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Web 2.0 tools are becoming a significant element in our lives and the impact on higher education institutions is great. An institution’s ability to meet student expectations related to the use of technology grows each year. The purpose of this study was to examine faculty use and perceived effectiveness of Web 2.0 tools for teaching and student learning. Faculty at the 19 Kansas Independent Colleges Association (KICA) institutions completed a survey instrument providing ratings of use and perceived effectiveness of four Web 2.0 tools. A quantitative descriptive survey research design was chosen for the current research study. Dependent variables included faculty members’ ratings of amount of use of four types of Web 2.0 tools (text-based, image-based, audio, and video) and their perceptions of these tools as effective teaching and learning tools on a survey designed for the study. The independent variables included in the research study were the faculty member’s age, years of teaching experience, primary teaching discipline, and employment status (full-time tenured, full-time tenure track, full-time non-tenure track, and adjunct/part-time). Forty research questions and 40 hypotheses guided the study. One sample t tests, and one-factor ANOVAs were used to test the hypotheses.The results of the study indicated that faculty almost never or never use the four types of Web 2.0 tools. In contrast, the results of the study showed that faculty agree the tools are effective teaching and student learning tools. Results of the data analysis indicated significant findings based upon primary teaching discipline and faculty employment status. Education faculty use text-based tools more frequently than Arts & Humanities, Biological Sciences, or Physical Sciences faculty. Business faculty use text-based tools more frequently than Biological Sciences and Physical Sciences faculty. Education faculty use image-based tools more frequently than Arts & Humanities faculty. Other Professions faculty use image based tools more frequently than faculty from Other Disciplines. Education, Arts & Humanities, and Business faculty use audio tools more frequently than Physical Sciences faculty. Education, Social Sciences, and Business faculty use video tools more frequently than Physical Sciences faculty. Adjunct/part-time faculty reported more frequent use of text-based tools than full-time non-tenure track, full-time tenure track, and full-time tenured faculty. Marginally significant results were found for specific variables related to number of years of teaching experience and employment status and faculty ratings of use of Web 2.0 tools.. Faculty with 10-14 years of teaching experience reported using image-based and video tools more frequently than faculty with 20-24 years of teaching experience. More frequent use of image-based tools by full-time non-tenured faculty than full-time tenured faculty was also a marginally significant finding. Age of faculty produced no statistically significant results related to frequency of use of any of the four Web 2.0 tools. Similar findings were noted for years of teaching experience and use of text-based and audio tools. Employment status also had no effect on faculty use of audio or video tools.Significant findings were reported for number of years of teaching experience, primary teaching discipline, and employment status, and faculty ratings of effectiveness of the four Web 2.0 tools. Faculty members with 25-29 years of experience rated the effectiveness of text-based tools higher than those with 30 or more years of experience. Faculty with 10-14 years of experience rated video tools as more effective than faculty with 15-19 or 20-24 years of experience. Education faculty had a significantly higher rating for effectiveness of text-based tools than Biological Sciences or Physical Sciences faculty. Adjunct/part-time faculty rated the effectiveness of text-based tools significantly higher than full-time tenure track and full-time tenured faculty. Ratings of effectiveness of audio tools by Arts & Humanities faculty were marginally higher than ratings of effectiveness by Physical Sciences faculty. No statistically significant findings were observed for ratings of effectiveness for any of the Web 2.0 tools based upon age of faculty members. Years of teaching experience did not impact ratings of effectiveness for image-based or audio tools. Primary teaching discipline had no impact on faculty ratings of effectiveness of image-based or video tools. No statistically significant results were noted for faculty employment status and ratings of effectiveness of image-based, audio, or video Web 2.0 tools.The findings of this study may be used by higher education academic and technology leaders to better understand faculty use and perceived effectiveness of four Web 2.0 technology tools. The results could also be valuable to state legislators as they consider the impact of the digital divide in higher education. Finally, donors interested in funding technology innovation related to instruction in higher education classrooms may be interested in the challenges related to faculty adoption and use of technology. |
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