Web 2.0 in Education
Steve C. Yuen, Ph.D.
Professor
The University of Southern Mississippi
E-mail: Steve.Yuen@usm.edu
and
Patrivan K. Yuen
Technical Services/Systems Librarian
William Carey University
E-mail: pyuen@wmcarey.edu
2008 SITE International Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, March 4, 2008

Digital Shift
“Our students have changed radically.
Today’s students are no longer the
people our educational system was
designed to teach .”
Marc Prensky
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.

Net Generation
• By age 21, the average Net Geners will have spent:
– 10,000 hours on cell phones
– 10,000 hours playing video games
– over 20,000 hours watching TV
– over 250,000 sending/receiving emails and IMs
– watched over 500,000 TV commercials
– less than 5,000 hours reading
• Computer games, email, the Internet, cell phones, mp3,
flickr, Facebook, YouTube are integral parts of their lives.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.

Pew Internet & American Life Project
• 2007 National Study
– 55% all online American Youth between the age of
12 and 17 use social networking sites for
communication.

Pew Internet & American Life Project

Creating and Connecting Project by
National School Boards Association
• Online survey of about 1,300 American kids (9 to 17
years) and over 1,000 parents, and telephone interviews
with more than 200 school district officials in 2007
– Students are spending almost as much time using social
networking services and Web sites as they spend watching TV
– 96% of students with Internet access engage in social
networking
– 60% of students say they use the social networking tools to
discuss classes, learning outside school, and planning for college
– Students report using text messaging, blogging, and online
communities such as Facebook and MySpace for educational
activities, including collaboration on school projects.
http://www.nsba.org/SecondaryMenu/TLN/CreatingandConnecting.aspx

Net Generation
• Prefer multi-tasking and quick, non-linear access to
information
• Are visually-oriented
• Are highly networked, interactive, and social
• Increasing mobile
• Have a low tolerance for lectures
• Prefer active learning rather than passive learning
• Rely heavily on communications technologies to access
information and to carry out social and professional
interactions.
(Prensky 2001a, 2001b; Oblinger, 2003; Gros, 2003; Frand, 2000)

Net Generation
• 1st generation to be producers of content, not just
consumers
• Pick their classes on ratemyprofessor.com or
www.pickaprof.com
• Get to know their classmates through www.facebook.com
• Share their lives with others on myspace.com
• Share their videos with others on www.youtube.com
• Share their photos with other on flickr.com

Net Gen Digital Tools
Email, IM, Chat rooms, Cell phones, Blogs,
Webcams, Camera phones, TV, Internet, mp3,
Podcasts, Vodcasts, Wikis, Digital video cams,
Gaming consoles, Digital music, PDAs, Online
gaming, Digital photos, Simulations, Massive
multiplayer games, Online reputation and rating
systems, Virtual worlds, Multimedia, Smart phones,
Moblogs, SMS, Avatars, File sharing, Streaming
media, Tablet PCs, Virtual communities…

Technologies to Watch
• User-Created Content
• Social Networking
• Mobile Phones
• Virtual Worlds
• New Scholarship and Emerging Form of
Publication
• Massively Multiplayer Educational Gaming
The Horizon Report, 2007 Edition, http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2007_Horizon_Report.pdf

• Network as platform – Web Operating System and Web-
based applications
• Encourage users to add value to the application as they
use it
• A rich, interactive, user-friendly interface
• Convergence of media – Web, audio, and video
• Social Web – allow users to share their opinions,
experiences, and perspectives

Web 1.0 Web 2.0
• Student as Consumer • Two Way Web
• Student as a contributor
• Sharing and collaborating

The new Web has opened almost limitless
possibilities for
contributing, collaborating, & connecting
Read/Write Web

Web 2.0 Applications
• Podcasts
• Wikis
• Blogs
• Social bookmarking
• Multimedia sharing
• Virtual world

Great Web 2.0 Tools in Education
• Blogs (Blogger, Wordpress)
• Wikis (Wetpaint, Wikispaces)
• Podcasting (PodOmatic)
• Photo sharing (Flickr, Photobucket)
• Video (YouTube, TeacherTube)
• Online slideshows (Myplick, SlideShare)
• Social bookmarking (del.icio.us, Furl)
• Social network (Ning, LinkedIn)
LinkedIn
• Thinking tools (Bubbl.us, Gliffy, Zoho)
Gliffy
• Library tools (LibraryThing, Shelfari)

Podcasts
Vodcasts

Web 2.0 allows digital natives to:
• create
• contribute
• collaborate
• connect
• share
• participate in a learning community

The End
Questions or Comments?
Thank You for Attending Our session!
This presentation is available on the Web at:
http://www.slideshare.net/scyuen/