Use of Web 2.0 Collaboration Technologies in Egyptian Public Universities

Abstract

The second wave of the World Wide Web, referred to as Web 2.0, has affected every sector of the society including the public sector as well as the government, now often referred to as Government 2.0. Specifically, Government 2.0 can have a great impact on improving learning and research activities in public universities. Governments have recognized the role that Internet plays in education; they have made the use of ICT a substantial component in any government agenda. In addition, many governments have recognized the importance of incorporating Web 2.0 technologies in higher education. Being characterized by fostering an interactive and user generated content, Web 2.0 can usefully assist both students and faculty. Web 2.0 could contribute in overcoming budget constraints that constitutes a common problem among public universities especially in developing countries. This research argues that adopting Web 2.0 in public universities should start first by assisting faculty in their research and communication tasks through an easy and convenient way. This could reduce their resistance to change (which is considered one of the main barriers in adopting technologies) by being used to it and perceiving its value. Therefore, this chapter aims to investigate the use of Web 2.0 among academic staff in public universities. Such objective was reached through distributing a survey targeting a sample that represents faculty in some of the leading Egyptian public universities. Findings revealed a high use of Web 2.0 by faculty members in collaboration and information sharing. In addition, the main barriers of use are due to a lack of awareness or perception of the value of such technologies. Moreover, it has been proved that the level of Web 2.0 adoption varies among academic disciplines, but does not depend on age or academic position.

Use of Web 2.0 by students in the Faculty of Information Science and Communications at Mzuzu University, Malawi

“…Web 2.0 is known by various names, which emerged as a result of its characteristics, and some of them are 'participatory media' (Bull et al 2008:106), 'social digital technologies' (Palfrey & Gasser 2008:1) and 'second wave of the World Wide Web' (Azab, Abdelsalam & Gamal 2013) phrase used to characterise users' freedom to publish and distribute content and other resources at a minimal cost on the Web. That is, Web 2.0 has eliminated barriers to storage space as people can now store their photos, videos and data on Web-based applications for free or at a minimum cost.…”

“…Provision of awareness programmes about Web 2.0 technologies for students and lecturers is reported to be bearing fruit in some universities (Azab, Abdelsalam & Gamal 2013). Azab, Abdelsalam and Gamal (2013) investigated the use of Web 2.0 amongst academic staff and students in Egyptian public universities.…”

“…Provision of awareness programmes about Web 2.0 technologies for students and lecturers is reported to be bearing fruit in some universities (Azab, Abdelsalam & Gamal 2013). Azab, Abdelsalam and Gamal (2013) investigated the use of Web 2.0 amongst academic staff and students in Egyptian public universities. The results showed that blogs, wikis and social networks are popular amongst students and academic staff (mainly used for research activities and sharing academic content), attributing the success story to frequent awareness and training programmes offered by the university.…”

Taking social media to a university classroom: teaching and learning using Twitter and blogs

“…There is still confusion in the literature (see Bull et al, 2008: 106;Azab, Abdelsalam, & Gamal, 2013) when providing examples of social media. For example, some researchers classify Twitter, blogs and Facebook as Web 2.0 technologies whereas other researchers classify them as social media.…”

Utilization of Web 2.0 Technologies by Lecturers of Agriculture in Tertiary Institutions in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

“…Instructors no longer serve solely as distributors of content, but become facilitators of learning and assessors of competency (Ruiz et al, 2006). Web 2.0 is known by various names which fundamentally emerged as a result of its characteristics and some of them include "participatory media" (Bull et al, 2008), "social digital technologies" (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008) and "second wave of the World Wide Web" (Azab, Abdelsalam and Gamal, 2013). Web 2.0 comprises a number of technologies that can support teaching and learning activities, such as Blogs, Micro-blogs, Wikis, Real Simple Syndication (RSS) Feeds, YouTube, Flicker, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Podcasts, Google Apps and WhatsApp, (Armstrong and Franklin, 2008;Al-Qirim, 2010;Harinarayana and Raju, 2010;Luo, 2010;Makori, 2011;Hough and Neuland, 2012).…”