Using Third Party Web 2.0 Services « Educational Technology Resources and Tips

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Using Third Party Web 2.0 Services

April 8, 2008 at 5:41 pm | In Internet, K-12 education, Professional Development, Vodcasts, Web 2.0, Web2.0, educational technology, technology, video podcasts, wikis | Leave a Comment
Tags: Web2.0

Using Third Party Web 2.0 Services

As a new wave of Internet services has evolved, the term Web 2.0 has come into vogue. This wave of services is based on openness, user-generated content, the power of the crowd, an amount of data in an epic proportion, combined with an architecture of participation.

Such participatory tools include wikis, blogs, podcasts, YouTube, photo sharing, and social bookmarking. The advantages of using these tools are that they require little technical effort; they encourage experimenting and testing, and applying diverse approaches to a common problem. These strengths are making Web 2.0 tools more common within the educational community.

Along with the advantages come a number of disadvantages that need to be managed.

Challenge	Management
1. Loss of Service	Investigate service before use and use only trusted services.
2. Loss of Data	Evaluate service. Test export capabilities. Keep a duplicate copy of data off-site.
3. Performance Problems	Test before using. Evaluate export capabilities. Use for non-critical information.
4. Format Changes	Use on a small-scale or plan for migration to a similar system.
5. User Issues	Gain feedback. Warn of possible dangers and invite to pilot and select services.

Educators can vacillate from embracing every new Web 2.0 tool as soon as it is available online, to being fearful to use any new online tool. However, with a realistic balance of the advantages and disadvantages and learning to manage the challenges educators and students can richly enhance their learning experiences. When is the best time for you to embrace a given innovative technology? Consider the online professional development course “Implementing Instructional Technology Innovations” from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.