| An Educator's Guide to Web 2.0 |
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| Tuesday, 22 July 2008 19:10 | ||||
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What is all the buzz about social bookmarking, tagging, wikis, social networking, and the many Web 2.0 technologies that are key components of students’ daily vocabulary? Which technologies can support and enhance the curriculum? How can educators effectively use the “read/write Web ” to motivate students and connect them with other students around the world? There are many ways educators are using technologies such as Flickr, del.icio.us, Ning, Google Earth and Wikis to engage digital natives in the learning process. Wikipedia defines Web 2.0 as “a term for describing the use of World Wide Web technology and Web design to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.” It is NOT a new Internet, per se; not a change in Web technical standards, but rather a change in how the Web is used. It IS a collaborative environment of socialization as well as:
There are many Web 2.0 tools circulating so it is important to find ones that are safe and relevant to teaching and learning. Do it! Use the resources yourself so you’ll speak the language and understand the potentials (and pitfalls) of different resources. Discuss it! Talk to your students, encouraging them to post information wisely. Share safety features being sure to tell them that what they post online is never “really” private. Dream it! Think of ways these resources can be used productively in education. Following is a Web 2.0 Guide, which includes several tools to assist you in moving further into the 21st Century: Web 2.0 Category #1: Virtual Reality Web SitesVirtual reality (VR) is a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, be it a real or imagined one. Second Life: Online 3D virtual world imagined and created by its Residents (see Kathy Schrock’s “Second Life: Interactive Professional Development” make this link live). The River City Project: An interactive computer simulation for middle grades science students to learn scientific inquiry and 21st century skills. The content was developed from National Science Education Standards, National Educational Technology Standards, and 21st Century Skills. Global Kids : Global Kids is committed to transforming urban youth into successful students as well as global and community leaders. Using interactive and experiential methods to educate youth about critical international and foreign policy issues, GK provides students with opportunities for civic and global engagement. Webkinz: Social Networking for younger students: games, learn responsibility while caring for their virtual pet, and collaborate with other students in a safe environment. Web 2.0 Category #2: Social Networking Web SitesSocial networking Web sites function like online communities of Internet users. Depending on the site, many of these online community members share a common interest. Facebook and MySpace: Facebook and MySpace are social utilities that connect you with the people around you. TeacherTube (like YouTube, but for education): A video share Web site centered on education. Flickr: Flickr is an image and video hosting Web site, Web services suite, and online community platform. Twitter: Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" to the Twitter Web site, via the Twitter site short message service (SMS), instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific or Facebook. Ning: Ning is an online platform for users to create their own social Web sites and social networks. Web 2.0 Category #3: ChatOnline chat refers to any kind of communication over the Internet , but primarily direct one-on-one chat or text-based group chat, using tools such as instant messaging applications. iChat AV (for Mac only): iChat AV is an AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), .Mac, I CQ and XMPP client by Apple Inc. for their Mac OS X operating system. Skype: Skype is a software program that allows users to make telephone calls over the Internet . Web 2.0 Category #4: Google ToolsGoogle for Educators: Free resources for teachers. Google Earth: Google Earth is a virtual globe program that maps the earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D globe. Google Lit Trips: This site is an experiment in teaching great literature in a very different way. Using Google Earth, students discover where in the world the greatest road trip stories of all time took place. Google Docs: This comprises a free Web -based word processor and spreadsheet, which allow you to share and collaborate online. Web 2.0 Category #5: PodcastingA series of digital-media files which are distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and computers. Garageband (Mac only): Welcome to your personal recording studio — where it’s easy to make a song and a podcast whether it’s you’re first-time or you are a seasoned pro. MovieMaker2, PhotoStory3, Jodix: Use MM2 and PS3 to create the episode then drop the .wmv file into Jodix and convert into a podcast file format. Web 2.0 Category #6: BlogsA blog is your easy-to-use Web site, where you can quickly post thoughts, interact with people, and more. All for FREE. Edublogs: Blogging for teachers and students, made easy. Blogs can be used at the administrator, teacher and student levels. They can also be used for professional development. Blogger: Free Web log publishing tool from Google, for sharing text, photos and video. Web 2.0 Category #7: WikisA wiki is a collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content. Wikis are often used to create collaborative Web sites and to power community Web sites Wikispaces: Create simple Web pages that groups, friends, and families can edit together. PBWiki: Increase student engagement using a safe online wiki.
Web 2.0 Category #8: Social Bookmarking Web SitesSocial bookmarking is a method for Internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of Web pages on the Internet with the help of metadata.Del.icio.us: A social bookmarks manager. Using bookmarklets, you can add bookmarks to your list and categorize them. Digg: Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Web . Furl: Furl is a social bookmarking site that makes it easy to save, share, and explore favorite Web pages. My favorite Web 2.0 Tool: FlockFlock is a free, easy-to-use Web browser built on fast and secure Mozilla technologies. Share photos, get your news, blog freely, and search your world with Flock. Flock makes it easier than ever for you to connect with your friends. Basically, Flock allows you to access your Blog, Web mail, Flickr, Twitter, del.icio.us, and much more in one location. Download it and truly enjoy the Web 2.0 experience! Making the transition into the 21st Century can be a bit scary, but very exciting and rewarding for all involved. I challenge everyone reading this blog to try just 3 essential Web 2.0 tools for beginners. Create a blog, a wiki and set up a social bookmarking account. As education guru Alan November so eloquently stated, “don’t let the fear of technology stop the learning.” Can you imagine how just one of these tools can transform your educational experience? Resource:If you are interested in taking a course on becoming familiar with some of the exciting, emerging Web technologies available to support professional, personal and classroom learning in the 21st Century, check out Shelley Paul’s Web site, k12learning20.wikispaces.com. Over a ten week period you will complete "23 Things," or doable learning activities related to Web 2.0 tools and concepts.
 Cathleen Richardson is an Educational Consultant and eLearning Specialist. Comments (2)
... written by jackson mak, September 14, 2008 Dear Cathleen, I would like to seek your professional advice on writing a report on the following topic: Web 2.0 is a popular term describing the trend for users to be more actively involved in contributing web content. Web developers were once the sole content providers for web sites. Nowadays, some sites provide a community platform for users to publish content and interact with each other. Social networking web sites, web encyclopedias and video/photo sharing web sites are some examples of such sites. A school wants to set up a social networking web site for its alumni. Candidates are required to make a proposal to the school with the following requirements. (1) Compare the major features provided by two existing social networking web sites. Discuss the corresponding design factors that encourage users to use the functions provided by the web sites. (2) Design and create the layout of some web pages of the web site using HTML. The layout should include at least five social functions which facilitate communication among the alumni. Multimedia elements and user-friendly access mechanisms should be considered to attract more alumni to visit the web site. report abuse
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I love Web 2.0 because it empowers anyone to have an awesome web presence and share it with the world. Additionally, this topic is very good because you have addressed pre-planning. Many people just set up a social network, but haven't planned for it. Outlining your thoughts, outcomes, security parameters, meta data, and so much more needs to be planned before hitting the "I want a new site" button.