduserv.org.uk/upload/foundation/sl/uksnapshot052008/final.pdf
[Accessed 19 Feb 2009]
Steckerl, S., 2007. Survival guide: online social networking. FreePint, 237, 13-19, 13
September 2007. Available from: http://www.freepint.com/issues/130907.htm#tips
[Accessed 30 Jan 2008]
Salmon, G. and Edirisingha, P. (2008)., Podcasting for learning in universities,
Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Wesch, M., 2007. The machine is us/ing us (Final version), Manhattan, KS: Kansas
State University. Available from: http://youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g
[Accessed 23 December 2008]
THIS IS ONE OF A SERIES OF GUIDES FROM LCSS LEARNING RESOURCES
IS Customer Support Services (LCSS) issupport@glam.ac.uk +44 (0)1443 482882
EST152-01LRC released March 2009 • © University of Glamorgan 2009