What Teachers Think About Web 2.0 Technologies in Education?

Steve C. Yuen, Ph.D. The University of Southern Mississippi

and
Patrivan K. Yuen, M.A., M.Ed., & M.L.I.S William Carey University

16th Annual Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning Orlando, Florida, November 4, 2010

Source: Alec Couros (2008), Networked Possibilities, http://www.slideshare.net/courosa/networked-possibilities

Background
The digital native students have already found many Web 2.0 tools integral to their daily life Many researchers have found that perceived usefulness, or the extent to which an individual believes that the use of technology will enhance performance, has a positive influence on behavioral intention (Davis, 1989; Hartshorne, Ajjan, and Ferdig, 2010; Roger 2003; Taylor & Todd, 1995)

The greater the perceived usefulness of a technological application, the more likely it is for the individual to use the new technology (Hartshorne, Ajjan, and Ferdig, 2010; Rogers, 2003).
Studies of teachers perceptions and opinions are critical because teachers perceptions are significant to the implementation of technology innovations in teaching and learning.

Pilot Study
Conducted in July 2009. A total of 35 participants in two graduate classes in a public university in Taiwan. Most of the participants were K-12 teachers. Participants show positive perceptions of the pedagogical benefits of Web 2.0 tools in teaching and learning

Participants have positive experience in using blogs, social videos, social networking sites, wikis, and podcasts The most often used Web tools by teachers are blogs, social videos, social networking sites, and wikis

Purposes
Examine teachers use of Web 2.0 tools in education

Assess teachers awareness and perceptions of the pedagogical benefits of Web 2.0 technologies in teaching and learning
Investigate teachers interests and willingness of adopting Web 2.0 tools to support and supplement classroom instruction

Participants

Teachers at all levels in Mississippi

Participants at the 2010 Mississippi Educational Computing Association (MECA) Conference Participants at the 2010 Creating Futures Through Technology Conference (CFTTC)

Design and Instrument

A quantitative approach was used to collect data from a questionnaire The questionnaire is comprised of three parts: Part 1 includes 13 demographic items for respondents, including items such as age, gender, years of teaching, online habits, and general attitude of using technology in education Part 2 contains 20 items exploring the participants use of Web 2.0 tools or services Part 3 includes 32 five point Likert-scale items examining teachers perceptions and interests of using Web 2.0 tools in teaching and learning

Reliability and Validity of the Instrument

Content validity A jury of experts to determine the appropriateness and content validity of the Section II and Section III Comments and feedback were used to refine the instrument Reliability A reliability was conducted for the 20 items of Section III (Perceptions)

Cronbachs coefficient was 0.98, indicating excellent reliability

Participant Demographics

Own a cell phone that is capable of accessing the Internet

19% 10%

71%

No, and don't plan to purchase one in a year No, but plan to purchase one in a year Yes

Information and communication technologies made my life:

6% 3% Easier More Complicated
91% No Difference

Use of Web 2.0 Tools

Overall Experience with Web 2.0 Tools

Perceptions of Web 2.0 Tools

Perceptions of Web 2.0 Tools

Interested in Learning Web 2.0 Tools

Interested in Taking a Course to Learn about Web 2.0 Tools

Very Likely (43%) Likely (40%) Undecided (11%)

Unlikely (5%)
Very Unlikely (1%)

Importance of Web 2.0 Tools

Overall, I feel it is important to learn the new interactive Web tools for teaching and learning
Strongly Agree (48%)

Agree (42%)
Neutral (8%) Disagree (1%) Strongly Disagree (1%)

ANOVA
Are there differences in teachers overall experience using Web 2.0 tools in teaching and learning, teachers perception on Web 2.0 in teaching and learning, teachers interest in learning interactive Web 2.0 tools among various groups of teachers in terms of their teaching levels and length of teaching experience.
ANOVAs were performed to answer this question: No significance differences were found on teachers perception on Web 2.0 in teaching and learning and teachers interest in learning interactive Web 2.0 tools among various groups of teachers in terms of their teaching levels and length of teaching experience.

No significance differences were found on teachers overall experience with Web 2.0 among various groups of teachers in terms of their teaching levels.
Significance differences (p<0.5) were found on teachers overall experience with Web 2.0 among various groups of teachers in terms of their length of teaching experience.

Conclusion
The most often used Web tools by teachers are social networking sites and social video tools Teachers have positive experience in using social videos, social networking sites, and podcasts Teachers show positive perceptions of the pedagogical benefits of Web 2.0 tools in teaching and learning Teachers feel the importance of Web 2.0 tools and are interested in learning these tools to support and supplement classroom instruction The results confirm the findings in the pilot study. However, teachers in the pilot study used Web 2.0 tools more often than the current study and had better overall experiences with Web 2.0 tools

The End

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