This chapter provides a review of the theoretical bases and international research on the uses of Web 2.0 applications for learning through collaboration. Web 2.0 applications empower users with a venue for personal expression, sharing, communicating, and collaborating with others, thus offering enriched opportunities for learning. In our review, we found evidence of engaging and effective uses of Web 2.0 applications such as blogs, wikis, collaborative documents and concept mapping, VoiceThread, video sharing applications (e.g., YouTube), microblogging (e.g., Twitter), social networking sites, and social bookmarking that applied contemporary and foundational educational theory. We also identified opportunities and challenges associated with learning through collaboration with Web 2.0 applications, which can inform research directions and areas to explore for ECT researchers.

1. Web 2.0 and Learning through Collaboration:
A Literature Review
AECT 2013
Anaheim, CA
Yu-Chang Hsu, Ph.D. & Yu-Hui Ching, Ph.D.
Assistant Professors
Department of Educational Technology
Boise State University
Barbara Grabowski, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita of Education
Penn State University

2. Theoretical Underpinnings Linked
to Web 2.0 Applications

3. Learning through Collaboration
(LtC)
Definition:
“Collaborative knowledge construction through
interaction with others and through situated
involvement in social, cultural, or professional
activities and contexts”
(Hsu, Ching, & Grawbowski, 2014)

4. Web 2.0 Educational Practices
Definition:
“Collaborative learning activities that use Web
2.0 applications for LtC”
(Hsu, Ching, & Grawbowski, 2014)

5. Six types of Web 2.0 educational
practices
• (a) Publishing and sharing learning progress and
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achievement
(b) Supporting and achieving collaborative tasks
(c) Making thinking, collaborative processes and
products visible through tangible artifacts
(d) Communicating ideas and disseminating artifacts with
multimedia capacity
(e) Social networking in authentic learning environments;
(f) Building communities of practice for learning in
authentic and meaningful contexts

6. (a) Publishing and sharing learning
progress and achievement
• Eight studies on Blogs (2005~2010)
o Chuang (2010)
o Ellison and Wu (2008)
o Ladyshewsky and Gardner (2008)
o MacBride and Luehmann (2008)
o Sharma and Xie (2008)
o Shoffner (2009)
o Tan et al. (2005)
o Xie et al. (2008)

7. (b) Supporting and achieving
collaborative tasks
• Two studies on Blogs:
o Fessakis et al. (2008)
o Philip and Nicholls (2009)
• Two studies on Wikis
o Vratulis and Dobson (2008)
o Wheeler et al. (2008)
• One study on Collaborative documents and
concept mapping
o Ching and Hsu (2011)

8. (c) Making thinking, collaborative processes and
products visible through tangible artifacts
• One study on VoiceThread
o Augustsson (2010)
• Two studies on Wikis
o Elgort et al. (2008)
o Zorko (2009)

9. (d) Communicating ideas and disseminating artifacts
with multimedia capacity
• Three studies on Video-sharing (YouTube)
o Haase (2009)
o Burnett (2008)
o Burke and Snyder (2008)
• One study on Microblogging (Twitter)
o Hsu and Ching (2011)

10. (e) Social networking in authentic
learning environments
• One study on Social Networking (Facebook)
o Kabilan et al. (2010)

11. (f) Building communities of practice for learning in
authentic and meaningful contexts
• One study on Blogs
o Luehmann and Tinelli (2008)
• One study on Social bookmarking (Diigo)
o Tu et al. (2008)

12. LtC with Web 2.0 Applications:
What Was Missing?
• Supporting Knowledge Construction and
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Meaning Negotiation
Shared Goals

13. Emerging Issues of LtC with Web
2.0 Applications
• Co-construction of Knowledge and the
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Affective Nature of Writing
Disparity in Perceptions Between Social
Space and Learning (Work) Space
The Balance Between Exploiting Technology
Affordance and Achieving Desired Learning

14. Image Source
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http://c4lpt.co.uk/Top100Tools/blogger.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/
Wikipedia_Logo_1.0.png/220px-Wikipedia_Logo_1.0.png
http://www.cathcollege.school.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/DocsIcon.jpg
http://voicethread.com/media/custom/voicethread_vt_logo_circle.gif
http://www.fws.gov/letsgooutside/media/
transparent_youtube_logo-1280x905.png
http://www.data.gov/sites/default/files/images/twitter-bird-lightbgs.png
http://jonbennallick.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Facebooklogo-ICON-02.png
https://www.diigo.com/

15. More Details About This Research
• http://link.springer.com/chapter/
10.1007%2F978-1-4614-3185-5_60
• http://goo.gl/AvEHOc

16. Contact
Dr. Yu-Chang Hsu
hsu@boisestate.edu