PowerPoints to Podcasts: Students’ Use of Web 2.0 in Course Assessments in Higher Education Swapna Kumar School of Teaching and Learning University of Florida, USA swapnakumar@coe.ufl.edu Christopher D. Sessums School of Teaching and Learning University of Florida, USA csessums@coe.ufl.edu Abstract: Web 2.0 technologies are being increasingly used by faculty in higher education courses to engage a new generation of students. Course assessments, however, often comprise papers and exams, and course projects end with traditional presentations by students. Responding to survey questions about their preferred presentation formats in face-to-face courses, 90% of undergraduates (n=266) at a large private university stated that they prefer PowerPoint. In open-ended responses students explained that they were not required to use new technologies, may not get extra credit for the amount of work posed by podcasts, videos, blogs or wikis, or were not familiar with the process of creation using these digital technologies. The data highlights the need for integrating Web 2.0 tools into course assignments as well as encouraging undergraduates to create online content to demonstrate learning. Background Students born after 1984 have grown up with digital technologies, take them for granted in their daily lives, and expect the use of new technologies in their education (Prensky, 2001). They have been called digital natives, Millenials, Neomillenials, and the Net generation (Dede, 2005; Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005; Prensky, 2001). Due to their high exposure to and comfort with technology, this generation has been reported to learn differently from prior generations. They are innovative users of new technologies who actively create content online (Tapscott, 1998). Higher education institutions are beginning to respond to the needs of the new generation of students by integrating new technologies into classrooms and training faculty to use new technologies (Brzycki & Dudt, 2005; Dexter, Doering & Riedel, 2006; Kenney, Banerjee, & Newcombe 2009). The importance of “digital-age learning experiences and assessments” has been highlighted by the International Society for Technology in Education that has stressed the need of educating “digital citizens” who are prepared for the 21 st century (ISTE, 2008). In higher education institutions in the United States, wireless networks, online access to library resources, learning management systems, and better infrastructure in classrooms have become widely prevalent (Green, 2006). New technologies are increasingly used by faculty in the form of digital resources provided to students – e.g. YouTube videos and podcasts are used to supplement lectures and readings. Some instructors also use blogs and wikis to create collaborative learning experiences for students. Assignments are often submitted in digital format, and also graded or returned by instructors online. However, the nature of assignments remains largely unchanged – papers, exams, course projects and presentations of course projects. If today’s students are to be truly engaged in the learning process, course assessments should include “collaborative, nonlinear, associational webs of representations” as well as “peer-developed and peer-rated forms of assessment” (Dede, 2005, p. 15.16). Roberts (2005) reported students’ frustration with traditional forms of teaching and technology use, where PowerPoint is the most common technology used by faculty. To what extent are Web 2.0 and other new digital media and technologies used in projects and other assessments in on-campus undergraduate courses in higher education? This paper presents the results of a series of questions posed to undergraduates regarding their use of technology for course assessments and presentations from a larger survey on undergraduates’ use of Web 2.0 tools in education. The findings highlight the importance of including new types of assessments that integrate new digital technologies and prepare undergraduates for careers where they will be required to create presentations in different formats and to interact digitally and virtually. The findings of this research provide insight for faculty members, faculty developers, and educational technologists interested in integrating Web 2.0 tools for assessment. - 2766 -