An Exploration of Mashups and Their Potential Educational Uses

ABSTRACT. A Web mashup is an application that combines data and functionality from more than one source. By bringing disparate data to-gether in ways that enable users to do new things or accomplish common tasks with newfound efficiency, mashups are rapidly increasing in number and may offer exciting new possibilities for classroom instruction. How-ever, in comparison to more established Web 2.0 applications such as wikis, blogs, and podcasts, which already enjoy a place in the educational con-versation, mashups are less well-known and their educational uses are less explored. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to provide an introduc-tion to mashups as part of Web 2.0 technology, describe several mashup examples, and explore their potential use in educational contexts