web 2.0: what works with students

Melissa K. PrescottRobin L. Ewing

CETL January 2009 Faculty Workshop Days

Web 2.0: What Works with Students

About usMelissa K. Prescott

Reference Coordinator & Assistant ProfessorLearning Resources & Technology Servicesmkprescott@stcloudstate.edu

Robin L. EwingAccess Services Coordinator & Assistant ProfessorLearning Resources & Technology Servicesrlewing@stcloudstate.edu

OverviewBackground on student use of Web 2.0Web 2.0 Awareness SurveyLearning 2.0 Assignment Adapting for other classes

Our definition of Web 2.0 Social networking sites:

Facebook, MySpace, Ning, Twitter

Social sharing and collaboration sites: Blogger, PBwiki, Wikipedia, podcasting, YouTube

Social bookmarking and tagging: del.icio.us, Ma.gnolia, Flickr, Google Image Labeler

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds and readers:Bloglines, Google Reader

Other Google products: Google Scholar, Google Docs, Google Maps

Background on student use of Web 2.0

64% of online teens have created Web 2.0 content --Teens and Social Media survey -- Pew Internet & American Life (2007)

Content creation activities: posting messages or photos; creating and uploading videos, music, artwork, stories, etc.; creating own Web sites or blogs

Approximately 30% of online students have their own blogs -- Creating & Connecting survey -- National School Boards Association (2007)

22% have uploaded videos they created -- Creating & Connecting survey -- National School Boards Association (2007)

Informal Web 2.0 Awareness SurveyStudents enrolled in three-credit

information literacy courses (IM 204: Research Strategies)

Administered online via D2L59 students participated

All undergraduates17% first-year students59% sophomores20% juniors3% seniors

81% female, 19% male

Web 2.0 Awareness Survey detailsTools we included

Social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, Friendster)

YouTubePhoto sharing sites (Flickr, Snapfish)BlogsPodcastsSocial tagging/bookmarking (de.licio.us, Digg)WikipediaOther wikisRSSGoogle Scholar

Web 2.0 Awareness Survey detailsLevels of awareness

Have not heard ofHave heard of but not usedHave read, listened to, or used oneHave added content to or created own

Web 2.0 Awareness Survey

Social

network

ing

YouTub

e

Wikiped

iaBlo

gs

Google

Scho

lar

Photo

sharin

g

Podcas

ts

Other w

ikis

Social

book

marking RS

S0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

% Created content% Used but not created % Heard of but not used% Not heard of

8

92

25

88

5

14

86

42

43

15

3139

25

36

39

31

22

8

59

82

71

19

10

64

29

33

90

73

Background on student use of Web 2.0Survey findings

64% of online teens have created Web 2.0 content (Pew)

Approximately 30% of online students have their own blogs (NSBA) 3% of SCSU students

22% have uploaded videos they created (NSBA) 5% of SCSU students

How do your students compare?

Learning 2.0 AssignmentModeled on professional development

projects for library professionalsFormat of the assignmentTools covered in the assignmentLevels of Web 2.0 awarenessStudent reactions to the assignmentWhat we’ll change for next fall

Web 2.0 Examples“Learning 2.0 -- 23Things”“23 Things on a Stick”“Learning 2.0 @ Mac”

Learning 2.0 @ SCSU Two sections of IM 204: Research Strategies

in fall 2008 semesterAll assignments were presented via the

Learning 2.0 @ SCSU blog Students had one week to complete each

assignmentAssignments were completed outside of

classAssignment was mapped to course objectiv

es

Weekly TopicsBlogsWhat is Web 2.0?RSS Social BookmarkingFlickrDigg, Newsvine, RedditPodcastingOnline collaboration toolsWikisYouTube

Structure of Weekly ActivitiesReadingViewingDoingBlogging

Sample Weekly AssignmentSocial BookmarkingPodcasting

Levels of Web 2.0 awarenessIdentify Web 2.0 applications and recognize

contentUse/read/view contentEvaluate contentCreate content

Student DifficultiesStarting multiple blogsURL for blogsNaming of blogs & blog postingsEmbedding photos & videos

Example BlogsRoss’ Blogger SiteAssignment 2;)Christy’s BlogExploits of SOLCreating my first blog.

Student ReactionsEnd of assignment evaluation (51 respondents)

88% -- assignment helped them get comfortable with emerging technologies

49% -- would change nothing about the assignmentOthers:Spend more class time on the assignmentsChange the day the assignments were duePost all assignments at onceToo much work for allotted points, tedious

Hardest activities – multiple students indicated RSS and Digg/Newsvine/Reddit

Student Reactions“It was a great assignment and I know that at first I

was stressed out about it because I knew nothing about it and I didn’t want to do bad on it but after I learned exactly what it was it became fun and a good educational experience.”

“I enjoyed the Web 2.0 assignment. I felt that it helped me learn a lot about the internet and the different tools that are available to me.”

“The Web 2.0 assignments furthered my knowledge and will help me out a lot in the future.”

“I like that new news and new updates can come to me on my blog from websites that I have shared onto my blog. I think it will be useful for my career later on in life, as well.”

Student Reactions“I think that web 2.0 is really pointless. It

just takes up more time outside of ther [sic] classroom and it isn’t going to help me with other classes or outside of school.”

“One thing I would change about this assignment would be that it made us sign up for everything we were learning about. Now I have a bunch of accounts on different things that I will probably never use and that I will never even remember how to get to now.”

Next StepsBetter prepare students for assignment

This assignment was a stretch for most students

Provide a better explanation for why students should know Web 2.0 tools

Clarify expectations for blog postingsPost all assignments at once

Next StepsChange list of tools

Eliminate Digg/Newsvine/Reddit activityRSS later in semester

Revise rubricPrivacy and intellectual property issues

Adapting for Other CoursesHave students review discipline-specific

blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc.RSS feeds

What have you done in your classes?