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EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES, BENCHMARKING, AND VALUING: 

THE DILEMMA OF THE BANDWAGON 

 

Christine Sabieh 
csabieh@ndu.edu.lb  

Notre Dame University, Lebanon 

 

Abstract : 
Given continuous exposure to the idea of being an emergent culture, the 

technology bandwagon of today is left to open criticism – more negative than 

positive. The environments, framed wherein tech-based or tech-supported 

teaching/learning mediums are created, continue to be observed for effectiveness. 

My input would be to question what kind of measurement is being applied to the 

assessment to benchmark for effectiveness. Rhetorically, what makes for a 

decision of effective benchmarking? The benchmark is considered effective in 

relation to what or in relation to whom or in relation to when? I believe 

benchmarking the mediums as effective may only happen when the observation 

addresses the way the tech is used. The purpose of the paper is threefold. The 

first purpose is to address the major ―emerging technologies‖ to advance what 

they are briefly, ground them and discuss their effectiveness as tools to enhance 

learning and as means to enhance the methodology of teaching and of learning. 

The second purpose is to address the value of the ―emerging technologies‖ to 

enhance learner centered teaching/learning environments, such as active learning, 

exploratory learning, discovery learning. The third purpose is to question what 

is/are the determining force(s) that warrant(s) the use of such technologies in the 

mediums. Given that present in the mediums are the educational leaders – 

administrators or educators--and the technologies, be they used for tech-based or 

tech-supported purposes. It is concluded that educators must make conscious 

decisions as to how and what the ―emerging technologies‖ are doing to add value 

to the any given teaching/ learning environment. Educators must act accordingly. 

 

 Keywords: Culture, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), Web 2.0 

 

 

Given continuous exposure to the idea of being an emergent culture, the technology bandwagon 

of today is left open to criticism – more negative than positive. For the past two decades, the West 

has significantly increased in its use of technology in education (Sabieh, 2008; Good 2007; 

Maloney, 2007). It is a World where emerging technologies ―spank trends that spawn and evolve 

at nearly the speed of light, so the evolution […] is very much in flux, and the ultimate form they 

will evolve into is hard to predict‖ (Waters, 2008, p. 7). Emerging technologies, according to Tim 

O‘Reilly, the key player in the creation of Web 2.0, is what he terms the ‗bleeding-edge 

information age movement‘ that is revolutionizing the way the internet today is to be used 

making it no less than a global platform for everything to tie together collective mental diversities 

(Good, 2007).  

 

Setting a stage 

 

We live in an area of the world given the label of an emergent culture. By definition, culture is 

communication and communication is ‗culture behavior‘ learned to give definition to a way of 

life (Culture, 2008a; Culture, 2008b). Social science researchers note that people are what they 

learn. Cultural determinism places no limits on human abilities to do or be whatever they want, 

mailto:csabieh@ndu.edu.lb


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and what that is can only be perceived by them as being right. Cultural awareness of the diverse 

environments allows the communities to decide on the practices or ways and commitments. Thus, 

the perception of what is right is relative to the society and this perception becomes central in 

negotiating or adapting to change if it is to happen (Culture, 2008a). Yet the label of emerging or 

emergent cultures continues to be applied. Does the justification of being given such a label 

automatically set forth for us the need to reformulate and mark out the oneness with the rest 

emerged cultures. Ikegami (2000) notes caution is needed. Sabieh (2003a) advocates we need to 

ask ourselves, to what degree do we share our beliefs, ways, acts with the others in the world – 

specifically the West? To what degree do we live and think like the others? To what degree do we 

social interact with the others, exchange and use the symbols they do? To what degree has all of 

this become internalized due to conscious or unconscious learning of habits and ways of thinking 

and doing? Is it taken for granted that we have, and is it natural for us to do what is being done in 

the West? So, being alluded to as an emergent culture, the technology bandwagon we are on 

today may be left to open-criticism – such criticism is usually more negative than positive. Our 

thinking is not the same . Our values, habits, and customs are not the same 

 

To what degree are our educational framework, philosophies and methods of teaching the same as 

others in the West? Given this, to what degree can the use of technology as the West uses it be the 

right use in our environment even though learning is seen as a social process integrating ―socio-

cultural-techno‖ influences (Stahl, 2000) on what is learnt? 

 

Deciding to Benchmark on Effectiveness  

 

I believe the education environments, framed wherein tech-based or tech-supported 

teaching/learning mediums are created, continue to be observed for effectiveness in any setting – 

East or West (Sabieh, 2002). As more and more technologies are used in the education set ups, 

change in the ways of thinking, teaching and learning are to happen (Maloney 2007; Sabieh, 

2003b). Technology to be used to deliver the content is a fact of the past. Educators and students 

use the technology of tools to enhance and support course management and learning. To most, 

especially in our culture, this course management frame is wherein the learning acquisition, not 

putting the students at the center, lies. Accommodating the diverse learning styles is what Web 

2.0 – the latest evolution of the web, does today (Maloney 2007; Read Write Web, 2003).  Since 

this is taking dominance in the West, does this make the grounds for us to follow them? Is this 

what globalization means? All cultures of the world become one – following the West? 

(Sociocultural evolution, 2008).  

 

Are we creating virtual communities in education settings when we use technology in the 

classrooms? Are we creating a cyber-culture because of the social conditioning being created due 

to the continued computer use (Cyberculture, 2008) or are our network users within and among 

the others preserving their existence as defined entities? According to Petrides (2002), K-12 and 

universities are concerned with this issue and with what is being created due to the influence of 

technology in education. My input would be to question what kind of measurement is being 

applied to the assessment to benchmark for effectiveness. Rhetorically, what is effective 

benchmarking? I believe that the benchmark is considered effective in relation to what it 

measures or in relation to whom it measures it on or in relation to when it is doing the measuring? 

In other words, the benchmark should be made in relation to the educational setting. The 

benchmark should be made in relation to who is the user of the technology – the educator or the 

students. The benchmark should be made in relation to where the technology is to be used – be it 

education setting or home use.  

 



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I believe benchmarking the medium of teaching/learning as effective may only happen when the 

observation, or the observer benchmarking, addresses the way the tech is used (Sabieh, 2003b). 

Petrides (2002) looked at the ways technology – specifically web based technology – was used as 

a tech-support tool in the classroom. Observing that the use of the technology can not be a 

delivery tool as such, the technology had to be used to create support in the environment to make 

the teaching/learning focus purposeful, holding an active place in the students‘ learning process 

(Petrides, 2002).  

 

Advancing the Purpose 

 

The purpose of the paper is threefold. The first purpose is to address the major ―emerging 

technologies‖ -- to advance what they are briefly, to ground them and to discuss their 

effectiveness as tools to enhance learning and as means to enhance the methodology of teaching 

and of learning. The second purpose is to address the value of the ―emerging technologies‖ to 

enhance learner-centered teaching/learning environments, such as active learning, exploratory 

learning, discovery learning. The third purpose is to question what is/are the determining force(s) 

that warrant(s) the use of such technologies in the mediums.  

 

Purpose 1: Advancing Emerging Technologies 

 

Emerging technologies may have come about to be used in the educational settings, according to 

Wallace (2008), because educational foundation realized their students were not responding to the 

technology with motivation to act; they realized the need to make the students exhibit on task 

focus by making the tech communication platform interactive, yet still controllable by the 

foundation. Emerging technologies had already infiltrated the realm of the business work for a 

minimum of four years (Web 2.0 in education, 2008). Web 2.0 needed to turn the education tech 

support based environment into what the students and educators would feel became a personal 

space – be it for learning or teaching, centering the user in the process (Waters 2008).  Even with 

the educator in control, these new technologies would give the students more responsible control 

of their learning. This is what most education sets ups attempted to do (Sabieh, 2006; 2003b).  

 

The draw of Web 2.0 in education settings was the element of connectedness. Waters (2008) 

noted that a study in August 2007 started as a small pilot study of six teachers grew to 495 

teachers, 1908 students, 88 online courses and 33 online collaborative groups by early 2008. The 

Web 2.0 features, such as social networks, blogs, wikis, folksonomies and mash up tools, 

provided a platform to combine and transform knowledge in a way to make the medium a 

powerful learning space showing achievement (Waters 2008).  

 

Educators when discussing web based or teach-supported learning effectiveness tend to bring up 

issues related to cost-effectiveness, access, flexibility and delivery (Sabieh 2007; Petrides, 2002; 

Fetterman, 1998, and Rumble 199desitnation 8, n.d.). These are important; however, the focus 

needs to be on the what the technology enables the educator to measure, making it a facilitator of 

learning (Sabieh 2007; Petrides 2002). All new technologies are to be used—as platforms--by all 

persons in all diverse real-world locations (Cyberculture, 2008), mediated through the use of ICT. 

They are, according to Cyberculture, 2008; Dodge, n.d.; Stahl, 2000; Sabieh 2007, to be used 

through the creation of cybercultures, promoting cognitive and social boundaries, not 

geographical, by joining similar minded interplay, interaction, collaboration, and connectivity. 

The students become responsible and centered for learning on their own (Petrides 2002, Sabieh 

2007).   

 



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Web 1.0, the World Wide Web as it is known, is a tool of endless information and features. Web 

2.0 is what is known as the new emerging technologies or as the Read Write Web (2003). It is 

important that technologies are identified briefly to ground them to understand what they are to 

show what function the tech-tool has to enable creations of more effective teaching / learning 

mediums. Its creator, O‘Rielly (2005), saw the new technology as possessing the power to 

promote creativity, collaboration, and information sharing as central features to linking and 

contributing to global unity.  

 

Web 2.0 has three defining elements: Users of the technology are able to create and share content 

they put together; users are able to connect and collaborate in tech supported environments at any 

time, and users work within no boundaries, integrating, connecting and collaborating individually 

or in group. Content creating and sharing, sharing and making connections with others, and 

making connection within a content and context allows Web 2.0 features such as wikis, blogs, 

CMS systems, social bookmarking, social networking, media sharing platforms, mash-ups, and 

podcasting are popular  in education. Defining a few features will put the power of Web 2.0 into 

perspective.  

 

Wikis, simply put, are collaborative web spaces in which users can actively shape content through 

gathering and editing content and revising without formal editing procedures (WikEd, 2008; 

Skiba, 2006; Read Write Web, 2003; Blog, 2008). Wikis are used as a collaborator tool to create 

and collect ideas. One popular example is Wikepedia (Wiki, 2008).  

 

Weblogs --blogs or microblogging – are topical websites that are kept like a journal by a person 

or a school / organization (WikEd, 2008; Blog, 2008; Read Write Web; 2003). Blogs enable users 

to post links, images, video using simple web interface; it also allows then to discuss and 

comment on other work. Blogs may be personal, corporate, blogshare blog, journals. Examples 

include Blogger or Wordpress. Through journal format, students will be encouraged to keep 

records of learning curve and time.    

 

CMC Systems stands short for content management systems (O‘Reilly, 2005; Skiba, 2006). 

These systems are tools that are used to organize the various or different forms of content into 

interrelated   and organized webspace. This tool is very popular in education since it allows the 

educators or the students to gather info from different and varied resources and put them together 

to support the author‘s focus. Examples of such systems are Plone, Moodle, Sakai and Drupal.  

 

Social Bookmarking, such as del.icio.us, Digg, Diigo, Rebbit, enables the user to make 

bookmarks on topics of interest and share or collaborate the resources with other users. Through 

the use of key word categorizing, the user works within URLs and online resources, enabling 

group or individual search applications (O‘Reilly, 2005; Skiba, 2006; Social bookmarking, 2008; 

Read Write Web, 2003). This will aid the user to enrich searching and compiling material with 

added trace value.  

 

Social networking sites are platforms that provide online activity space that engage users by 

connecting them together through email, chat, profile sharing and broadcasts, games, and news 

sharing (WikEd, 2008). Popular networks include Facebook and MySpace. Elgg (Read Write 

Web, 2003) is a social network created for educators. Basic issues of concern today, since it the 

platforms are social network providers, are privacy and cyber-bullying.    

 

Media sharing platforms are sites that distribute and spread media and information. A popular 

platform is YouTube; this platforms allows users to upload, download, share, comment and vote 



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on music and videos. Flickr is great for photosharing and educators are able to share education 

material on TeacherTube and Instructibles. 

 

Another important feature for us would be to identify possible platforms to make content 

connections. Mashups or portal architectures and podcastings are two such examples. Mashups or 

portal architectures allow users to find, use or view information and tailor it the way they want to 

share it with other users. In other words, the users are able to tailor the information by 

manipulating it to promote their views on the subject matter. An example of a mashup would be 

Google Maps. All the features on Web 2.0 can do this. The user is able to surf and take 

information from a diverse number of sites and mesh it together to provide new meaning on one 

site. The storing of data allows other users to then use it and manipulate it also (WikEd, 2008; 

Social bookmarking, 2008; Waters 2008) 

 

Podcasting  also similar, enables the educator to put the educational material into a context to 

give the students a feeling of an audience (Podcast, 2008; Read Write Web, 2003; 25) .  

 

Given Web 2.0, education settings need to determine how to best accommodate the features into 

the system as it stands at present if educators and administrators see value in the adoption. 

Educations systems need to be assessed to see what they stand for and what they expect of their 

students in relation to the methodologies they are using. These assessments will pave a realistic 

look into the bandwagon should or can be followed.  

 

Purpose 2: Questioning the Value of Emerging Technologies to Enhance the Settings 

As educators we tend to want to provide rich learning environments for our students irrespective 

of what type of education methodology and philosophy we function in. Thus, in this case, it 

would go without saying that the value of the ―emerging technologies‖ to enhance learner 

centered teaching / learning environments must be addressed. Research studies point out that the 

emerging technologies reinforce and promote users to practice active learning, exploratory 

learning, discovery learning – to name but a few-- opportunities.  

 

As stated above, the use of emerging technologies in the West is on the rise (Sigala, 2008), and 

we in our part of the world want or always feel the need to adopt such trends into our Educations 

environments. However, we need to be aware that research, to date, has unsuccessfully identified 

pedagogical theory, conditions, styles or models to prompt, support and maintain the exploitation 

of Web 2.0 as such – partially or completely as an integral or support mode within the educational 

endeavor (Sigala, 2008; 15).  Petrides (2002) examined ways higher education classes, 

supplemented by web based technologies, looked at learning issues and learner centered 

education. The key word here is learner centered education (Sabieh, 2001b). Unless we have that, 

we can not or should not bring in the emerging technologies into our system since it will call 

upon the users of these technologies to do things their educational environments do not promote 

or build on.    

 

My advocacy on the topic is based on my reading and my exploring of Web 2.0 features for 

evaluative use in my educational settings at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Whether for 

educator use or student use, it does warrant integration if, and only if, the education environment 

is flexible, the teaching methodology is learner centered, and the learning is active, making the 

students central in the teaching/ learning set up. 

 

For example, Godwin-Jones (2007), discussed online reading – a once passive activity that has 

become on many sites active. Readers not only read, but also comment, collaborate and critic; 

that is they have become consumers, producers and participants at the same time. Add to this the 



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reading passage now has added features that enable animation, pop up windows and annotations 

to bring the material to life.  All this has great value, if the user has a language base, the skills and 

critical know how to contribute. To the language learner or educator this may be overwhelming in 

the quest to learn or teach the language. They both need to work in relation to level of language 

skill and the need to build meta-cognitive skills to develop the how to learning and how to 

improving the learning endeavor (Godwin-Jones, 2007).  Given our educational environment, will 

such a scenario add to the success of the endeavor? There is no such guarantee of success in the 

West (Godwin-Jones, 2007). What will ours be? 

 

I believe emerging technologies do enhance learner-centered teaching methodologies. Students 

will be expected to become active learners, explorers, collaborators and discovers, as they take on 

responsible roles in their learning quest.  

 

Simply put, active learning moves students from passive learners to active beings in the teaching 

/learning set up. It prompts students to become engaged in the topic, activity, environment at 

hand. The students are acquiring for self – doing for self – through the discussions, observations 

and collaboration with others (Fink, 1999). Learning becomes the responsibility of the student 

(Active learning, 2008), making recall, behaviorist or cognitivist, of information a derivative of 

active engagement with the material (Bonwell & Eison, 1991; Bruner 1961; Mayer 2004; Active 

learning, 2008; Active learning, 2003). To name a few successful strategies, this is best 

accomplished through class discussion, ‗think pourshare‘, learning by teaching, self guided 

learning and worked example effect (Clark, Ngyyen & Sweller 2006; Active learning, 2003; 

Active learning, 2008).  Such approaches when applied on the net, makes the students even more 

engaged (Dodge, n.d.).  

 

Likewise, exploratory learning is the approach to learning that anticipates and gives confidence 

that the students find out and discover relationships. Such learning does not necessarily need to 

have educator guidance – it may or may not. Exploratory learning is highly recommended for 

general teaching ventures and skill building. It does not work well with environments that expect 

students to memorize (Usability glossary, n.d.).  

Also, discovery learning stems from the idea that learning is inquiry based. This is excellent to 

teach problem solving since it forces the students to draw on their own experiences and prior 

knowledge to discover new facts to solve the dilemmas (Clark, Jan. 22, 2000). 

 

The new technologies give the students a new release in building knowledge in their realm. To 

date, positive value assessment of the new technologies outweighs the negativity.  

 

The negatives are seven in number. One negative is that the new technologies call on the 

students‘ discussion and sharing to be less structured than what would be expected in an 

educational set up, yet this allows the students to be more open to receive and reflect on other 

viewpoints to consider in relation to their stance – a positive value. The second negative is the 

challenge put on the students to keep up with the amount of information provided by the sources 

and by other users at any one moment. The third negative is the fact that students feel the pressure 

to depend on themselves to becoming experts and decision makers on the topic exploration as 

opposed to depending on the educator‘s expertise and guidance. The fourth negative has to do 

with the students‘ reaction to the fear of not receiving the feedback of virtual communication they 

are so used to receiving in a face-to-face setting that it hinders the students form wanting to 

become actively involved in the use of the new technologies (Sabieh, 2004). This means that the 

fifth negative has to do with the need to get students used to the new ways of learning and 

teaching. The sixth negative has to do with the fact that the educator‘s role of involvement 

changes to become more and more of a facilitator since the learning process is more and more 



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student centered. The last negative has to do with computer support and frustration – students 

may not have computers available to them for use outside the education setting or the tech set up 

may include a slow modem. Such negativity may defeat the students attempt at using the 

technologies since they may feel overwhelmed before actually reaping the reward.  

I advocate 20 positives for promoting the use of Web 2.0 in the education setting. The positives 

are not listed in order of importance. These positive points I call ―value‖. These points of value, 

in my opinion, all stand equal; thus, making the power of the new technologies in the e-learning 

community live up to the so called ―boom‖ technology in the West has witnessed (Maloney 

2007).  With the new technologies, the first value to identify has to do with the fact that it 

provides the students with more diverse and distributed learning opportunities, promoting a 

learner centered versus teacher centered medium of learning (Petrides, 2002). Value number two 

is that students are provided with opportunity to experience diverse opinions across time, topics 

and assignments (Petrides, 2002). This leads to value number three in that students will have a lot 

of ideas to work with and contribute to the making of their focus, to their initiating collaboration 

and inquiry beyond what they bring with them to the web (Petrides, 2002). This is a key 

component in the students‘ feeling of building a repertoire of knowledge, creative in nature to 

address their thoughts about the topics and assignments expected of them. Value four has to do 

with the increased opportunity of exposure to different channels of communication and mediums 

enables the students to better understand the material, students‘ ideas and positions. Value 

number five has to do with the posting of information for distribution, commenting, examining, 

and reflection in forum like platforms (Petrides, 2002). Students are able to raise questions, issues 

and feedback not defined within the boundary of time, like in a class setting. Students are exposed 

to multiple-loop learning, enabling cyclical answering, reflecting and in depth growth to happen; 

the students reflect–learn-reflect–learn, etc… As this happens, value six would enumerate the fact 

that the students are able to bring in their own experiences and own opinions to the platform 

limitlessly, unlike the class face to face interaction (Sabieh 2007).  

 

Value seven has to do with participation. Students here are not forced to interact with others; 

however, by getting the students involved and on task, the topics are thought of more in depth 

calling for less shallow but more exploring and responsible learning. This may not be the case in 

the class (Petrides, 2002). Value eight grows out of value seven in that learning with different 

students in different setting broadens their reading of views, thinking of diverse thoughts and 

reflecting on their own views. This opportunity gives them value nine, which is their personal 

choice of writing the expose online in a selected form to continue communication online or 

prompt face to face communication, bringing with it a sense independence and trust  (Petrides, 

2002).  

 

Value ten points out that the uses of such technologies take place in a non-traditional educational 

set up, where security, confidence building and protection of well being are central. Value eleven 

notes that such technologies provide students with opportunity of interaction comfort in relation 

to face to face communication (Petrides, 2002). As mentioned before, value twelve has to do with 

reflection and exposure in a less structured, visually responsible format, but comfort zone, 

making value thirteen perceives are being less fearful of the technology and more motivated to 

want to be more involved in the making and collaborating as a way of learning (Sabieh, 2004). 

Value fourteen emphasizes the way the technology is used. The educators may still guide and be 

taken into account, but the students are the ones to experience and provide opinion to make the 

learner center teaching endeavor measurable, a fact the software designers must account for 

(Petrides, 2002). Thus, the time spent on doing the work, project, or learning is defined by 

personal learning goals and it is not dictated by physical presence or boundaries. Flexibility and 

feelings of wanting to continue and collaborate in such time frames enables the students to re-

schedule work formulas to suit their perusal of knowledge – this is value fifteen (Petrides, 2002).  



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Values exist for educators also. Value sixteen points out that educators together through blogs ad 

wikis help each other within the teaching endeavors, subject matter or professional development. 

Value seventeen would be the idea that web site no longer are the product of the programmer 

solo, but the work of a user, creator and programmer to build a learning platform of learning and 

collaboration (WikEd, 2008). Thus, bring in the idea that the internet is not longer isolated 

information (Good 2007) but bound together through the new technologies – value eighteen. 

Value nineteen reinforces the fact that the technologies open-up the opportunities for writing and 

rewriting on the web continuously. All 19 values will lead to the ultimate point of value – value 

20 --which is that the users will have created identities of their own – their own personal spaces, 

active and cyclical in direction (Good 2007; Sabieh 2007). Sharing online with communities, 

carrying out projects, seeing info, editing info and modifying documents collectively (Waters 

2008) enrich the cyclical growth process.  

 

To sum up, it can not go unnoticed, given the twenty values outlined above, that Web 2.0 is 

having a dominant influence (Sigala, 2008) on the way students and educators may use the 

technology to search, to collaborate, to develop to, share and to influence (Waters 2008) whereby 

the spotlight Web 2.0 is occupying has to do with user innovation, creation, collaboration and 

collective building of knowledge to deliver, manage, and interact beyond mere content sharing 

(Maloney 2007). Does all this warrant its use in our setting, given the education setting we have 

(Sabieh, 2006)? 

 

Purpose 3: Determining what warrants use of emerging technologies 

 

The third purpose of this paper is to question what is / are the determining force(s) that warrant(s) 

the use of such technologies in the mediums. From what has been advanced so far, the first 

determining force that warrants consideration is that it can be said that emerging technologies can 

be defined as having three essential features – collection, selection and reflection (Waters 2008), 

through connectivity and interactivity. Irrespective of the type of education system we have, the 

fact remains that Web 2.0 is social in nature and promotes formal and informal learning together.  

 

The second point of warranting is the need to compare teaching methods – traditional and new 

and decide where it is that we fit on the continuum of change (Sabieh, 2001a).  To claim to have   

incorporated new strategies into the education system means to have moved the teaching/learning 

set up from a passive to an active environment (Sabieh, 2006; 2001b)  The traditional learning 

environment has teacher centered instruction, has a single sense stimulation, single path 

progression, single media, isolated work, information delivery, passive learning, factual, 

knowledge-based learning, reactive response and isolated artificial learning/teaching contexts.  

The new learning environment has student centered instruction, multisensory stimulation, 

multipath progression, multimedia, collaborative work, information exchange, active, 

exploratory, inquiry based learning, critical thinking and informed decision making, proactive or 

planned action and authentic, real world  learning / teaching contexts. The most effective learning 

environment molds the two together to facilitate the learning in relation to individual need. 

Students need to become self directed learners, communicating within a variety of media and 

formats. They need to access and exchange information in a variety of ways and to collaborate 

and cooperate in team efforts. They need to compile, organize, analyze and synthesize 

information to use in appropriate ways to get ahead.  Where do we fall along this continum? Our 

educational systems are more traditional in framework. We provide information and tasks more 

than guide our students in the learning process. Facilitation and guidance – key components in a 

learner-centered setting —are not central within the learning process (Sabieh, 2006). This is true 

in most emerging cultures. Is this not true? Change is eminent, but slow; it will come with time as 



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more and more educators acknowledge need for reform and become comfortable with the steps 

needed to make change.    

 

The third point of warranting is the need to compare the technologies and what they have to offer 

then and now. For example, to name a few: Web 1.0 provides the use of personal websites while 

Web 2.0 offers blogging; Web 1.0 offers Britannica Online while Web 2.0 offers Wikipedia; 

Netscape versus Google; publishing versus participation; directories versus tagging; content 

management systems versus wikis. Web 2.0 has taken on a more active way to ‗harness collective 

intelligence‘, making hyperlinks, add-ons, editing, interactivity key players in the connectivity 

and sharing game (O‘Reilly, 2005).  

With existing technologies – the old and the emerging ones – curricula may be modified to create 

engagement and motivational challenges for the students (Yoder, 2006). The educator is able to 

provide grounds to rouse thoughts, promote creativity, and push forth imagination in outcome 

products (Yoder 2006); however the education system must support such methods of teaching.  

 

Do the education system we follow and the technology-support availability for use as emerging 

technologies allow us to see compatibility for use and integration in the present system?  Given 

our educational environments – school, university, private, public – can we claim to be able to 

use Web 2.0, with what it calls for students to do, successfully, enhancing the teaching /learning 

environment to warrant a claim to producing or molding students with critical and responsible 

spirits? Many jumped on the bandwagon for the ride of the moment. The leap may have proved to 

be ambitious, especially if it was decided upon consciously. However, if education mediums 

decided to take the plunge because others were, then therein lies the problem, Being blind to a 

situation does not enable institutions to overcome the blindness and cope with the sudden change. 

There had to be no close examination of the positives in relation to what our education setting 

provides for us – as educators—to work within and with our students.  It may have been that we 

were blinded by the boom the technology made in the West and assumed we could experience the 

same vigor technology has on the setting.   

The West, Waters (2008) notes that ―light speed change will transfer the way K-12 students 

interact academically just as it has permanently altered the way they interact outside of school, 

but not without the support of teachers, who have been reluctant to embrace and exploit Web 2.0 

technologies for their academic use […] What is approaching here isn‘t so much a convergence 

as a big bang. A paradigm shift towards progressively richer learning environments […]. And 

educators are not ready for it. We haven‘t made the shift yet to teach the kinds of students that a 

personal-learning-environment represent.‖     

 

My question, to all of us, is: Are we ready for it? Can we, as the key players in the education 

setting, be that blind that we can not see our limitations in the system?  

 

Deciding on who plays the needed role  

 

The educational leaders – administrators or educators—are concerned with the students learning 

outcomes. The technologies are there to be used for tech-based or tech-supported purposes to 

work within the teaching/learning settings. The commitment on behalf of the educators to 

integrate the technology – be it Web 1.0 or Web 2.0 – is to ensure active learning and interactivity 

is present making it at least two dimensional in direction (Active learning, 2003), and centering 

the student in the learning equation (Sabieh, 2006; 2008). Both the administrator and the 

educators carry the burden of decision making (Sabieh, 2001c).  

 

Change has to take place within the education set up. The base of change has to be around five 

pivotal points: Critical thinking, responsibility, learner-centering, interactivity and active 



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learning.   Once there is quality and effective change along those five pivotal points, the 

integration of technology – Web 2.0 directly – will be possible.  

 

At present, educators and students may argue that adaptation Web 2.0 into the system is possible 

now. The technologies are no doubt user friendly and easy to use, through self exploration or 

guidance. The key issue here to be cautioned is not the possibility of use, but the benchmarking 

effectiveness of its use vis a vis our education setting as it stand now to promote the making of 

life long students. Blind adoption of web 2.0 in isolation can happen. But blind adoption of Web 

2.0 is wrong. Education systems need to understand the technology users – be they educators or 

students (Good 2007). The emerging technologies need top ―carve out for the self‖ (Read Write 

Web, 2003) a niche to call its own.  

 

Recommending the move 

 

Emerging technologies are here and will continue to emerge as time evolves. It is important for us 

to get on the bandwagon to make change happen, but this can not happen with out in parallel 

making change within the education setting.  

My recommendations are four. First, it is important that educators be willing to make curricular 

change. Integrating another tool into the teaching set up must be incorporated for and that means 

accommodating new ways of thinking, new ways of teaching and new ways of looking at 

learning.  Second, it is important that the education setting itself creates ground to have role shifts 

happen in relation to responsibilities and teacher / student centering. Third, in bringing the 

technology into the system, it must first come into the classroom taking the role of tech support 

and then gradually shift to take on the role of being tech based (Sabieh, 2007). This may not 

always need to be the case, however, the point is the technology can not and should not be used 

tech based if it has not been used as tech support by the students and teachers. Fourth, it is highly 

recommended that educators and students become familiar with the diversities of thinking and 

doing in a teaching environment, learning environment and tech based environment. There are 

styles of acting that must occur and comfort zones must be established for effective use to 

happen.    

 

The beginning of a conclusion 

 

We must build platforms to critically engage with others, to hear and appreciate ideas and views 

of other, to better formulate our ideas to turn them into advocacy points. This is true in physical 

or virtual environments. Globalization expects this of us. As educators we are expected to 

facilitate teaching and learning to ease the ways of communication and make it interactive and 

multidimensional. As it stands now, there is no room for online teaching with emerging 

technologies. Educators need to grow and experience with students, redefining the use of the 

technology in the environments to ensure the element of active is present (Sabieh, 2007).     

Technology is not a delivery system only (Sabieh 1998), it is a motivator to provide grounds for 

interactivity. The internet platform allows students to be less intellectually distant from each 

other. Communication must be active and the education culture needs to change to encompass 

this concept a hundred percent. Learning must be active, and the culture we live in must reinforce 

it.  

 

The challenge of the West is to figure out how to incorporate the new technologies into the 

teaching and learning endeavors (Maloney 2007). The Web 2.0 gives us the power to trace one‘s 

thinking process in a way that can only be beneficial to one‘s growth process. The challenge is to 

put the educator into a working framework to contribute to make the tech supported school or 



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tech based learning endeavor posses the ground to encompass and engulf such profound action 

(Maloney 2007; Sabieh, 2007). 

 

Are we able to create education environment s to encompass students controlling their own 

learning space? The spaces would be platforms to keep record of their learning and striving to 

reach their long term endeavors. Are they, if given the freedom or direction to make the needed 

connection, capable of depending on themselves, collaborating with others to build and maintain 

their own learning spaces?  Are we as the educators ready to do this for them when we have not 

done this for ourselves? It is concluded that educators must make conscious decisions as to how 

and what the ―emerging technologies‖ are doing to add value to the any given teaching/ learning 

environment. Educators must act accordingly. 

 

One wise instructor designer once said, (Destination 8, n.d.), about striving to continually find the 

cutting edge of technology. ―just stand back and watch the wagon a while, and when you‘re sure 

what direction it‘s going, jump on, grab the reigns and shout, ‗Follow me!‘‖ 

 

This is what we need to do. We need to stop, look at what we have, measure, benchmark, modify, 

rectify, and embrace the new….     

 

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