Comparative Study in Adoption of Web2.0 Technologies between Western and Arab Universities

8/7/2019 Comparative Study in Adoption of Web2.0 Technologies between Western and Arab Universities

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JOURNAL OF COMPUTING, VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2, FEBRUARY 2011, ISSN 2151-9617

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Comparative Study in Adoption of Web2.0Technologies between Western and Arab

UniversitiesMousmi Ajay Chaurasia

Abstract Internet collaboration technologies and Web2.0 have profoundly changed the way in which individuals, institutions andorganizations interact with each other. Internet environment are relatively new topic for academic institutions literature and can enhanceteaching and learning methods. This paper deals with how much Web 2.0 technologies are used in education. In this paper, a comparativestudy is being done to show the variation of usage and adoption of Web2.0 technologies in Educational purpose.

Index Terms Arab Education, E-learning, Web2.0 Applications, Western Education.

1 INTRODUCTIONN recent years, Web 2.0 technologies have becomeincreasingly sought in education settings to enhance

the learning and teaching process. The term Web 2.0was officially coined in March 2004 by DaleDougherty, a vice-president of OReilly media Inc.during a term discussion on a potential futureconference about the Web [1], [2]. According to thedefinition given by O'Reilly, Web2.0 is a networkplatform which crossways all Internet mechanism [14].The ERSC society (2008) explains that Web 2.0 permits

client to contribute and collaborate information online.Purposely, Web 2.0 smooths the progress of thecollaboration of online users, SNS (Social NetworkService) and the propagation of user generatedcontent. Moreover, Web 2.0 extends user roles frombeing just consumers of content to allowing them tobecome producers of information and data content,and extends that to even allowing their content to beshared with others.

Web1.0 was static web or about publishing,not participation where information is just providedby one end. In contrast, Web 2.0 is not a new step of

technology but it has the underlying ability for betteruser interaction and innovation [3]. Web 2.0empowered the common users to participate like invideo share websites, e-commerce websites, Mash-ups,Podcasts and torrents etc, where each user getslikelihood to post in a website one way or the other. Inthis technology end users dont need to install thesoftware they just have to go to the web and use theexisting content there [4]. Recent research has shown

that there are different advantages in incorporatingWeb 2.0 in educational settings, such as promotingstudents independent learning, allowing users toupdate and edit their data or information, and thefacilitation of accessible tools and web applications totarget users with varying technical and educationalbackgrounds. This sort of Web 2.0 networking puts thestudent straightforwardly in the midst of up to dateprofessional deliberations in a discipline, and allowsstudents to participate in professional practice andscaffold their learning with help from the mentor or

from genuine expert of the respective field. Web 2.0has been extensively used in various domains beyondeducation. Such as in businesses for marketing anddeveloping a brand in public services and in differentFederal Agencies or government organizations aroundthe world.

Web2.0 has cut the high cost of traditional enterprise toinstall, configure, maintain and upgrade the necessarysoftware. Web2.0 concept such as Blog, SocialNetworking, podcast, wiki, RSS (Really SimpleSyndication) and more service will appear in theendeavor applications to improve the relationshipsbetween the corporation and prospective. Web2.0 alsohas changed the production, using, sharing andmanipulation mode of information. Some services arevideos (e.g. You-Tube, Teacher Tube), sharing photos(e.g. Flicker, Picasa, Shutterfly), powerpoints(authorstream, slideshare) etc.. Meanwhile, Web2.0brings a revolution in education field.

Much of our understanding of usersperception towards learning technologies comes fromprior research concerning attitude towards theeffectiveness of e-learning and distance learning

systems. E-Learning is an electronic form of learningthat can be online or offline. It is increasingly beingadopted in developed countries for learning ineducation and enterprise sectors. While extensive

I

Mousmi Ajay Chaurasia, Information Technology Department, King

Saud University, Saudi Arabia.


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research has examined the benefits and challengeswith this type of learning and despite the fact that ithas been used since decades, its boundaries are farfrom clear [5]. E-learning includes the communicationtechnologies like E-mail, collaborative learning forums,E-boards, application sharing, real time tests and

evaluation, and video and audio streaming. E-learningis a media of learning with which any one can learn inany-time and in any-place.

Web2.0 has brought a real Internet revolutionin which reading and writing coexist, transmissionmodel is personalized, and creation method isstandardized, joint approach socialization, experienceway facilitation and media approachintensification[15]. Twitter proved to be an effectivetool for professional development and forcollaboration with students that can change the rules

of the courses and models good pedagogy responsiveto student's learning needs [16]. Tufts Universitycombined Google's mapping technology withinstitution of higher education (IHE) information tocreate a Mash-up complete with "satellite images,informative links and category searches" in order toprovide "a resource that enables prospective andcurrent students, staff, faculty, campus visitors,community members, and others to explore thecampus online and locate buildings and services"[17].In the same league, Duke University has developedmany applications including the interactive elements

of Web2.0 which is especially for student educationalpurposes. Students can store, update their lectures,discussions, interviews, and presentations ofrespective subjects [17].In the Arab world, majority of prior studies haveexamined general use of computers and internet usage[11], [12] and [13] but little research has been done onexamining the adoption, usage and effect of Web 2.0 inlearning contexts such as the micro-bloggingapplication (Twitter) [6], [7]. According to InternetWorld Stats 2010, Internet usage in Arab countriesvaries widely and reaches maximally up to only 88

percent in Bahrain [10].Even though the utilization ofcomputer education with the adoption of internetusage is encouraged by educators, however this comeswith new challenges that have been highlighted inrecent research in the local context, such as resistancefrom target populations and infrastructure issues [7],[8], and [9]. As the prior review has shown, Web2.0usage and adoption in educational sector is lesspropagated due to many challenges. Furthermore,Web2.0 adoption issues are in need of adequateexamination and further research. This papercontributes towards this need with an examination of

adoption and usage of Web2.0 technologies inuniversities to enhance the education process in thelocal context.

In this study, we examine the usage andadoption of Web 2.0 applications in teaching andlearning contexts. For examination purpose, top 100Arab universities is analyzed in which only top 50Arab universities is being compared with the top 50western universities. This paper is organized asfollows: Section 2 describes related work in the domainof applications of Web 2.0 adoption and diffusion inTeaching and learning methodology. Next Section 3describes the empirical methodology based onapplications of Web2.0. This is followed by itsadoption in topmost universities. Section 4 explainsthe results of Web2.0 usage in Arab universities and acomparative analysis between top 50 Arab andwestern universities.

2 METHODOLOGYThis is an interpretive approach, based on qualitative as

well as quantitative data analysis of the findings.E-learning implementation has many factors that canchange the attitude of the people to adopt this new modelof education. Furthermore, for empirical analysis, sampledata is collected from website of world rankeduniversities defined by webometrics 1

S.No

. Top 100universities of Arab World are being analyzed along withTop 50 western universities. However, comparativeanalysis will be based on top 50 universities from eachsection. Web2.0 applications are measured on the basis oftheir usage in universities .TABLE 1 contains the Web2.0applications on which our comparative study based.

TABLE1WEB2.0APPLICATIONS

Web 2.0Applications

S.NoWeb 2.0

Applications

1. Blogs 10. Moodle

2. Claroline 11. Myspace

3. Facebook 12. RSS

4. Flicker 13. Twitter

5. Foursquare 14. Vimeo

6. Futurity 15. W3C HTML

7. Gowalla 16. W3C CSS

8. I-tunes 17. You-Tube

9. Linked In -- -----

1http://www.webometrics.info/index.html
http://www.webometrics.info/index.htmlhttp://www.webometrics.info/index.htmlhttp://www.webometrics.info/index.htmlhttp://www.webometrics.info/index.html


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3 RESULTS &DISCUSSION3.1 Usage of Web 2.0 in universities

First we examine the general usage of web 2.0within the top ranking universities to obtain an overviewof most commonly used applications in these universities.TABLE 2 shows the top 5 universities from Arab worldalong with their usage of Web2.0.

TABLE2TOP5UNIVERSITIES&ITSUSAGEOFWEB2.0

APPLICATIONS

S.No. Name of University Web2.0 applications

1. King Saud University Facebook , Twitter

2.

King FahadUniversity Of

Petroleum &Minerals

RSS

3.King Abdulaziz

UniversityFacebook, Twitter,

You-Tube

4.Umm Al-Qura

UniversityRSS, Facebook

Twitter, You-Tube

5.Al-Najah National

UniversityTwitter, RSS

Likewise, TABLE 3 illustrates the adoption of Web2.0

applications in top 5 western universities.

TABLE3TOP5WESTERNUNIVERSITIESWITHITSWEB2.0

APPLICATIONS

S.No. Name Of UniversityWeb2.0

Applications

1. Harvard UniversityFacebook, Twitter,You-Tube, I-tunes

2.

Massachusetts

Institute OfTechnology

Facebook, I-Tunes,You-Tube, RSS,

Twitter

3. Stanford UniversityFacebook, Twitter,You-Tube, Futurity

4.Berkeley University

Of California

Facebook, You-Tube, I-Tunes, RSS

5. Cornell UniversityFacebook, Twitter,

Futurity

From TABLE 2 and TABLE 3 the difference ofadoption of Web2.0 technologies in top 5 universities can

be easily outlined. Topmost university in western regionhas adopted twice the number of Web2.0 technologies ascompared to Web2.0 technologies adopted by topmostuniversity in Arab world.

3.2 Arabic resultsIn our study, top 100 universities from Arab region areanalyzed based on their adoption of Web2.0 applicationin teaching & learning methodology. Furthermore,TABLE 4 describes the country wise usage of Web2.0 in

Arab region. TABLE4COUNTRYWISEUSAGEOFWEB2.0INARABREGION

Country Web2.0 Applications

Algeria RSS, Moodle, Claroline

Egypt

Facebook, RSS, Twitter,Flicker, You-Tube, LinkedIn, I-Tunes, W3C HTML,

W3C CSSJordan

Facebook, Twitter, RSS,You-Tube

Kuwait RSS

LebanonRSS, Facebook, Twitter,

Flicker, You-Tube,Moodle

MoroccoFacebook, RSS, Moodle,

You-Tube

Palestine Twitter,Facebook, Flicker,You-Tube, Moodle, RSS

Qatar RSS

Saudi ArabiaTwitter, RSS, Flicker, You-

Tube, Vimeo, Facebook

Somalia You-Tube

Tunisia RSS

United ArabEmirates

RSS

In continuation of investigation, TABLE 5 shows the top 5Web2.0 applications along with the first three countrieswith their highest usage. In Arab Countries, Saudi Arabia,Palestine and Egypt are the countries most commonlyaccepting the usage of Web2.0 applications in Learningand Teaching methodology.


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TABLE5TOP5WEB2.0APPLICATIONSWITHTOP3

COUNTRIESRESPECTIVELY.

Web 2.0 applications Countries

RSS Saudi Arabia,Palestine, Egypt

FacebookSaudi Arabia, Egypt,

Jordan

TwitterSaudi Arabia,

Palestine, Egypt

You-tubeSaudi Arabia,

Palestine, Egypt

Moodle/Flicker

(Morocco, Palestine,Algeria)/( SaudiArabia, Palestine,

Egypt)

3.3 Comparative AnalysisIn Comparative study, we proceed with the comparisonof top 50 universities from each section. This study showshow much is the variation exists in the usage ofapplications w.r.t. education in Arab & western region aswell. Moreover, this indicates the need of enhancement inthe Arab region. TABLE 6 shows the deviation of Web2.0usage of western universities in comparison with Arabuniversities.

TABLE6COMPARISONBETWEENUSAGESOFWEB2.0IN

WESTERN&ARABUNIVERSITIES

Web2.0applications

ArabUniversities

WesternUniversi

ties

UsageVariations

Blogs 0 5 ---

Facebook 11 41

Approximate400% morein westernuniversities

Flicker 4 11

Approximate300% inwestern

universities

Foursquare 0 2 ---

Futurity 0 5 ---

Gowalla 0 1 ---

I-tunes 1 212100% morein westernuniversities

Linked In 2 4200% morein westernuniversities

Moodle 2 0 ---

MySpace 0 2 ---

RSS 13 21


Twitter 11 41


Vimeo 1 1 0% variation

W3CHTML

1 0 ---

W3C CSS 1 0 ---

You-tube 8 32400% morein westernuniversities

TABLE 7 shows the total usage percentage of Web2.0applications of Arab and western universities. Followingformula is applied to obtain the desired result.

No. of Variety of Web2.0application in respective region

Total Usage Percentage =Total no. of Web2.0 applications

TABLE7TOTALUSAGEPERCENTAGEOF

WEB2.0APPLICATIONS

UniversityTitle

ArabUniversities

WesternUniversities

Total UsagePercentage

11/13 = 68.75% 13/16 = 81.25%

It has been observed from the systematicreview of Section 3 that four Arab countries Saudi Arabia,Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine has quite good usage andadoption of Web2.0 applications in their universities.Moreover, in the race of modern world, Saudi Arabia isleading followed by Egypt and Palestine in adoption ofWeb2.0 applications from Arab region. This has also been

proved from TABLE 5 which mentions the top 5 Web2.0applications usage in Arab universities with top 3countries of each application.

The sub-section 3.3 has comparative analyzed results


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between top 50 Arab and western universities in theirteaching practice with Web2.0 applications. Table 7depicts the total usage percentage of Arab and westernregion universities. Furthermore, though the Arab usagepercentage is not so far from western Web2.0 usage but,in the deeper side, there is large gap in their adoption inteaching and learning methods. Usage and adoption ofsocial networks in western universities are large innumber than Arab universities. Arab Universities has avariety of usage but those are not adopted by a largenumber of universities. It brings a clear picture fromTABLE 6 which shows the gap variations ranges from 0%to 2100% in handling Web2.0 applications. Mostapplications mention in western universities is havingapproximately twice the usage in Arab universities. Onother side, many applications are zero use in Arabswhereas they have good usage in western universities.Likewise, most of the applications are not being used(zero use) by western universities, on the same side, Arab

universities are also have low usage of those sameapplications. However, an individual Web2.0 applicationfetches our attention by conveying the message of hugegap in his adoption between Arab and westernuniversities.

4 CONCLUSIONIn this study, it is examined that the status of

Web 2.0 applications usage in education sectors isinadequate in Arab world, as compared to westernuniversities. The comparative study in this paper hasdemonstrated that the adoption of Web2.0technologies in education is in its early phases in Arabworld. Moreover, western universities are welldiffused in their adoption of Web2.0 technologies ineducation systems for the purpose of improving thelearning process and effective integration of newtechnologies. The diffusion of Internet adoption in theArab world suggests that Web2.0 has the potential toproliferate in a largely young population that isincreasingly proficient with technology and computer-mediated communication.

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Comparative Study in Adoption of Web2.0 Technologies between Western and Arab Universities