Students’ conceptions of the use of Web 2.0 tools

Abstract

In the past five years the emergence of Web 2.0 tools has permeated many human spheres including higher education sector. Some higher educational institutions had experimented with it and evidences showed that before its incorporation into educational systems some issues must be carefully considered. Such issues among others are students‟ preferences and required skills to use Web 2.0 tools, which hitherto, have little research done on them. Thus, this research aimed at acquiring a deeper understanding of DILL students‟ conceptions of the use of Web 2.0 tools, with particular focus on their preferences and the required skills to optimally use Web 2.0 tools. The study adopted qualitative approach and used phenomenographic research strategy to identify DILL students‟ conceptions of Web 2.0 tools. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with 12 DILL students from Africa and Asia. The findings revealed four distinctive categories of descriptions: communication tools, educational tools, professional tools and multi-purpose tools. For each category of descriptions there were preferred Web 2.0 tools and required skills to use these tools. The need for training on some skills to optimally use Web 2.0 tools was evidently shown. This study supports the incorporation of Web 2.0 tools in higher education, especially its inclusion in DILL curriculum and LIS education in general.