Abstract:

With the overwhelming technological innovations as Web 2.0 tools and their various integrations in education, instructors have struggled with the issue of these tools. While students report that social media tools assist them academically through collaborations, some instructors have expressed concerns that they encourage socializing and loss of educational focus. Blogs and Wikis have been investigated in various subjects however few researches have been done in Mathematics. The present paper examines the uses of Blogs and wikis in math middle school classes. Algebra and geometry lessons were implemented using these tools. Mixed methods research methodology was used with a sample of two math sections of 26 and 27 students respectively with the same math teacher. Data collection was done from students' surveys, focus group interview, class observation and teachers' interview. The themes emerging from this study are: students' uses versus teacher's uses of Web 2.0 tools; quality and quantity in Web 2.0 communication; quality of content and the balance between online and face-to-face in Web 2.0 learning and finally the teacher's role in Web 2.0 learning.

Keywords:

Math education, Blogs, Wikis, social media, e-learning.