Web 2.0 applications for engineering education: faculty members’ perception, barriers, and solutions

Abstract

Despite increasing the number of engineering departments and students in Iran, the quality of education is less than satisfactory. Regarding the huge potential of Web 2.0 applications, which is also known as Web 2.0 tools, Web 2.0 services, or social media, for improving the quality of teaching and learning, this study was undertaken to investigate the perception of the faculty members toward using these technologies for teaching and learning engineering, the ways they use these tools for educational aims, and the factors that influence. The systematic design of grounded theory method was followed to achieve the research objectives. In addition, the required data was collected through interview and questionnaire and NVivo 8 software was used to facilitate data analysis process. The results show that the faculty members use some of these applications occasionally for the sole purpose of obtaining information. The traditional teaching method, which is influenced by the instructors’ traditional mindset, traditional curricula, and organizational disregard for the quality of teaching, are the most salient factors. Also, instructors’ emotional barriers and limited access to these tools in Iran are subsidiary factors influencing the failure to use these tools for teaching engineering.