Use of Web 2.0 Technology in Higher Education in the Republic of Croatia 1

USE OF WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGY IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA[1]

Anita PRELAS KOVAČEVIĆ

Collegeof Virovitica, Matija Gupca 78, 33000 Virovitica

e-mail:

Tel:033/721 099; Fax: 033/721 037

Ivana VRHOVSKI

VERN' Universityof Applied Sciences, Trg bana Josipa Jelačića 3, 10000 Zagreb

e-mail:

Tel:01/ 4881838; Fax: 01/ 4881830

JosipBRITVIĆ

Collegeof Virovitica, Matija Gupca 78, 33000 Virovitica

e-mail:

Tel:033/721 099; Fax: 033/721 037

Abstract:

Ubiquityandavailabilityoftechnologyand ICT todayhassignificantimplications for highereducation. Educationandlearningprocesses are markedbythedynamicchangesandpioneeringeffortsandhavesignificantlyevolvedoverthelasthundredyears. Inthebeginning, learningprocesseswerelimited to writtenmaterials (handouts) thatweresent to students' homes, whichwasfollowedbythe use of radio andtelevision for teachingpurposes, all ofwhicheventuallymadeway for web-basedtechnologiesand led to digitallearning(Jamlan, 2004).Technologicalchangeshavesignificantlyaffectednotonlythelearningprocess but alsothevery role ofteacherand student inthelearningprocess. Web 2.0 technologyoffers a newandmodernapproach to education, a newwayofteachingandlearning, i.e. newmethodsused for exchangingideas, informationandknowledge, as well as for creationof own knowledgeinvirtualenvironment.

Inaddition to thetheoreticalpart, thispaperwillalsopresentthestudycarriedout at 14 institutionsofhighereducationin Croatia withthemaingoal to establish to whatextent web 2.0 technology is usedintheteachingprocessbyCroatianprofessorsinhighereducation.

Keywords: highereducation, ICT, web 2.0 technology

JEL classificationcodes: I290

Introduction

One of the basic human needs is the need to interact with other people. The ways, i.e. the means used to share ideas and information as well as knowledge constantly change and develop. In the past human network was limited to the so called face-to-face communication. However, birth of new (different) media has widened the reach of our communication. (Cisco Systems)[2]. In the opinion of Cisco's experts, communication, cooperation and interaction are the basis of modern education. Moreover, the wide spread of Internet as well as the development of the Internet-based technology (web 2.0. technology) have significantly influenced both the learning process and the role of the teacher and the student/pupil in the learning process – they have brought new forms of communication which help individuals create information accessible to a global audience, motivated the development of new teaching methods and lesson plans and programmes and thereby transformed education at large.

According to Sadaf, Newby and Ertmer, web 2.0 technologies (such as wiki, blogs, social networks, etc) have become a part of education primarily to meet the needs of the 21st century student, but also because of their value in the teaching and learning process since they enable new ways of cooperation, interaction and communication as well as create new possibilities for cooperating when creating content and sharing ideas and knowledge (2012). Furthermore, when using web 2.0 students are not passive recipients of information. They are actively involved in creating knowledge by exchanging information and experience (Orehovacki, Bubas, Konecki, 2009). Nelson, Christopher and Mims find that web 2.0 technology supports creative and group contribution and that it makes sense only if students are co-creators who develop their own knowledge (2009).

Instant messages, wiki, webcast, podcast, (web) blog, social networks, etc. are some examples of popular communication tools used in everyday life. INSTANT MESSAGES are a form of communication in real time among two or more people based on writing a text (CARNet[3], Cisco Systems[4]).WIKIare websites where anyone can add, change or connect content (from individual opinions to large team projects). They can be simple platforms for planning informal gatherings or large global projects such as Wikipedia. They can be used in business, e. g. as a solution for knowledge management, and their use in education is increasing (BosiljVukšić et al. 2009, CARNet[5]). According to Sadaf, Newby, Ertmer (2012)[6] wikis have many educational advantages. They conducted a research which showed that the majority of teachers (181 or 63.3%) think wiki improves learning. Fewer respondents (140 or 49%) think that wiki improves the overall grade and a similar percentage of teachers think that its most important advantage is user-friendliness (38.1%) and development of critical thinking via group learning.PODCAST stands for distribution of audio-or-video content such as radio programmes via Internet andWEBCASTing is live broadcasting via Internet[7]. (WEB) BLOG is a personal diary made public on the Internet. Aside from textual data, it contains other forms of information such as photographs, video clips, etc. where visitors can add their own comments (BosiljVukšićet al. 2009, p.106). SOCIAL NETWORKS have become a popular way of exchanging information and discussing issues, which is confirmed by the fact that millions use them to connect, meet and share information (Guorong, 2011; according toDiMicco et al., 2008). Online social networks enable users to meet new individuals from any part of the world without making physical contact. According to the authors of “A measurement-driven analysis of information propagation in the Flickr social network” huge amount of information and content has accumulated on the pages of social networks. The paper presented at the international World Wide Web conference in 2009 claims that ten hours of video material is uploaded on You Tube every minute and that Flickr contains over two billion photographs (Cha,Mislove, Gummadi, 2009).

Literature review

The interest from academic and business circles for the use of web 2.0 technology and information technology (IT) in general, has been on the increase which is evident in the increasing number of researchers in this area (e.g. Saeed, Yang, Sinnappan, Siau, Nah, Teng, Hutinski, Aurer, GligoraMarković, Rauker Koch, Frančić, Sigala, Sharma, Brady, Holcomb, Bethany, Badurina, Peters, Davidson, Sadaf, Newby iErtmer). The largest number of authors dealing with the area mentioned in their works use TAM model (eng. Technology Acceptance Model)[8] that is offered by Fred D. Davis in 1985 and according to him, there are two main factors for the creation of attitude towards the use and acceptance of IT, such as: perception of ease of use (or the expected ease of use), which implies a degree of belief that an individual will be able to use it without physical or mental effort and efficiency, and the degree to which the user expects the target system does not pose any effort and perceived usefulness of the application (or expected utility) which represents a degree of belief that an individual will use IT to increase its performance and represents the subjective probability that using a specific application system to improve its work within the organizational context (Badurina, 2010:45, according to Davis, 1985, p.81, Sigala, 2002 according to Davis and co-workers, 1989, p. 985,Chuttur, ns.). These authors, but also many others who are working in this area (for example, Ma, Andersson, Streith (2005), Sadaf, Newby, Ertmer (2012), Saeed, Sinnappan, Sadaf, Newby, Ertmer (2012)) have indicated that the expected utility and ease of use are important factors that affect the intent of the teachers to use technology in the teaching process.

However, it should be noted that in these studies, the authors mention the model applied in different contexts, for example Sigala TAM model is used to identify the factors that determine the level of acceptance and use of Internet tools (ie web, email and online forums) in teaching tourism and hospitality Badurina the acceptance of e-systems at the Faculty of Philosophy in Osijek, Sadaf, Ertmer and Newby as Saeed and Sinnappan to identify factors influencing the intention to use web 2.0 technology (wikis, blogs, podcastings, social networks) in the teaching process.

Also one of the research areas of application of Web 2.0, the educational process included a determination of purpose and intensity of use of web tools in the teaching process. So a survey conducted by Marianna Sigala (2012) on a sample of 82 subjects showed that teachers commonly used Internet tools to improve the teaching materials (search for articles, data collection activities and the publication of lecture notes)2, while according to research conducted by GligoraMarković, Rauker Koch and Frančić (2012) teachers usually use PPT presentation, then audio and video content. However, it should be noted that the teachers of this research expressed a very positive attitude towards tool 2.0 (61.46% of them plan to use interactive presentations, sharing audio and video content 57.29%, 44.79% wiki, photo-sharing 43.75% online notes 35.42%, 35.42% LMS, social network 34,38% and blog 19,79%)[9]. A survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2008 on a sample of 189 respondents who come from areas of higher education, showed that most respondents use online courses (71%), text messages / notifications (66%) and document management (66%) in the teaching process. Software intended for cooperation / collaboration uses 59% of respondents, while a slightly smaller percentage (56%) use social networks. Podcast in the teaching process uses 53% of respondents, while the lowest percentage of respondents said they use blog (44%) and wikis (41%).

Furthermore, Sadaf, Ertmer and Newby came to conclusion that wiki had many pedagogical benefits. For example, according to the results of the study the majority of teachers (181 of them, or 63.3%) considers that wiki improves or enhances students' learning. A somewhat smaller number of respondents (140 or 49%) considered that the wiki improves the final success of the student while almost the same percentage of respondents considered as the most important pedagogical advantage the ease of use / sharing of content (38.1%) and the development of critical thinking through cooperative learning (37, 8%)[10].

Research methodology

The main goal of this paper was set based on theoretical insights into the importance of incorporating web technology into the teaching process as well as the possibilities it creates. Consequently, the aim is to establish to what extent Croatian professors at tertiary level use 2.0 technologies in the teaching process. The research questions were as follows:

• Which information-communication technology do the respondents use?
• How satisfied are the respondents with the quality of Internet access in their institution?
• How much do the respondents use the Internet weekly?
• At what time do the respondents most commonly use the Internet?

The research was carried out via an interactive online questionnaire designed according to the requirements of the new methodology for scientific and professional papers. The research was conducted in 14 institutions of higher education (HEI) in Croatia, i.e. in 3 (out of 30) university colleges of applied sciences, 4 (out of 15) universities of applied sciences and 7 (out of 67) universities according to the Agency for Science and Higher Education (AZVO). The target group of this research wereprofessors since they are the most important medium for implementing ICT in the teaching process, hence web 2.0 technology.

The results were analysed by the statistical package SPSS 19.0. Before explaining the answers to the research questions, a descriptive statistics of each variable for the whole sample was calculated.

The questionnaire was completed by 101 respondents and 98 were used in the further analysis. 3 questionnaires were excluded from the analysis because they were incomplete (e.g. the respondents answered only the first two questions about the type of the HEI. The following table shows the sample structure in the three types of universities where the data was collected.

Table 1. Results from the three sampling locations

Out of the total number of respondents (98) the highest number came from universities, 38 which amounts to 37.76% of the total, then from universities of applied sciences (33) which is 33.67% and finally, 26 or 26.53% from university colleges. 72 (73.47%) of respondents were from state, and 26 (26.53%) from private universities.

Male and female respondents were almost equally represented in the sample (47% of the respondents were male and 53% were female). However, as regards the institutions where the data was collected the highest number of female respondents (51%) came from universities, then from universities of applied sciences (37.30%) and 11.80% came from university colleges. 47.80% of male respondents came from university colleges, 30.40% from universities of applied sciences and 21.70% from universities.

As to the repondents’age, the highest percentage belong to 31-40 age group (35.71%), 34.69% belong to 30 age group followed by 15.30% of respondents belonging to 41-50 age group, 10.20% to 51-60 age group, and finally, only 4.06% of respondents belong to 60 age group.

Concerning the respondent profile as well as the positions they hold, the majority of the sample are lecturers (35%) followed by teaching assistants (23%) and assistant professors (8%). The number of senior lecturers (6%) and associate professors (5%) is not as high. Sub-department and department heads, senior teaching assistants as well as respondents who described themselves as teachers account for 4% of the total each. Tenured full professors and external associate professor account for 2% and the smallest number of respondents (1% each) were a vice-dean, a full professor, an associate teacher, a librarian/lecturer and other staff.

Research results

In order to find out which IC technology is available and used by professors at HEIs in Croatia, a multiple choice question was set. Table 2 shows how the respondents were divided, according to their answers.

Table 2. Division of respondents according to their answer about IC technology they use (N=98)

According to the questionnaire, the most common ICT categories are portable computer (88.8%) and PC (71.4%). 39.8% of respondents use the so called smart phone, whilst a very low percentage of respondents use tablets (17.3%). Only 1% answered none of the mentioned, and the answer other was not recorded.

In order to implement and use the IC technology and consequently web technology in teaching adequately it is important to have a satisfactory Internet access. Since professors are the main media for integrating, i.e. implementing web technology in the teaching process, the question was set so as to what extent (from 1 – very dissatisfied to 5- very satisfied) professors were satisfied with the quality of Internet access in the institution they work for. The following table shows the frequency of the chosen variables.

Table 3: Frequency of satisfaction with Internet access in home institution

The majority of professors (43 or 44.3%) were very satisfied with the quality of Internet access in their home institution and a smaller number (35) who account for 36.1% of the total were satisfied. 11 respondents (11.3%) were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the quality of Internet access in their home institution, only 7 respondents (7.2%) were very dissatisfied and 1 respondent was dissatisfied with the quality of Internet access in their home institution.

In order to obtain insight into how much time professors spend actively using Internet the question was set so as to how much time do you actively use Internet weekly? with the following choices: less than 1 hour, 2-3 hours, 4-5 hours and more than 6 hours. The respondents could choose only one of the provided answers.

Table 4 Respondents according to their answers to the question:

The highest number of respondents (68) answered that they actively use Internet for 6 or more hours per week. 14 respondents use Internet 4-5 hours a week and the same number of respondents use Internet 2-3 hours. Only 1 respondent actively uses Internet for 1 hour or less. These results were expected since the majority of respondents belong to the up to 40 age group.

Table 4 shows that the majority of professors spend more than 6 hours of their time actively using Internet. In order to find out when exactly professors use Internet, at work or in their free time, a question was set. Table 5 shows how it was answered.

Table 5. Respondents according to their answers to: When do you usually use Internet?

Table 5 shows that the majority of respondents usually use Internet at work (69.1%), and almost half that number (30.9%) said they usually use Internet in their free time.

According to the data provided by Gfk Croatia[11], a majority of respondents usually use Internet at home (87%) and only 10% at work. However, since the employment status of the Internet users is not clear, it cannot be concluded with certainty that this population significantly differs from general population of similar age in Croatia.

The development and implementation of web2.0 technology in teaching requires new ways of teaching as well as an innovative and productive application of knowledge. Since some of them have been used in education so far (such as podcast, webcast and blog) a question was set in order to obtain the information on how often professors use web 2.0 in class (blogs, wiki, podcast, webcast, online lectures, social networks, text messages, software for cooperation/collaboration, document management). The respondents were supposed to grade each variable from 1- never to 5-very often). Furthermore, if the respondents use something not mentioned, an option something else was also included as a possible choice. Descriptive statistics of the mentioned variables is shown below.