Web 2.0 Educational - eLearning and knowledge management in higher education

The technology paradigm shift from the network as information provider (Web 1.0) to the network as platform (Web 2.0), introduced by O’Reilly (2005), has projected us onto a new wave of technological innovation. We are witnessing an upsurge in the use of social networking tools such as wikis, blogs and podcasts which offer unique and powerful information sharing and collaboration features. But how can the positive features of the “architecture of participation” O’Reilly refers to be turned into pedagogically effective learning opportunities? Very few evaluative studies have appeared so far that investigate the ways Web 2.0 technology is being incorporated into mainstream education. Alexander (2006) provides extensive screening of the social software emerged as a component of the “Web 2.0 movement” and its role in higher education. Recent examples of Web 2.0 application to teaching and learning are reported in Anderson (2007); whereas the use of mobile learning in mainstream education is a key issue in Ragus (2006) and Keegan (2005). No focus, though, is placed on the current and future trends in the distance learning of humanities using Web 2.0 technology. This paper contributes to exploring, with examples, some of the current uses of Web 2.0 (as contrasted to Web 1.0) tools in the education of CMC and translation students. Specific reference is made to the pedagogy underpinning these tools, including crowdsourcing, folksonomies and tag clouds, and some of their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The paper concludes with some ideas about a research agenda and an invitation to linguists, CMC experts and translation researchers to further investigate the use and effectiveness of these tools in higher education, so that an evidence base about these tools in the context of CMC and translation studies can be built, and evidence-based best practice guidelines be disseminated among the higher education community.