Page - 248 - in Intelligent Environments 2019 - Workshop Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Intelligent Environments

Bridging the Divide: The Current Status of Web 2.0 in Higher Education Elizabeth DAMIANOa, Minjuan WANGa,1, and Mo WANGb aLearning Design and Technology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA bSchool of Art, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, P.R. China Abstract. Interest in using Web 2.0 tools to complement or replace learning management systems (LMS) in higher education has exploded in the past decade. Higher education institutions require legally compliant warehouses to track student learning and store its artifacts, while students prefer the engaging, collaborative, and personalized learning environments offered by Web 2.0. Social networking sites, blogs, wikis, and video streaming services enable learning and collaboration in contexts unreachable by learning management systems. Researchers have argued for various integrations of Web 2.0 in classrooms to bridge the divide between institutional and student needs, but questions about the most desirable features for such an integration remain. Furthermore, while models predicting endorsement and use of Web 2.0 for educational purposes exist, the extent to which factors impacting choice have yet to be examined in depth. In this paper, we will discuss (a) recent research trends on Web 2.0 integrations and predictive models in higher education; and (b) additional choice-making factors to consider in future models of endorsement and use of Web 2.0 for learning. Keywords. Social Media, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Personalized Learning Environment, Model 1. Introduction and Purpose Several literature reviews about Web 2.0 (social media, blogs, wikis, etc.) use in higher education in general [1][2] and on Web 2.0 tools’ specific applications [3][4][5] have been published recently. These literature reviews have discussed trends in the research [1], advantages and limitations of social media-to-learning management system (LMS) integrations, as replacements for LMSs [2], student and faculty preferences for and uses of social media in learning [2][3], and guidelines for integration [5]. As noted in Hashim, Rashid, and Atalla’s review of existing studies [1], there is a dearth of theoretically-guided research (as opposed to case study implementations) or on faculty and student use and endorsement. Furthermore, there is no published research reviewing models predicting student and faculty usage or endorsement of Web 2.0 tools, although a handful of models now exist. Of the extant predictive models, there is little emphasis on choice-related variables, despite the literature on personalized learning environments (PLE) suggesting an important role for choice- making. Therefore, the purpose of our paper is twofold: 1) to report trends in the most recent research on Web 2.0 in higher education; and 2) to discuss predictive models of Web 2.0 endorsement and usage while exploring the additional role of student choice. 1 Corresponding author: Minjuan Wang, E-mail: mwang@sdsu.edu Intelligent Environments 2019 A. Muñoz et al. (Eds.) © 2019 The authors and IOS Press. This article is published online with Open Access by IOS Press and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC 4.0). doi:10.3233/AISE190050 248