Role of Web 2.0 Technologies for Knowledge Building in Higher Education

Abstract: The role of web 2.0 technologies has become windfall for knowledge building in higher education in the entire modern world. Web 2.0 technologies (Podcasts, Wikis, and Blogs) are being explored for collaboration, innovation, and creative purposes in digital literacy. The ICT based system (Learning Management System, Student Portal, Web mail) of Växjö University lacks web 2.0 technologies (Podcasts, Blogs, and Wikis) that are important for classroom learning for knowledge building. This research intends to investigate and describe the educational importance of web 2.0 (Podcasts, Wikis, and Blogs) as a possible source to facilitate class room learning in higher education in Sweden. In this regard, role of web 2.0 in its current usage in the teaching and learning have been identified and, thereby, possible measures for more improvements have been suggested in this research. Keeping in view the potential of web 2.0 as content development and management technologies and incorporating their role in formative evaluation of students, peer assessment, collaborative content creation, and individual as well as group reflection on learning experiences, the researcher conducted a survey by asking very simple and short questions as to how far has this potential been exploited in Sweden. Based on the findings and the empirical evidences thereof a model has been proposed for maximum utility of web 2.0 technologies.