Effects of media richness on user acceptance of Web 2.0 technologies in higher education

Educators are increasingly developing numerous ways to use Web 2.0 technologies to facilitate teaching, learning and to keep up to date with trend. These technologies provide enhanced interactivity and allow greater amounts of information delivered via richer communication, hence gaining wide spread acceptance among educational community. However, less empirical research has been done examining their information carrying capacity or media richness and its impact on user acceptance, specifically within the educational realms. This chapter is focused on examining the impact of media richness on user acceptance of various Web 2.0 technologies. Here we present findings of an empirical study to examine the effects of media richness on user acceptance of three popular Web 2.0 technologies namely blog, podcast and Second Life (a 3-D multi-user virtual environment), within higher education. A theoretical model has been presented based on technology acceptance model (TAM) (Davis 1989) and media richness theory (Daft et al. 1984). Data were gathered using online surveys and structural model was validated using the PLS (partial least squares) approach. Findings suggest that media richness has significant impact on user acceptance of all three technologies under consideration. However, media richness of Second Life has the greatest impact on user acceptance as compared to that of blog and podcast. These results are consistent with previous studies of media richness which state that synchronous communication media are richer than asynchronous media. These results also highlight Second Life's media richness capabilities of allowing multiple cues, timely feedback, language variety and personal focus in order to support teaching and learning activities. In this chapter, we also highlight some implications of our research for educators and developers of Web 2.0 applications followed by some ideas for future research.