Abstract:

The World Wide Web (WWW) has been evolving in the past few years from a passive medium to active and participatory platform. Early users of WWW have to contend with the vast amount of information being presented on the web. But in recent years the characteristics and mode of operation of the web has been changed and users are able to contribute directly into the web sites in multimedia forms and the concept commonly known as Web 2.0 has emerged. Web 2.0 has far reaching effects on the users for its ability to hold user generated content, share and collaborate in real-time and create a new social media culture. From the perspective of users, Web 2.0 has changed the functionality of the internet from ‘read only’ to the ‘read/write’ environment. Educators have been integrating the web technology in their teaching with some success. Today internet and WWW are indispensable tools in any classroom, from primary schools to the tertiary institutions. The versatility of this technology and its usefulness in educational context has been well documented as we shift from instructivist approach to constructivist and collaborative paradigm.

While there are bright prospects in using technologies in the classrooms, obstacles still exists in the effective integration of technologies in the classrooms. These include inadequate technology infrastructure, lack of administrative support, and readiness of the teachers who will adopt the technology. A study was conducted to explore the familiarity and readiness of Web 2.0 technologies among in-service teachers in the Kingdom of Bahrain. A questionnaire in Arabic language was developed to measure their perceptions and self-efficacy about the technology using semantic differential scales. The questionnaire includes 5 items on familiarity, 17 items on readiness and 30 items on self-efficacy. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were examined and the results produced the evidence of homogeneciy within the items. The correlations between the background variables such as technology training, years of teaching experience and self-efficacy scores were also explored. This paper reports findings from the study and provides implications and suggestions for using Web 2.0 technologies in the classrooms and designing continuing professional development activities for teachers.

Keywords:

Web 2.0, Computer self-efficacy, Computer supported collaborative work, Professional development.