A literature review of the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education

This review focuses on the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education. It provides a synthesis of the research literature in the field and a series of illustrative examples of how these tools are being used in learning and teaching. It draws out the perceived benefits that these new technologies appear to offer, and highlights some of the challenges and issues surrounding their use. The review forms the basis for a HE Academy funded project, ‘Peals in the Cloud’, which is exploring how Web 2.0 tools can be used to support evidence-based practices in learning and teaching. The project has also produced two in-depth case studies, which are reported elsewhere (Galley et al., 2010, Alevizou et al., 2010). The case studies focus on evaluation of a recently developed site for learning and teaching, Cloudworks, which harnesses Web 2.0 functionality to facilitate the sharing and discussion of educational practice. The case studies aim to explore to what extent the Web 2.0 affordances of the site are successfully promoting the sharing of ideas, as well as scholarly reflections, on learning and teaching

Seizing Opportunity at the Top: How the U.S. Can Reach Every Student With an Excellent Teacher

Explains how to provide excellent teachers for every child every year by better identifying excellent teachers, removing policy barriers so they can teach more students for more pay, and catalyzing schools' and districts' will to put them in charge

Leading schools in the digital age: A clash of cultures

A cultural gap is widening in English secondary schools: between a twentieth-century ethos of institutional provision and the twenty-first century expectations and digital lifestyles of school students. Perhaps disaffected by traditional teaching methods and the competitive target culture of schools, many students have turned to social networking through the cluster of computer-based applications known as Web 2.0. Here, they can communicate, share and learn informally using knowledge systems their elders can barely understand. Some of their contemporaries have turned away altogether, rejecting school and contributing to record levels of truancy and exclusion. This paper identifies a set of challenges for school leaders in relation to the growing digital/cultural gap. The government agenda for personalised learning is discussed, alongside strategies which schools might adopt to support this through the use of ICT, and both figure in scenario projections which envision how secondary education could change in the future. The paper concludes by recommending three priorities for school leaders

Education Reform for the Digital Era

Will the digital-learning movement repeat the mistakes of the charter-school movement? How much more successful might today's charter universe look if yesterday's proponents had focused on the policies and practices needed to ensure its quality, freedom, and resources over the long term? What mistakes might have been avoided? Damaging scandals forestalled? Missed opportunities seized

Cracking the Code: Synchronizing Policy and Practice for Performance-Based Learning

Proposes a policy framework for integrating performance-based learning into the education system, synchronizing policy and practice, and ensuring collaborative state leadership and flexible federal leadership. Lists state policy issues and exemplars

New trends in education: the use of ICT in different ways

In the 21st century and due to the exponential growth of the Internet and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), people live in a technological age, in all areas and in all contexts, we have daily contact with technology, with access to Information. This dynamic requires a constant update of the services and technological tools that change the method that we study, work, communicate and socialize on an unprecedented scale. These constant changes force everyone, regardless of age, gender or profession, to possess a range of functional and critical thinking skills, such as information literacy, media literacy and technological literacy. The evolution of technologies, forces the promoters of education, to always be aware of the changes that society is introducing outside the classroom. Today, students don't have the same pattern as before, regardless of age, they are very active and are no longer the same introverted child who studied a few years ago in the classroom. According to this, students are eager for different forms of motivation inside and outside the classroom, they need the learning and teaching process to move along with changes in society and ICT. To ensure the success of today's students, it is important to provide them with the technological skills to make the correct use of ICTs, to perform tasks essential to their learning process, such as researching and selecting information, creating content, information sharing, use of collaboration tools or environment simulation tools. The main objective of this chapter is to show how ICT tools that can be used in educational environments to help students, helping them develop key skills in their training process, is also relevant to show how these tools can help teachers achieve these goals in daily activities with their students

A teacher’s voice: Embracing change to make a difference

The challenge to understand the impact and demands of new forms of literacy for teachers with considerable expertise is intensified when making sense of multiple forms of texts. This paper examines how an experienced teacher made changes to her literacy pedagogy when faced with a class problem for which she felt unprepared. The story is told predominantly through the voice of the teacher using her reflective journal. An example of Web 2.0 technology, specifically the construction of a wiki, is planned and implemented to reflect the teacher’s changing views of literacy. The key focus is how this teacher will transition her practice to meet the new demands of literacy teaching, what critical moves are required of her in order to do this and how does she shift from the traditional role of facilitator to designer of online learning. Through such analysis it is proposed that it is possible for an experienced teacher to theorise, implement and adopt a stance that encompasses a broader view of literacy and literacy instruction

How does Information Technology impact the methods, potential and purpose of education?

It is evident that information technology has affected changes to the methods, purpose and the perceived potential of education. While various authors differ in their opinion on the degree, desirability and destiny of these changes, all agree that change processes have certainly been underway. However, the process of change is far from over. Numerous authors auger grave peril for education institutions that refuse to integrate information technology into every level of the education institution. Some authors argue that the very nature of education itself will change. Information technology, whether perceived as a power for good or a power for evil, certainly has not been neutral. While effecting change has been difficult in many situations, contemporary information technology has by its very nature, been an agent of change in education institutions