Since the advent of e-learning, more and more schools and universities are encouraging the students to make use of the Web 2.0 tools and social networks to stay connected with their peers, teachers and guides.
It is said and accepted that a social network and a social networking environment can get the students prepared for their freshman year before the class commences. Through these, they can introduce each other over the net, call them and be friendly. It helps to choose one’s roommate too. One gets to know a lot about the campus, the people and the best hangouts around, through a second person’s perspective. It helps to break the ice and avoid the awkwardness.
Some universities go the length to introduce their professors too. it might so happen that you are just going to begin college, but classes will start only two weeks later, so how will you know about your professors? Here is the solution the colleges are offering; they will let you download videos of your professor. Therefore, you know how they look, what they teach and how they teach. But Apple’s iTunes faced some skepticism with the professors. They were skeptical to do so as they thought the students would circulate these videos and also valuable information. This is because although the Web 2.0 tools are free and great, you never know with young minds. Not much can be guided here.
Nevertheless universities like the Texas’s A& M University gets their professors to post videos which introduce them to the students, talk a bit about the research they have done and what their classes will entail.
The use of the tools does not end with the commencement of the classes at the university. Classrooms are generally boring places to learn. Its like students listen but hardly grasp anything. Therefore, professors are now taking a smart step. They are distributing videos and research material for their respective subjects online. This encourages students to indulge in further research and debates on similar topics in the classroom.
Blogs are of great help too. According to the tools offered by blogger, students can easily publish their works online. Therefore, this helps them to think out of the box and publish works which are completely theirs, original. They might not necessarily write stuff that their professors agree with, this is good as the students will learn to develop their own perspective. Students can further create audio files, videos and other items using the tools given by Web 2.0.
With blogs, students are encouraged to write poems, fiction stories, and posts about their day to day life and about their peers. If the blog becomes popular, it self motivates them to carry on writing. In a way it helps them to focus their thought processes and improve their writing skills. In a way this becomes like an emotional investment and is important even though the professors think otherwise.
Many university students are making the most of wikipedias. They read up about various authors, research topics and books on this free encyclopedia and then come prepared to class to present a strong critique of the subject or write their research papers.
If something is difficult like monitoring heartbeats in a doctor’s class, it can be done using the ipods. Surprisingly, the professors used to first distribute cds but now since a student suggested all of them are downloading it on to their ipods and doing well in their tests.
Some universities are using community TV and radio to fill in their students with relevant information. Therefore, a lot has changed since the coming of Web 2.0 and its tools.