How much time will it take?
Not as much as you think and probably less than working with a learning management system. However, it is a commitment of time, especially prior to semester when you are setting up the tasks and tools, getting familiar with them, perhaps even creating some initial content or outputs to show students what to do.
Curiously, however, the time invested before semester will probably be returned to you during the semester. Web 2.0 applications are about decentralising and disintermediating knowledge work – they enable students to become partners in the co-creation of knowledge (guided and supported) and reduce the time which academics must invest in being the sole authors of content.
For example: want to provide students with a very detailed reading list? You could spend several days on the task. Or, you could spend much less time, establish a Diigo group and set up a task which students will do for you (and, of course, for themselves). Your role becomes that of editor – commenting on their choices – rather than as sole author.
In most cases, I have selected tools which are specifically designed to be quick to take up – see my discussion of cohere for example). Thus the time equation is not simply “how long does it take to learn”? Rather it is, ‘where do I put my precious time to best effect?’
Further, you need to consider how the integration of knowledge networking activities into your own scholarly work can create a greater ‘fit’ between them and your teaching, saving time. Traditionally, scholars read, thought and wrote up their lectures to deliver to students. They would often have to do both research / analysis and teaching as distinct activities. However, the lecture can be replaced, effectively, by academics who maintain a consistent blog about the subjects which they teach. Students read those blog entries as the equivalent to the lecture – rather than the grim chore of writing lots of lectures, an academic can write once (on the blog) communicating their work both to the increasingly important online academic community and also to students.
Web 2.0 involves time spent to save time
Is it worth the effort?
Yes, it is. Every time I have tried something innovative with Web 2.0 I have had such a positive response from students that it is clear this approach does make a difference and works. Even if it simply increases students’ attention to their learning, then it is worth it. But, more often, Web 2.0 applications, used in a knowledge networking paradigm, make it easier to learn, and easier to learn more deeply. Every academic context will be different and you must undertake the work of assessing the benefits and costs, but the investment of time and effort will make a difference.
Moreover, the difference is not just in what applications you use, or what tasks you get students to do: the difference which becomes the return on your labours is a change in the culture and sensibilities of teaching so that they more fully embrace the thorough-going revolution in social affairs brought about by the Internet. A decade ago, academics were writing articles that pondered whether they should or should not use email: now, 10 years on, the self-evident requirement for email goes without saying. This kind of change has been occurring since the 1980s, but is now accelerating and expanding. As knowledge work changes, so too must learning and soon there will be no question about ‘is it worth it?’ but simply: how do I do it best, and efficiently. Looking to the world of Web 2.0 can, actually, make it easier and simpler to achieve and thus reduce effort, not create it.
A good example of the benefits from your efforts can be seen in this episode from COFA’s Learning to Teaching Online series:
