Adoption of Web 2.0 Technologies in Education for Health Professionals in the UK: Where are we and why?

Rod Ward, Pam Moule and Lesley Lockyer
University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

This paper describes the findings about the use of Web 2.0 technologies in the education of health professionals in the United Kingdom (UK). The work is part of a wider study scoping the use of e-learning.
Its objectives were to:

* Explore issues influencing implementation and use by both early and late adopters
* Identify barriers to implementation and good practice
* Review the employment of e-learning within curricula representing a range of teaching models

In phase one, a postal survey obtained data from 25 higher education institutions relating to their uptake and development in this field. A second phase identified four case studies, two from early and two late adopters, reflecting the features identified from phase one. In the case studies, interviews and focus groups with students and staff were conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the issues which were significant to them.
The main findings suggested e-learning development and use varies, with a spectrum of employment across the sector. The predominant engagement is with instructivist learning approaches managed through a Virtual Learning Environment with only limited experimentation in interactive learning online.
This paper will discuss the findings from the study where they relate to the limited use of Web 2.0 technologies. It will include a discussion on the moral, legal and ethical implications of current and future developments.

Keywords: web 2.0, survey, case study, e-learning, web based learning

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