Web 2.0: Enhancing Education Through Technology

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This article deals specifically with how online writing through the use of either asynchronous or synchronous tools can enhance the traditional classroom. The use of a blog to discuss ideas and debate issues may not be as dynamic or interactive as some of the other Web 2.0 tools we have been discussing and using. However, this article makes the point that using blogs can make content more engaging, provide a way for students to be reflective, allow them the opportunity to practice presenting ideas and arguments and finding their voice. The author, Robert Baird from the University of Illinois, argues that these discussion tools are not used up to their potential. I resonated with this article because as a teacher of an online course that uses discussion threads extensively, I completely agree that students level of engagement and understanding of issues, as well as becoming better thinkers, finding their voice and being forced to use evidence in their answers is remarkable.

This article showcases a great new tool which will can be used as a creative way to teach, share, and create information. Jux allows students to briefly outline an idea or theme, connect those words with pictures, and display the words concurrently with a slideshow, photos, videos etc.It allows students the creative latitude to design their own presentation and also match up concepts with an audio and visual system.

I found this video on Twitter tonight thanks to David Walker (@drdjwalker) who re-tweeted the video from The Partnership of 21st Century Skills. The video is called "Above and Beyond: the story of the 4Cs". Enjoy "In an increasingly complex, demanding and competitive 21st century, students need to learn more than the 3R's they are tested on in school. Although the 3R's are the foundation of learning (most especially reading), students must be prepared to Think Creatively and have Intellectual Curiosity in order to excel in the 21st century.

Oh, what fun! This video is a great tool to share with students. It's simplicity is a delight. The notion is that we all have different talents and skills we can bring to collaborative projects. We need to encourage students to take the time to share their creative ideas together; plan, explore, negotiate, compromise and problem solve together. My fifth and sixth graders will enjoy this video.

This video is fun, interesting and great for students to see. It stresses the collaborative nature of projects and how much more we can do together rather than alone. It reminds me of Odyssey of the Mind type projects, and I will definitely show this to my Advisory. I think they will find it interesting and funny, but more than that it can jump start a discussion about the creative power of collaboration. It also makes me think that it will demonstrate to students that diversity of ideas is powerful.

Create interactive and informative educational timelines in an extremely easy manner. Students will love being given the option of creating a timeline. Use Timerime for history, art, science, social studies or just about any subject in which they are required to understand the time frame at which events occurred.

Socrative is an awesome tool used in Education to gain a better understanding of what our students have learned or are learning during a lesson by getting. In this post about socrative we see how it can be used assess writing in the classroom.

This website page has many Web2.0 based apps and some interesting thinking on creativity and innovation in harmony with constructivist teaching methodologies. 'The teacher takes on the role of a facilitator, guide, and co-learner as much as is possible. Learning is driven by students, and it is immersive, flexible, and responsive to student needs and goals. Constructivists value creativity, through writing, designing applications, and making works of art.' Randy Roberts

Provides a clear and thoughtful description of how to align Bloom's taxonomy (higher order of thinking skills - HOTS) with new technologies. I like that fact that it covers doing Advanced Boolean searches as well as utilizing web tools for student evaluation of HOTS.

Thank you for sharing this article. I plan to use excerpts of this piece with my students. The connections between "action verbs" and "digital verbs" in the thinking process is excellent. I will be interested to hear my students' perspectives on how the use of digital learning tools helps them develop their thinking and understanding of new concepts.

This link accesses a number of articles based on the model of the "flipped" classroom. In this model, students view videos as homework and engage in collaborative learning activities tied to their homework. This approach advocates for, and emphasizes, less teacher "lecture" and more student collaboration engagement, while in the progecss, the application of higher level thinking skills.

This entry highlights the way, Adobe, the power-maker in the area of professional design and graphics, is making access affordable to the 'touch technology' generation. It is providing Android based (and soon to be OS) tablet type apps available for as little as $10. The article highlights a few of the apps that would be accessible and appropriate students as young as 6th grade to learn to use. This brings professional type graphics power and creativity within reach of School children...something very dear to my heart!

This article examines why media/digital literacy must be added to the common core standards to better prepare students for life in the 21st century. "While they (young people) may be media-savvy, we maintain that they are not necessarily media- or digital-literate. In order to be successful in the 21st century, students need to be both Information and Media Literate. In order to encourage schools to implement Information and Media Literacy in the curriculum, media/digital literacy should be added to common core standards. Assessments should be devised in which students are assessed using digital formats.

One of a series of posts on different types of internet based tools and their use in education; backchannels engage students who otherwise might not contribute, evens the playing field; students ask questions on the fly without interrupting; gives teacher feedback on the level of understanding or confusion in the class; does not recommend twitter for classroom alternative backchannels teacher can manage ; It will improve writing and a student's ability to articulate themselves quickly using text. Students must have Effective Digital Communication Skills in order to be successful in the 21st century. One digital communication skill that is needed is to have the ability to articulate quickly and succinctly using text.

This article provides an overview of Glogster, tips for teachers in using Gloster and links to tutorials for using Glogster in the classroom.

This article brings up some very good points about turning to e-books for textbooks in the classroom. The research hasn't been done on the effects of doing so....what would the effects be on students and their reading skills, learning, or the repercussions on teaching in the classroom? Also, they bring up a valid concern of how much control this would all give to Apple?

The Storybird Ning webpage is a place for teachers to get together and brainstorm ideas and information relative to the implementation Storybird.com with their students. Storybird is a collaborative storywriting website that allow students to read, write, and share their creations. Students can illustrate their stories with images from the site's artwork library.

Teachers who want to share websites with their students but want to get rid of ads and other questionable material can use this free web tool to "clip" any part of a web page and rearrange clips onto a custom page that can be shared with other people.

This is an academic paper examining the reasons why an online learning group should 'move ... from cohort to community.' (abstract), and how students resources and strategies may be managed to accomplish this. The paper asserts that students in a distance learning situation are isolated from each other and the teacher, therefore it is of vital importance that the cohort needs to create a sense of community rather than simply exist alone in the virtual learning room. The article quotes Vygotsky's social development theory of 1978, Selznik's seven elements of community: history, identity, mutuality, plurality, autonomy, participation, and integration (1996), and how the author's of the article modified the characteristics to conform more with current online learning theory. I found this article particularly relevant to the current situation I find myself in. Even though I am happy in my own space and don't need the close interaction with others, I can see that it is important to push myself forward in the sense of gleaning the most benefit from the course and those many intelligent people out there. This is difficult for me because I find the time necessary to maintain so many contacts, and actually have something worthwhile to say and share goes against my slow, ponderous thinking and non-gregarious nature!

I created a Mind42 map to show how Web 2.0 tools can support communications skills, and types of lessons where our curriculum can use these tools and skills. From a Career and Technical School, I focused on the Web 2.0 tools that the articles mentioned that focuses on communications such as videos, podcasts, interactive posters, voice thread, mixbooks, podcast and glogsters. I didn't add them all but just provided examples. These tools can all in some way or another be used to enhance basic work skills of reading, writing, listening and communications. For each skill, I identified type of activities and projects that can be created using these tools. For example writing can be enhanced by having students write procedures, memos or reports.