Introduction

Take a look around the next time you are walking through the lobby of your school or workplace. You will likely see people texting on their phones, typing at their laptop, surfing with their tablet, listening to their MP3 player, or coordinating a combination of these tasks. Is there any doubt that we live in a digital world? The past 15 years have seen the Internet become a powerful tool for networking, disseminating information and news, and teaching. When the Internet was conceived, it was hoped to be a “collaborative medium, a place where we [could] all meet and read and write” [1]. The original version of the Internet, known as Web 1.0, was inherently complex and required the skills of experts to post content. After content was written and placed online, end users could read it but they could not interact with what they saw. Around the turn of the century, new publishing tools allowed anyone with access to a computer to create, edit, and read content. These tools are collectively known as Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is not a new technology but rather a new approach to how users interact and share information on the Internet. Web 2.0 applications allow users to gather, combine (i.e., mashup), and collaborate on large amounts of information using images, text, video, and audio recordings. Web 2.0 makes it very easy for anybody to start a podcast, a blog (i.e., a Weblog), or forum where people can go to read, listen, watch, or learn about topics they find interesting. Web 1.0 consisted mainly of static web pages that were rarely changed; Web 2.0 consists of dynamic content that changes often and responds to those who are viewing the information. Web 1.0 is to Web 2.0 as a billboard is to interactive television. Now anyone can control what they see, when they see it, and how they see it.

Educators should be well versed in the use of these tools. The potential uses of these tools are discussed in the following.

• Communication. Journals dedicated to education exist, but novel curricular innovations that may not meet the criteria for standard publication are emerging across the country. Using Web 2.0 tools, we can share our experiences and gather feedback from our peers, perfecting our work and disseminating useful tools to push education forward without the typical time lag that plagues publications. Communication is not limited to prose, which often proves to be a difficult way to teach complex or visual tasks. Audio recordings, videos, photos, and large documents (which are difficult or prohibitively expensive to publish in print media) can be published on Web 2.0. Learners can use these tools in a similar way. They can post their thoughts, experiences, and reflections onto a blog and receive feedback from peers or teachers. Knowing that an audience is reading their work may stimulate the learner to try harder to perfect what he or she is trying to communicate [2].
  
• Collaboration. Online tools allow educators and students to work on a single document or project at the same time from remote locations. You can now collaborate on a publication with colleagues in other countries and immediately see their additions, deletions, and edits while speaking to them over a videoconference call that appears as a small window on your computer screen. The delays inherent in standard delivery services (e.g., postal service, FedEx) can now be avoided during the collaborative process.
  
• Dissemination of information. The Internet and Web 2.0 make it extremely easy to share and disseminate your latest project, lecture, or publication with minimal expense and incredible speed. A video of a lecture or a podcast can be shared with millions of viewers simultaneously on the Internet, at no cost to the lecturer. These days, a great lecture does not have to be limited to a single institution—it can be shared with the world!

This chapter provides information on how Web 2.0 applications and technology can be used to facilitate learning. Today’s learners tend to be easily distracted and are quick to experience boredom. Web 2.0 can help hold their interest, reinforce important principles by incorporating test questions into a presentation, and augment a presentation with video or sound recordings. Whole books have been written on many of the topics that we discuss, so consider this chapter as a primer to encourage you to read more about the technologies that are available.

“Really Simple Syndication” or “Rich Site Summary”

Web 1.0 websites forced the reader to return often to check for updates. In many cases, there were no updates, so the reader’s time was wasted. RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) saves time by “pushing” updates automatically to interested readers via “feeds.” RSS has become widespread on many websites, particularly news, journal (Table 9.1), wiki, and blog sites. With RSS, users can stay up to date with new content from more sources in less time [1, 3].

Table 9.1 Emergency medicine journals offering RSS feeds.

Feeds are short summaries of new information, similar to headlines in a newspaper. The feeds are aggregated and read through a reader or feed aggregator. Feeds can be set to restrict searches based on keywords and time. This helps readers avoid “information overload” and allows them to control the amount and type of content that is pushed to them. On the basis of the information in the feeds, readers who are interested in the full story can click on the headline and the remainder of the article will be displayed. Many Internet browsers now incorporate an aggregator. Many freestanding programs and mobile applications are available for free and make RSS reading easy (Table 9.2).

Table 9.2 RSS aggregators.

From the perspective of an educator creating content, RSS allows students to instantly receive updates on the availability of new information, such as schedules, photos, videos, and blog posts.

Wikis

A wiki (derived from the Hawaiian word wiki wiki, meaning fast) is a website that allows content to be edited, created, or removed by multiple users [3]. The best known commercial version of a wiki is “Wikipedia,” which has become a de facto encyclopedia of information [4]. Because anyone can contribute, edit, or remove information, wikis are well suited to collaborative learning. Some uses of a wiki are listed in Table 9.3.

Table 9.3 Uses of a wiki.

FAQs, frequently asked questions.

Adult learners bring their own interests and experiences into the learning encounter [5]. Wikis take advantage of this concept by allowing the learner to contribute to the “knowledge” available on the website. Wikis allow multiple contributors to maintain the quality of information. This is similar to the peer-review process for manuscripts, except that there are far more reviewers than would be involved in a normal peer review. Critics have cast doubt on the ability of an open website to maintain quality; however, several studies have compared Wikipedia with the online Encyclopedia Britannica (Web 1.0 based) and found equal accuracy in their content [3].

Wikis can be customized by the site administrator. Wikis can be made private, allowing only invited individuals to contribute, or they can be open to the public. Varying levels of access can be set to limit users’ ability to read, edit, delete, or start new articles. Individual pages or articles can be linked to an RSS feed. This informs authors of changes made to their page. In theory, this helps with the peer-review process and to catch and correct inaccurate statements rapidly.

Wikis are the most involved of the social media tools, but they are easy to use even by people with limited experience. The first step in starting a wiki is to find a site to host it. Many sites are available for little to no cost (Table 9.4). Next, determine the level of openness: public access (anyone can read or edit), read only (nobody is allowed to contribute, edit, or delete other than the administrator), or private (readers must be invited). For a minimal fee, most host services allow the creator/administrator to create a dedicated domain name (e.g., www.yourname.com).

Table 9.4 Wiki sites.

Once the wiki is created, the author(s) can begin to create and edit pages. Wiki hosts have online tools to assist with this process. In the most basic form, the host provides an online “word processor” into which the author can type the content. The interfaces are designed to make it easy to create and link pages, change the layout (using one or multiple columns), change the background color or image, and import rich content such as music, images, video, and documents.

Blogs

Blogs have become quite popular with emergency physicians. Life in the Fast Lane, one of the original blogs with an emergency medicine theme, now hosts a growing directory of emergency medicine blogs as well as a weekly summary of their posts. Some recommended emergency medicine blogs are listed in Table 9.5.

Table 9.5 Recommended emergency medicine education blogs.

The following lists examples of the uses of a blog for educational purposes.

• A clerkship director can create a blog that outlines expectations for incoming students, gives examples of poor and well-done presentations, provides maps of the department and the hospital, and posts schedules.
  
• A teacher can have students blog for the purpose of gauging their knowledge or reflecting their abilities [6]. This may prove to be a beneficial method of remediation for learners.
  
• A residency director could use a blog to generate discussions about medicolegal, ethical, or difficult cases. The same blog could be used to notify residents about upcoming conferences, indicate changes to the curriculum, and announce social events.

Before beginning to blog, it is helpful to decide the purpose of the blog and how the technology will enhance learning. A blog with a specific theme is more likely to generate a following than if it is random thoughts or diatribes. A blog can be set up in minutes using one of the hosted sites listed in Table 9.6. A post can be created by using the site’s online word-processing tools and by sending an email to a specific address that is provided during the setup process; mobile applications can be used to post more frequently (“mobile blogging”) [4]. Most sites permit the uploading of videos, audio, and photos. Once a post is uploaded, it will appear as its own page, with an option for viewers to leave comments at the bottom of the page.

Table 9.6 Blog-hosting sites.

Microblogging

Microblogging is easy to learn and use. After an account is created, you can begin posting immediately. Tweets can be simple text or can link the reader to web pages, articles, images, or video [3]. You can “follow” other members, which means you will be updated whenever they post something new. Followers can receive updates through the twitter.com website, SMS (text message), email, and several twitter applications.

Twitter can be used in many ways. The use of a URL shortener (Table 9.7) allows a user to post links to websites while adding some descriptive text. Twitter has been used in emergency medicine to keep followers aware of updates with disaster preparedness, politics, and news [7]. Within education, Twitter has been used to ask board-style questions, share links to online learning resources, and, similar to RSS, post updates about changes to websites. Twitter has also served as a method to share information being presented at meetings. At a recent meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), attendees posted several hundred tweets to keep interested followers up to date with event happenings, presentation information, and reviews of featured speakers.

Table 9.7 URL shorteners.

Podcasts

1. the author creates and edits a podcast;

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