AN INVESTIGATION OF USES AND GRATIFICATIONS FOR USING WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING

Abstract

Although the use of Web 2.0 in higher education has been a hot topic for the last decade, alack of guidelines on how to use Web 2.0 tools has constrained their wider adoption. Therefore,understanding why and how educators use Web 2.0 is a necessary step towards promoting theireffective use in teaching and learning. This study draws upon the uses and gratificationsperspective to explore faculty members’ uses of Web 2.0 tools in instructional processes in aninternational higher education context. We gathered data from 15 faculty members via semistructuredinterviews as part of a phenomenological study design applying maximum variationsampling. We analyzed the data using content analysis. The results indicated that the facultymembers were selective in their use of Web 2.0 tools and utilized a variety of Web 2.0 tools togratify their cognitive, affective, social integrative and personal integrative needs in relation toinstructional processes.