Applying Web 2.0 tools in hybrid learning designs

This chapter explores how educators can harness the potential of a new wave of social software to respond to the challenges of tertiary education in the new millennium, by combining the interactivity and immediacy of face-to-face instruction with the openness, connectivity, and flexibility afforded by the new tools and technologies. It also argues for a new conceptualization of “hybrid” or “blended” learning in the Web 2.0 era, and presents a number of exemplars of Web 2.0-based hybrid learning that typify the emergence of a new pedagogy for the digital age. Finally, it concludes with a discussion of the issues, barriers, and dilemmas that exist in implementing an effective hybrid approach to learning within a formal education setting.