Students' Inquiry Learning in the Web 2.0 Age

The information proliferation in the Web 2.0 age has led to several emerging issues, namely, the authenticity of information, disorientation, and information searching and citation issues in the academic field. Students often find themselves in a difficult situation when they are doing Web-based inquiry learning when the usefulness and truthfulness of the Web information are doubtful. Based on the study of pre-reading activity and Web searching behaviour of Lawless, Schrader, and Mayall (2007), and the Web information evaluation work of Eagleton and Dobler (2007), this paper proposes a guiding framework to help students determine the usefulness and truthfulness of information in their inquiry process. This framework also provides guidance on how to store and cite Web 2.0 information. However, the effectiveness of the guiding framework has not been empirically tested and further study regarding its applicability is called upon.