Leveraging Web 2.0

Oliver, K. (2007). Leveraging web 2.0 in the redesign of a graduate-level technology integration course. In Tech Trends, Volume 51, Number 5

As an assistant professor of instructional technology, Kevin Oliver is interested in the instructional design of web-based learning environments and their effect on student-thinking skills.

In this study, Oliver looks at distance learning courses for teachers and how Web 2.0 is used to acclimate teachers to the web as a teaching tool. Web 2.0 is an umbrella term for many of the online, free tools for web collaboration, sharing, etc. on the web, including Blogs. "Blogging tools are perhaps the most familiar example in the Web 2.0 realm with purported education benefits, allowing students to post reflections, book reports, and stories online, and then receive written comments from teachers, other students, or parents within their log space" (55).

The use of Web 2.0 tools replaces the "budget" concerns of most schools in having to purchase software. These tools are free.

Blogs are used often to promote thinking about one's practice -- a diary of sorts for sharing with other professionals and receiving feedback. They create an online community. From Oliver's work, "79% of teachers who created blogs" found blogging useful. The other 21% did not. (56).

Going with Gardner's "Multiple Intelligences," it would be presumptions to think 'blogging' would be helpful to all learners. They are a tool for learning and not a panacea.

Of note, Oliver addresses the 1974 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to note that the information trail left by blogs posits many ethical implications. "Appropriate behaviors" must be addressed for what is posted and ethical conversations must occur -- including fair use, plagiarism and personal information that might not belong on a classroom blog.