A study of Web 2.0 applications in University websites

Abstract

Universities worldwide are embracing Web 2.0 applications to enable collaboration and knowledge creation, information aggregation and combination, as well as connection and socialization. However, there is lacking of work done hitherto to review and compare the extent to which Web 2.0 applications have been implemented in university websites globally. This study seeks to examine the prevalence and use of Web 2.0 applications from a sample of 120 university websites, consisting of equal number of public and private universities from North America, Europe and Asia regions. The Web 2.0 applications studied are grouped into three categories, namely collaboration and knowledge creation, aggregation and combination, as well as connection and socialization, and consist of blogs, wikis, social tagging, mashups, RSS, podcasts, social media sites including YouTube, iTunes and Flickr, and social network sites including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. The findings reveal that the three categories of Web 2.0 applications have been embraced in 97% of the university websites across the three regions, with universities in North America leading in the adoption of majority of Web 2.0 applications. Furthermore, the study shows the areas where Web 2.0 applications are being used, including teaching and learning, marketing, student services, and more.