1. PK-12 Teacher Use of Web 2.0 Tools
Presenters
Sheryl Abshire, Ph.D.
Cindy Cummings, Ed.D.
Diane Mason, Ph.D.
Kay Abernathy, Ed.D.

2. Introduction
• Students are engaged in a world of Web 2.0 tools.
• Tools have quickly made their way into
classrooms.
• Teachers must be prepared to guide this use in
educational settings.
• The workplace demands expertise in these various
technologies in order to compete in a 21st century
workplace (McArthur Foundation, 2008).

3. Rationale for Study
• There is a need for current research about the
teacher’s specific use of Web 2.0 tools in the
PK-12 classroom.
• There is a gap in the literature regarding use of
Web 2.0 tools by elementary, middle, and high
school teachers.

4. Research Question
How do PK-12 Teachers
use of Web 2.0 tools differ
between elementary,
middle, and high school
teachers?

5. Web 2.0
• 24/7 availability of Web 2.0 tools can also be
extremely motivating (Cook & Harrison, 2008).
• Pk-12 teachers play a vital role in using Web
2.0 tools in designing learning activities that
provide opportunities for interaction with
learning and higher academic success (Murphy
& Lebans, 2008).

6. Web 2.0
• Adoption Rate of Web 2.0 Tools = Perceived
Usefulness (PU) * Perceive Ease of Use (PEOU)
(Karrer, 2006).
• Inherent characteristics of Web 2.0 are so
aligned with significant educational pedagogies
we are going to have to dramatically rethink our
educational institutions and expectations
because of them (Hargadon, 2009).

7. Elementary Teachers
• According to Ravitz, Becker, and Wong elementary
teachers are more constructivist in their thinking (2000)
and constructivist teachers tend to have more effective
student use of technology in classrooms (Ravitz et al.
2000).
• Elementary teachers are slightly more likely to be a
member of a social networking site ("A survey of,"
2009).

8. Middle School Teachers
• Blogs and wikis are best used in mathematics with
word problem solving tasks needing collaboration,
communication and group work rather than used in
daily homework, individual students' work or one
answer tests or exams (Zein & Majdalani, n.d.).
• Newlit.org was created for middle school teacher
professional development and sharing about wiki use
in language arts (Knobel & Lankshear, 2009).

9. Middle School Teachers
• Teachers should model use of digital tools so middle
school students develop digital citizenship (Miller,
Thompson, & Franz, 2009).
• Using academic social networks for collaboration
permits student active learning rather than passive
learning in language arts (Taranto, Dalbon, & Gaetano,
2011).
• Online discussions, such as discussion forums for
literature circles are engaging for middle school
students (Day & Kroon, 2010).

10. High School Teachers
• With job-embedded support on use of Web 2.0
tools, secondary teachers appreciate, value,
and use the tools for teaching and learning
(Murphy & Lebans, 2008).
• In a study by Crook and Harrison (2008), 74% of
students surveyed had social networking
accounts while 7.3% of teachers used a social
networking site in teaching and learning.

11. High School Teachers
• In a 2010 study, of 97% of classroom teachers
with access to technology only 64% of
secondary school teachers indicated they used
technology for teaching and learning (Gray,
Thomas & Lewis, 2010).

12. Methodology
• Quantitative
– Survey
– Self-reported use of Web 2.0 tools with students
• Descriptive Analysis to report teacher responses
– Elementary (PK-5th grades)
– Middle (6th-8th grades)
– High (9th-12th grades)

13. Quantitative Sample
• Distributed survey to 289 ETL graduates.
• 16 not valid email addresses
• 2 opt outs – not PK -12 educators
• Possible respondents - 271
• 110 completed survey – 40.5 % response rate
• Reporting specifically on the use of Web 2.0
tools with PK-12 students(Question #10)

14. Web 2.0 Usage Data
Tools Elementary Middle High
N=36 N=17 N=22
Google Tools 66.7% 100% 63.6%
Wikis 41.7% 82.4% 36.4%
Blogs 44.4% 82.4% 59.1%
Discussion Forums 19.4% 76.5% 22.7%
Twitter 8.3% 23.5% 4.5%
Facebook 8.3% 58.8% 4.5%
Wordle 47.2% 41.2% 27.3%
Animoto 50% 29.4% 31.8%
Slideshare 13.9% 47.1% 13.6%
Prezi 22.2% 41.2% 68.2%
Scratch 5.6% 29.4% 4.5%
Stykz 5.6% 21.5% 0%
None 13.9% 0% 4.5%

15. Results
• Middle School Teachers only group where 100% of
teachers use some sort of tool.
• Rank percent ordering revealed that at least 50% of
elementary teachers use Google tools (67.7%) and
Animoto (50%).
• Most middle school teachers used Google tools
(100%), Wikis (82.4%), Blogs (82.4%), Discussion
Forums (7 6.5%) Facebook (58.8%).
• High School teachers used Prezi (68.2%),Google tools
(63.6%), Blogs (59.1%).

16. Discussion
Conclusions
 Evidence supports the Kober and Lankshear
(2009) research from the National Middle School
Association that Middle School teachers are more
fully engaged in the use of Web 2.0 tools.
 Middle school teacher’s use of Web 2.0 tools,
particularly blogs and wikis appear to be
supported by the work of Knoble and Lankshear
(2009) concerning professional development
offerings that provide practical experience for
teachers.

17. Discussion
Implications
• Researchers should define Google tools and
examine the frequency and specific use of the
Google Tools.
• Researchers should investigate barriers that
might have prevented elementary and high
school teachers from using the Web 2.0 tools in
their classroom.

18. Discussion
Suggestions for Future Research
• More research related to the use of Web 2.0
tools in specific core content areas.
• Research related to the PK-12 implementation
as related to categories of Web 2.0 tools such
as problem-solving, communication,
productivity, and research.

19. References
• A survey of k-12 educators on social networking and content-sharing tools. (2009). Retrieved from
http://www.edweb.net/fimages/op/K12Survey.pdf
• Crook, C., & Harrison, C. (2008). Web 2.0 Technologies for Learning at Key Stages 3 and 4:
Summary Report. Retrieved from http://www.becta.org.uk
• Day, D., & Kroon, S. (2010). Online literature circles rock!" Organizing online literature circles in a middle
school classroom. Middle School Journal, 42(2), 18-28.
• Gray, L., Thomas, N., & Lewis, L. National Center for Education Statistics, (2010). Teachers’ use of
educational technology in u.s. public schools: 2009. Retrieved from website:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010040.pdf
• Hargadon, S. (2008). Moving Toward Web 2.0 in K-12 Education. Retrieved from
• http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/10/moving-toward-web-20-in-k-12-education/
• Karrer, T., (2006, September 22 ). Adoption of Web 2.0 and eLearning 2.0 Revisited [Web log post].
Retrieved from http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2006/09/adoption-of-web-20-and-elearning-20.html
• Knobel, M. & Lankshear, C. (2009). Digital literacies: Wikis, digital literacies, and professional growth.
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(7), pp. 631-634.
• MacArthur Foundation. (November, 2008). Living and learning with new media: Summary of findings from
the digital youth project. Retrieved from http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/files/report/digitalyouth-
WhitePaper.pdf
• Murphy, J., & Lebans, R. (2008). Unexpected outcomes: Web 2.0 in the secondary school classroom.
International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 4(2), 134-147.

20. References
• Miller, N. C., Thompson, N. L., & Franz, D. P. (2009). Proactive strategies to
safeguard young adolescents in the cyberage. Middle School Journal, 41(1), 28-34.
• Ravitz, J. L., Becker, H. J., & Wong, Y-T (2000). Constructivist-Compatible Beliefs and
Practices Among U.S. Teachers. Teaching, Learning, and Computing: 1998 National
Survey, Report 4. Center for Research on Information Technology and
Organizations, University of California, Irvine (July).
• Taranto, G., Dalbon, M., & Gaetano, J. (2011). Academic social networking brings web 2.0
technologies to the middle grades. Middle School Journal, 42(5), 12-19.
• Zein, R. & Majdalani, M. (n.d.). Implementation of blogs and wikis in a middle
school mathematics classroom: An exploratory case study. Retrieved from
Education and Information Technology Digital Library at
http://editlib.org/noaccess/40078.

21. For More Information:
Lamar University
Beaumont, TX
http://lamar.edu/
http://stateu.com/lamar/
Presentation URL: http://tinyurl.com/8ur7xzr

22. Contact Information
Sheryl Abshire, Ph.D. Cynthia Cummings, Ed.D.
sheryl.abshire@lamar.edu cdcummings@lamar.edu
Diane Mason, Ph.D. Kay Abernathy, Ed.D.
diane.mason@lamar.edu lkayabernathy@lamar.edu