Abstract:

Social media and other Web 3.0 technologies continue to evolve from Facebook to YouTube, Twitter, and WhatsApp among others, and these have been enriched by the growth of videoconferencing tools such as Zoom and Webex. The use of these technologies has previously been limited to informal uses such as social chats and entertainment. But just like any other technology, their use in business quickly spread as people found their strategic value. These tools are now used in the classroom to assist with normal discussion and commination, and also in more pedagogy-related uses such as discussions and collaborative forums. With the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, many Universities had to quickly adopt online learning and teaching as an emergency response. Correspondingly, today’s classroom is going through many changes than ever before. Dynamic educational changes are apparent in relation to how the traditional classroom have increasingly evolved to, flip, to blended and to fully technology-supported (online) classroom. Proponents of technology-supported classrooms think that technology (e-learning) can positively change the role of the teacher in the classroom. Conversely, the opponents think e-learning diminishes dynamic interactivity in ways that make learners become more of passive recipients of information. Researchers and educators continue to seek for better understanding on how these inevitable technological changes can be integrated into today’s classroom. Even as the debate raged on, the pandemic set in and many institutions of higher learning found themselves in trouble as they were in the middle of the semester. Graduating classes had to be halted. Beginners classes had to take a break even before the learners could get the gist of their courses. This paper re-examines how social media technologies have been used by both students and faculty to build interactivity and collaborative Learning, and how the use of these technologies enabled many Universities to continue with near-normal teaching during the Pandemic, Through a critical review of literature, the paper offers insights on effective use of social media as a strategy for promoting sustained interactivity which is a fundamental precursor to collaborative learning especially in e-learning (blended and online) environments, even in times of educational emergencies. It offers a perspective the critical success factors on what needs to be done to exploit the benefits of Web 3.0 in creating a suitable teaching and learning environment that mirrors and also augments a face-to-face classroom.

Keywords:

Blended learning, Collaborative learning, e-learning, Interactivity, Meaningful engagement, Social Media, Web 3.0 tools, Educational Emergencies.