Web 2.0 in Education Sector

WEB 2.0 in Education Sector

Introduction

The term Web 2.0 was first coined in 2004, it refers to what is perceived as a second generation of Web-based services emphasizing online collaboration and sharing. There has not been a technical update to Web standards, but rather a surge of new ways in which the standards are being used. The term categorizes four general types of processes within Web 2.0 applications that reflect the ways of interacting:

1) It is used for sharing user-contributed content ("You make it")

2) To frame community-developed tagging and organizational schemes for large sets of user contributed content ("You name it")

3) For the development of content collections by the user community (crowdsourcing)

("You work on it").

4) To find not only objects but trends and overviews of contributions ("You find it").

User modification possibilities are common throughout all the Web 2.0 processes.

Openness is a main differentiator of the current uses of these processes compared to Web 1.0. The processes represent new ways of making, sharing and consuming digital documents where traditional watchers of quality are the user's opinions.

Following are the characteristics of Web 2.0

Participation

Every aspect of Web 2.0 is driven by participation. The transition to Web 2.0 was enabled by the emergence of platforms such as blogging, social networks, and free image and video uploading, that collectively allowed extremely easy content creation and sharing by anyone.

Standards

Standards provide an essential platform for Web 2.0. Common interfaces for accessing content and applications are the glue that allows integration across the many elements of the emergent web.

Decentralization

Web 2.0 is decentralized in its architecture, participation, and usage. Power and flexibility emerges from distributing applications and content over many computers and systems, rather than maintaining them on centralized systems.

Openness

The world of Web 2.0 has only become possible through a spirit of openness whereby developers and companies provide open, transparent access to their applications and content.

Modularity

Web 2.0 is mainly and integrated structure. It emerges from many, many components or modules that are designed to link and integrate with others, together building a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

User Control

A primary direction of Web 2.0 is for users to control the content they create, the data captured about their web activities, and their identity. This powerful trend is driven by the clear desires of participants.

Identity

Identity is a critical element of both Web 2.0 and the future direction of the internet. We can increasingly choose to represent our identities however we please, across interactions, virtual worlds, and social networks. We can also own and verify our real identities in transactions if we choose.

Comparisonof WEB 2.0 & WEB 1.0

1. Web 1.0 is one way communication as it has published content and users cannot alter aor modify the content. Basically, userare passive consumers as they have to satisfy themsleves with the content provided.

2. Web 1.0 sites are static as they contain information that might be useful, but there's no reason for a visitor to return to the site later. An example might be a personal Web page that gives information about the site's owner, but never changes. Whereas, web 2.0 has rich design and contains RSS feed and can be a source of collective intelligence.

3. Web 1.0 sites aren't interactive that is visitors can only visit these sites; they can't impact or contribute to the sites. Most organizations have profile pages that visitors can look at but not impact or alter, whereas a wiki allows anyone to visit and make changes. Whereas web 2.0 websites are interactive and it has user generated content too.

4. Web 1.0 applications are proprietary, under the Web 1.0 philosophy, companies develop software applications that users can download, but they can't see how the application works or change it. A Web 2.0 application is an open source program, which means the source code for the program is freely available. Users can see how the application works and make modifications or even build new applications based on earlier programs.

The following diagram explains the differences in more detail

Web 2.0 Tools in Education

In recent years, we can see a rapid increase in the use of Web-based 'collaboration ware'. There are various Web 2.0 tools which are being adopted by education sector for effective interaction and collaboration. Because of their ease of use and readily availability they offer an excellent opportunity for powerful sharing and ease of collaboration. Some of the effective and common tool which have gained popularity and today is being used in many schools and universities are:

* Blogs

* Wiki

* Podcast

* Social Network

We will further discuss each of these tools and its usage in the educational context in detail.

Blogs

One of the best features of the Web 2.0 era is the dramatic rise of the phenomena called as Blogging. In a layman's language a Blog is nothing but an online journal or a diary. Usually on one side there is a writer who keeps posting regularly and on the other side there are readers who can read those blogs and post their comments. With the advent of the technology called as RSS now the user can not only comment but can also subscribe to the blog page and can get the notification whenever any change occurs on the blog page. It provides an easy way for common minded people to come together and create online communities where they can refer and learn from other peoples work and appreciate them. It is very easy to use and any person can make a web presence within a few minutes.It is