Web 2.0: Enhancing Education Through Technology

This article explains how technology has introduced tools that can facilitate communication with learning disabled children.

This will keep you up to date with international technology requirements and recommendations for technology standards.

Online lessons reach remote village in India via Skype. Lessons on numbers and the concept of infinity are made accessible via this free communication tool.

A great article about how it is actually quite easy to use many of the web 2.0 tools to collect and analyze quickly, the current media and create connections between it and your classroom, or at least ideas to which you teach. This teacher did a great job of doing what so many of us try to do everyday. Finding current events and relating it to our classroom. But by having more feeds connected to one site, she was able to quickly narrow her search to whatever it was that she was teaching at the time. She also made it a point to observe the news feeds with her students and ask them to try to make the connections. If there was a story that made sense or got them intrigued and interested, they researched and read it together. A great way to teach young students how to filter the information that they are being exposed to, and to seek out credible references to initial questions and information.

This article clearly explains what constitutes a quality educational game. The formula includes "focusing on a targeted curriculum" and using higher order thinking skills. Problem solving is usually the main focus. Students should be "intrinsically motivated" by the game and be able to "master the learning goals behind the game."

This article highlights schools that are integrating gps technology into the classrooms and the linking this to students being connected to the real world along with building critical thinking skills. Joseph Kerski, the curriculum manager in Redlands California, is quoted as saying "From bus routing to airplane navigation to geocaching for recreational purposes, it's one of those technologies that's all around us now" . He goes on to say, "And it's not just the tool. It's about students' using those higher-order thinking skills and thinking critically about their world". An earth science teacher , Jim Kuhl, explains how he pairs up reading and interpreting topographic maps with geocaching. GPS can cost as little as $75 per unit and most data phones have a gps embedded. Example provided was Monroe BOCES Stream Team Project where 10 schools are collecting gps and gis data about the quality of streams feeding Lake Ontario.

If we have a computer, we have a wealth of free tools and free education at our fingertips that we as teachers can use and that our students can use.

This is a very interesting post in regards to why Finland's students do so well. There teacher's are greatly respected. There is no testing of students or teachers. The country has no economical differences or disparities. The country believes in professionals. This article hit home with me with what we are currently facing as educators in the nation. We are not playing on the same field as Finland teachers.

The author encourages educators to take control of their own learning and to remember how important is their role in encouraging students when embracing new tools to develop creativity and innovation; students need to be guided to realize that the technology they use to socialize may be use to connect to experts in topics of their interest, and to collaborate with them.

"Social media may have started out as a fun way to connect with friends, but it has evolved to become a powerful tool for education and business. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter and tools such as Skype are connecting students to learning opportunities in new and exciting ways. Whether you teach an elementary class, a traditional college class, or at an online university, you will find inspirational ways to incorporate social media in your classroom with this list."

Great list from Online University with ideas for using social media in the classroom.

This article discusses how the implementation of iPads in education has been successful in some schools.

An important component of information literacy is finding 'good', reliable information. When students become skillful at research, they can create amazing products and apply the knowledge learned. As Clive writes, "better to concentrate on important underlying concepts and principles".

This article explains how the author uses the iSearch model to teach research in class. The author also introduced the idea of creating infographics -- another way to expand our students' media literacy.

At an educational technology conference in Boston July 27, Harvard University physics professor Eric Mazur explained how he uses "peer instruction" to help his students engage in deeper learning than traditional lectures can provide-and he unveiled a brand-new ed-tech service that can help educators take this concept to a whole new level.

This article by Dennis Pierce discusses events at a July 27 technology conference in Boston. The point of the article is to stress that education needs to move from information giving to student creation. He explains that students need the ability to assimilate the information given so that they can then apply it to another context. Web 2.0 tools have allowed for this "flipped" type classroom that he references, where students read up on a concept for homework, then in the f2f classroom use the higher order thinking skills....application, analysis, creation and publication with the new tools available.

As more and more students learn in a virtual classroom, teachers need more facilitation skills that work in an online learning environment. This article provides teachers with some practical online facilitating strategies and how to use many features to keep students engaged in learning.

Free! Flashcards and study games web site to create your own and share.

The article argues that standards can create conditions for creativity and creativity does not equal freedom from all constraints. So what kills creativity?

Web site with curriculum for teaching students about copyright and fair use.

This article introduces another fun, collaborative, storytelling digital tool - Storybird.

I created this to act as my "graduation speech" from our Web 2.0 class. Enjoy!