Taking Advantage of Web 2.0 in Organized Education (A Survey)

Reports on using Web 2.0 and Social web technology and tools in education appear lately with increasing frequency year after year. Applications of blogging, wikis, social bookmarking and tagging, online communities, podcasting and more were reported. The benefits observed in connection with these new methods include: improved motivation, and quality of learning, development of analytical thinking, collaboration, teamwork, and communication skills. The second part of this work draws conclusions on methodological issues. Blogs seem to be best suited for subjective organization and reflection upon the acquired knowledge. Wikis seem to be well suited for collaborative organization of knowledge. Social bookmarking was used with success for organization of resources of various kinds. The blended learning approach seems to be the most effective way to include these activities in higher education. These tools bring a particular value into those fields of study where open ended discussion and competing opinions are valued, e.g., social sciences, but this is not a rule. Students' activities with these tools provide valuable source of assessment, however not only content contributed by individual students but also frequency and periodicity should take part in the evaluation.