EXPLORING THE USES OF BLOGS AND WIKIS AS TEACHING AND LEARNING TOOLS IN MATHEMATICS: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS

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. The present paper examines the uses of Blogs and wikis in two math middle school classes. 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.