GGGE1155 COMPUTER IN EDUCATION

Bachelor of Education (Hons.) TESL

The Use of Web 2.0 in Education

LECTURER

Dr. Fariza Binti Khalid

PREPARED BY
Muhammad Afifie Bin Mohamad Sukri (A154354)
Muhammad Hilmi Bin Yaacob (A154997)
Mohamad Nazrol Hisyam Bin Abdullah (A155120)
T1

1.0 Introduction

Education plays an important role in the development of our nation not only in
aspect of economy but to produce innovative and creative people that will make a
great change to the whole country as well as to boost our economy at the global
state. Without a proper education undertaken by the teachers or what so ever they
claimed themselves, a student would not be able to reach the preliminary aims of
the learning matters. As a matter of fact, educators are ought to be prepared in
confronting any possibilities to happen.

Apparently, most of our lives nowadays seems to be associated with the

technology invented by intelligent people from various part of the world. We could
not deny how much technology had contributed to the evolution of the country.
Thus, educators should realise and have to think innovatively to perform the
modern style of teaching which is by utilising the internet during the teaching and
learning process in the classroom, and not to stick with the traditional pedagogy as
era of globalization has growing so rapidly.

Over the last few years, 'Web 2.0' or 'social computing' applications like blogs,
wikis, photos and video-sharing sites, and also online social networking sites and
virtual worlds, have seen unprecedented take up. Research evidence suggests that
these online tools have not only affected peoples private and professional lives,
but are also starting to transform learning patterns and pathways. However, due to
the originality of social computing, take up in formal Education and Training is
still in an experimental phase. As a consequence, data and scientific evidence on
the current use and potential impact of Learning 2.0 strategies is lacking.

In order to investigate how social computing applications can be used in

organised learning settings to enhance learning activities and promote innovation
and inclusion in Education, an exploratory study employing a triangulation of
different research methodologies was conducted. The findings of this Learning 2.0
study are synthesised in this report.

As for educators, learning web 2.0 strategies for promoting innovation and
inclusion and points out challenges to mainstream deployment is crucial. The
evidence gathered suggests that Learning 2.0 approaches can facilitate
technological, pedagogical and organisational innovation in Education and thus
contribute to the modernisation of local education deemed necessary to face the
challenges of the 21st century.

Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0
applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of that
platform: delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the
more people use it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including
individual users, while providing their own data and services in a form that allows
remixing by others, creating network effects through an "architecture of
participation," and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user
experiences (Tim OReilly 2004). It also be known as the second stage of
development of the Internet, characterized especially by the change from static
web pages to dynamic or user-generated content and the growth of social media
(Oxford Dictionaries)

Education is basically defined as a wise, hopeful and respectful cultivation of

learning undertaken in the belief that all should have the chance to share in life.
Education, as we understand it here, is a process of inviting truth and possibility,
of encouraging and giving time to discovery. It is, as John Dewey (1916) put it, a
social process a process of living and not a preparation for future living.

This exploratory study aims to probe how Web 2.0 could be made use by the
educators at any institutions particularly among university communities. There are
three specific objectives of the study. Firstly, to identify the benefits or goodness
of using Web 2.0 in our education system. Secondly, to examine the best practices
or effective methods that can be done to apply Web 2.0 in our education system.
Third, to investigate whether Web 2.0 is relevant to be performed during Teaching
and Learning process.

2.0 Methodology
This exploratory research uses both qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Creswell (2003), Cherryholmes (1992) and Murphy (1990) highlight the need
for researchers to have a freedom of choice in search of the truth. They draw
attention to the aim of conducting any research as searching for the truth and
researchers may use mixed methods to provide the best understanding of the
research problem. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques are applied to
explore views on the use of web 2.0 among university students. The sample
size, which is large enough, qualifies for quantitative approach. In addition,
results from the survey are quantitatively analysed, using inferential statistics.
Data obtained from the survey are also presented quantitatively, in the form of
tables and charts to facilitate data interpretation.

Survey is preferred to interview because the sampling size is quite

large. Hence, it is time consuming to conduct personal interview. To provide
and gather as much information and relative evaluation, descriptive method
was used. This method includes the use of questionnaires and interviews. A
questionnaire was used as the main data-gathering instrument for this study. It
was divided into three main sections: the profile and questionnaire propers.
The profile consists of gender, age, religion, level of education, and field of
study.

The survey questions were virtually distributed among various students

using google form. The reason why google form had been taken as a method
of distributing the questionnaire is because people can effortlessly access
through it anywhere and anytime by the condition to have internet connection.
Responses from the survey were keyed-in automatically in google forms.
Thus, it is easier to make data analysis as it already well-organized in google
forms. Following the quantitative approach, the research is carried out among
Malaysias university students. The result ended up to have 52 respondents
altogether.

3.0

Findings
3.1

Demography of Respondents
3.1.1

Gender
A total of 52 respondents of students in Universities throughout
Malaysia were surveyed. The background of the respondents in
terms of gender, races, age, religion, level of education and
field of study are described in the table and pie chart by
entering the number percent of respondents. According to the
study, of the 52 respondents, nine respondents (17.3%) were
male respondents, while 42 respondents (47%) is made up of
girls. This shows there is a difference gap is quite big between
male and female respondents, despite the selection of
respondents is done randomly. Further information can be seen
in Figure 1. Although there are gaps in gender selection of
respondents, this study aims to examine the perception of web
2.0 usage among Universitys students throughout Malaysia.

Table 1: Demographic of Gender

Gender

Numbers of Persons

Percentage (%)

Boys

17.3

Girls

43

82.7

Total

3.1.2

52
100
Figure 1: Demographic of Gender

Religion
According to the study, of the 52 respondents, 43 people
(82.7%) is made up of Muslim respondents, while 1 people

(1.9%) are students who believe in Buddhism, followed by

Christians of six persons (11.5%), Students who follow other
religions such as Hinduism did get the respondents of 2 people
(3.8%). Islam can be summarized that students prefer to use
web 2.0 applications when doing something compared with
students who believe in Buddhism and Christianity.

Table 2: Demographic of Religion

Religion
Muslim
Buddhist
Christian
Hindu
Others
Total

Numbers of Person

Percentage

(person)
43
1
6
2
0
52

(%)
82.7
1.9
11.5
3.8
0
100

Religion

Muslim

Buddhist

Christian

Hindu

Figure 2: Demographic of Religion

3.1.3

Level of Education

Others

Level of education are indeed important as we measure how

frequent does the students use the web 2.0 in their daily basis or
when they are making an assignment according to their level of
education. Basically, from the 52 respondents, 44 of them are
students who are currently pursuing the study in undergraduate
level, which dominate 84.5% of the respondents. Nonetheless,
there are seven students (13.5%) and one student (1.9%) both
are in diploma and post graduate level respectively.

Table 3: Demographic of Level of Education

Level
Diploma
Undergraduate
Postgraduate
Total

3.1.4

Numbers of Person

Percentage

(person)
7
44
1
52

(%)
13.5
84.6
1.9
100

Field of Study
The process of investigating the usage of web 2.0 includes the
students field of study in the university. About 25 out of the 52
respondents or 48.1% of respondents from the Faculty of
Education were participated in this survey. While 15 students
(28.8%) are from the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities.
Nonetheless, there are no student participated in this survey
from the Faculty of Architecture, Faculty of Islamic Study and
Faculty of Law.

Table 4: Demographic of Field of Study

Numbers of Person
Field of Study
(person)
Faculty
of
Education
20
(TESL)
Faculty
of
education
4
(Special Education)
Faculty
of
Education
1
(Sports and Recreations)
Faculty of Architecture
0
Faculty of Economics
3
Faculty of Engineering
1
Faculty of Information
2
Technologies
Faculty of Islamic Study
0
Faculty of Law
0
Faculty of Social Science
15
and Humanities
Faculty of Science and
6
Technology
Total
52

3.2

Percentage
(%)
38.5
7.7
1.9
0
5.8
1.9
3.8
0
0
28.8
11.5
100

Analysis on usage of Web 2.0 among students

Table 5: Likert Scale
Matter

Strongly

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly

Score

3.2.1

Agree
1

Disagree
5

Printed materials should be abolished and replaced by computer

aided learning in classroom

Figure 3: The figure shows the bar graph of comparison

between learning through ICT or printed materials

Nowadays, people are more likely to use computer materials

instead of printed materials. Computer materials such as Power
point or online presentation such as Prezi because it gained
more popularity as we live in 21st century world where
technology spearhead our daily basis. But it depends on the
students itself whether they like to use manuals materials or
computer aided learning in classroom. The table shows the
analysis of items closer ties between students in Malaysias
University. Only four respondents (7.7%) of respondents
surveyed strongly agree that they wanted computer to be aided
in learning process between participants involved. While 10
patients (19.2%) of respondents agreed and 15 patients (28.8%)
are not sure of the item. 10 respondents (19.2%) did not agree
with this item while 13 respondents (25%) are strongly

disagree. This shows that printed materials are still important to

students these days.

3.2.2

Web 2.0 enriches the interaction and communication among

educators and students

Figure 4: The bar graph shows the interaction between

educators and students

The table shows matter of web 2.0 which can enrich the
interaction and communication among the educators and
students. A total of 13 respondents (25.5%) strongly agree and
12 respondents (23.5%) are not sure with this item. 17
respondents (33.3%) out of 52 people agreed while disagree
recorded seven respondents (13.7%), and two (3.9%) of
respondents said strongly disagree with this item. So, majority
of the students agreed that the web 2.0 can enriches their
interaction and communication among educators and students.
3.2.3

Web 2.0 tools like social networking and blog can help
students understand better about the learning.

Figure 5: The Bar graph indicates the understanding of

students when using web 2.0

Next, the table shows the understanding of students when using

web 2.0 platform like social networking and blog can improve
their learning process. In 10 respondents (19.2%) of the 52
respondents, they strongly agreed that this phase could nourish
their knowledge. While 11 respondents (21.2%) are not sure
with this item. There are one respondents (1.9%) respondents
strongly disagreed with this item.

3.2.4

Social media helps to improve students achievement

Figure 6: A bar graph of students performances through social

media
According to the table, 20 respondents (38.5%) were not sure
whether social media can improve their achievement which
marks the highest reading while there are only five respondents
(3.8%) out of 52 respondents strongly disagree with this item.
There are only six respondents who admit that social media can
improve their academic performances.
3.2.5

Web 2.0 can assist to build a sense of community among

student.

Figure 7: A bar graph of sense of community among students

Based on the table, A total of 10 respondents (19.2%) strongly
agree and 22 respondents (42.3%) are not sure with this item.
15 respondents (28.8%) out of 52 people agreed while disagree

recorded four respondents (7.7%), and one (1.9%) of

respondents said strongly disagree with this item that web 2.0
can assist them to build a sense of community.

3.2.6

Online presentation tools such as Prezi and Mindomo are

easy to use compared to Microsoft Powerpoint.

Figure 8: The bar graph shows the comparison between online and
offline presentation tools

The table indicates the easiest way of using a presentation tools.

A total of 21 respondents (53.8%) strongly agree and agree
while 16 respondents (30.8%) are not sure with this item. seven
respondents (13.5%) out of 52 people disagree, and strongly
disagree recorded one respondent (1.9%). Basically, most of the
students do not sure whether they like using an online or offline
presentation tools

3.2.7

Web 2.0 makes users privacy to be too opened that could

lead to uneasiness

Figure 9: A bar graph of web 2.0 privacys

In 15 respondents (28.8%) of the 52 respondents, they strongly

agreed that this activity could lead to uneasiness. 14
respondents (26.9%) are not sure with this item. There are one
respondents (1.9%) respondents strongly disagreed with this
item. While the rest are disagreed with five persons (9.6%) and
agreed with 17 respondents (32.7%) respectively.

3.2.8

Technical problem is one of the Web 2.0 problems.

Figure 10: The bar graph indicates the technical problems

faced by web 2.0 users.
The table shows the technical problem on Web 2.0. There are
20 respondents (39.2%) agreed while 16 respondents (31.4%)
strongly agreed that there are technical problems in using Web
2.0. 10 respondents out of 52 were not sure about this and three
respondent (5.9%) disagree about this while the rest (3.9%) are
strongly disagree that technical problem is one of the web 2.0
problems.

3.2.9

Web based learning allows students to share ideas not only

among their own friends, but international access.

Figure 11: A bar graph shows the platform to share the

ideas among students
The table indicates the web based learning. There are 23
respondents (44.2%) strongly agreed while 21 respondents
(40.4%) agreed that web based learning allows students to share
ideas globally. Strongly disagree and disagree recorded the
same reading which is two respondents respectively (3.8%)
while four respondents (7.7%) were not sure about this.

3.3

Students Perspective

3.3.1

Web 2.0 can improve students skills in technology

Figure 12: The pie chart shows the result of the

improvement in technology among students

Based on the analysis result, a total of 51 respondents (98.1%)

of respondents said web 2.0 can improve students skills in
technology, by learning through web 2.0, it allows students to
improve their skill in using online platform. While only one
respondent (1.9%) did not agree with this opinion.

3.3.2

Web 2.0 helps in getting new or existing information

Figure 13: The pie chart indicates the result in getting

information among students
Figure 13 shows respondents' perceptions of the web 2.0 in
gaining new information, the majority of respondents agreed
that web 2.0 do help a lot in searching or receiving new
information. A total of 51 (98.1%) of respondents agreed that
web 2.0 can help them in getting new or existing information.
While one respondent (1.9%) disagree that this platform can
help them.

3.3.3

Web 2.0 can clarify the instruction, task and frequent

feedback for the students.

Figure 14: A pie chart of the result in advantages of web 2.0

Figure 14 indicates web 2.0 feedback for the students. A total of

47 respondents (92.2%) of respondents agreed that web 2.0 can
clarify the instruction, task and frequent feedback for the
students, while four respondents (7.8%) were not.

3.3.4

I am interested to know more about web 2.0 and plan to

practice it in my learning process

Figure 15: A pie chart of the result in using web 2.0 in daily
basis

According to the figure, 94.2% or 49 of respondent agreed to

know more about web 2.0 and plan to practice it in their
learning process which marks the highest percentage while only
5.8% or 3 respondents disagree to know more about web 2.0
and practice in learning process.

3.3.5

Web 2.0 makes life easier

Figure 16: The pie chart shows whether web 2.0 can make
students life easier or not

The table indicates respondents' perceptions of the web 2.0 in

making their life easier, the majority of respondents agreed that
web 2.0 do help them a lot in doing a research especially when
they want to search for information. A total of 46 (88.5%) of
respondents agreed that web 2.0 can help them in getting new
information. While six respondents (11.5%) disagree that web
2.0 can help or making their life easier.

4.0 Advantages of implementing Web 2.0 in Education

One of the main objectives of this research is to locate the advantages that will
be received by the people of having Web 2.0 to be implemented in our
education system. The study results indicate that the major benefits of using
Web 2.0 technologies in teaching include interaction, communication and
collaboration, knowledge creation, ease of use and flexibility and writing and
technology skills.

As we know, technology connects people from different regional and

places. Regardless of the places that we choose to be at, we can still manage to
communicate with our relatives or pen pals from the other side of the world.
The same situation happens in education, Web 2.0 encourages interaction,
communication and collaboration amongst community of educational
institution. Most participants believed that using Web 2.0 technologies in
teaching helps to build a sense of community, rises the interaction and
communication among the instructor, students, and other people, as well as
promotes collaboration and resource sharing. We also managed to receive
some of the comments from students concerning this particular topic, the
following are some of the comments by the participants:
(i) I think, if used correctly, they can help develop a better sense of connectivity between
students and teachers and afford students opportunities to connect and communicate with
classmates and resources throughout the world.
(ii) They reduce the distance between teacher and students.
(iii) Students learn about new ways of collaboration.

(iv) Students and teachers see learning as a more social process. It's not just the book and
yourself; it's collaborative meaning making.

From the comments we received, the responses were varied. Some of

them thought the idea of having Web 2.0 in our education is a splendid idea
and would benefit to a lot of people, and minority of them totally against the
notion.

In todays education, people are looking forward to students that can

think creatively and innovatively, and apparently, Web 2.0 offers a broad
knowledge creation. Approximately 50% of the participants reported that Web
2.0 technologies enable students to become creators of knowledge. As one
noted, Web 2.0 technologies give students the opportunity to create content
themselves instead of just listening to lectures. This supports active and
student-centered learning in which students take responsibility for their
learning. Several participants also noted that Web 2.0 technologies create an
environment where a teacher becomes a facilitator of learning rather than a
distributor of knowledge.

Next, about a third of the participants reported that Web 2.0 tools are
easy-to-use and flexible. They noted that while some of the traditional course
management systems (CMS) are too static, Web 2.0 tools remove time
constraints by providing a more flexible learning environment that is not
inhibited to classroom walls. Writing and technology skills. Several
participants noted that the use of Web 2.0 technologies help students become
more proficient in writing and in the application of technology. In addition to
these four major benefits, the participants also mentioned that using Web 2.0
technologies helps teachers understand a little more about the world of their
students, and motivates the students.

5.0 The Best Practice of Performing Web 2.0 in the Classroom

Technically, to implement this second generation network in our education is

not an issue. Many of the Web 2.0 tools are available in form of open source
software, ready to be installed and used for any purpose. There are also online
services such as blogger.com, wikia.com, academia.edu and so forth, which are
probably hired with little technical administration. In addition, popular opensource courseware systems such as Moodle already allow such features either
natively or in form of plug-ins.

The point here is of course the educational one. Traditional teaching

methods such as lectures, labs and seminars constitute the main activity, ICT
and hence possibly Web 2.0 tools are introduced for sake of community
building, tracking, organizing and reflecting upon the learned knowledge, and
discussion. Meanwhile, as every new technology also this one has to be
introduced cautiously and with pedagogical guidance, in order to get the most
out of the Web 2.0 tools, they ought to be applied in a sufficient extent. In
many of the existing implementations of Web and the associated ICT
technologies in teaching and learning, the online environment is employed
only for sake of content delivery and support.

However, in light of the survey presented in the previous section, we

conclude that blogs, wikis and other Web 2.0 services are powerful tools which
allow us to shift the focus from bare presentation of information to
collaborative construction of knowledge. Therefore, the educational activities

should be adjusted for this goal and give the students the opportunity to play
an active role in coming to know.

Another aspect to be mentioned is that these tools and services should

not be considered just as devices designed for individual acquisition of
information. They offer much more to the students in which they offer the
development of the skill of collaboration. Thus, the curricular employing these
tools ought to push the students to use exercise this skill relying on particular
collaborative features of the Web 2.0 tools in use. The work of the students
should be both individual and collaborative and through the cross-linking and
comments to work of others they have to follow what others are doing and
produce a collective outcome rather than solely compete with each other.

6.0 Barriers / Challenges of Implementing Web 2.0 in Education.

Undoubtedly, Malaysia is obviously lacking some steps behind from other

developed country like China, South Korea, Japan and others in term of
education. This is possibly happening because we are still using the traditional
pedagogy and stick to the old style teaching Yes, it is crucial to make use of
ICT and apply it in education, nevertheless, there are some obstacles that
needed for us to confront and at the same time overcoming the problems. The
study results indicate that the major barriers university instructors encounter in
teaching with Web 2.0 technologies are uneasiness with openness, technical
problems, and time consuming.

The main problem when having everything discussed virtually via

internet, the privacy might sometimes a very sensitive issue. A number of
participants noted that the open nature of Web 2.0 technologies is still new to a
lot of students. They reported that some students are very uncomfortable with
the openness and are reluctant to participate in class activities that utilize Web
2.0. The immediate and public nature of wiki collaboration made some of my
students feel more self-conscious and a bit uneasy at times. These students
preferred one-to-one teacher-student interaction more than public, peer-to-peer
interaction.

It is understandable for any technical problem to arise. Some

participants reported that students who have older computers often have
technical issues when using Web 2.0 tools. It was also noted that some Web 2.0
tools are still a little primitive, having technical glitches and might not work
well with current course management systems. Several participants mentioned
that universities do not provide enough technical support for faculty who are
unfamiliar with Web 2.0 technologies.
Time. It takes time to learn and manage new technologies. Time was
another barrier identified in this study. Several participants reported that
learning new technologies takes time away from learning subject matter
content.

7.0 Conclusion

As a conclusion, web 2.0 nowadays are widely used in educational

field. Almost all the country implementing the web 2.0 in their educational
system. Due to advances in programming, users are no longer passive and
become designers of content through blogs and platforms like YouTube,
Facebook and Twitter. This platform usually gives the chances to the groups or
communities to share and generate knowledge. In Malaysia, the uses of web
2.0 in education actually contains pros and cons which are widely argued by
the intellectual. Last but not least, education must take this series of resources
not only as something meant only for leisure, but that should be seen as a
series of working tools that must be seized as didactically develop a set of
skills that will later be used in the labor market or own learning

8.0 References

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http://infed.org/mobi/what-is-education-a-definition-and-discussion/.
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9.0 Appendices