Web 2.0: Enhancing Education Through Technology

Education World has put together a resource of educator-specific social media platforms such as WeCollaborate, Teacher Engage, Technology Integration in Education, The EducationWorld Community, that give resources of ideas, blogs and lesson/unit ideas.

The article illustrated the function of web 2.0 in Education Area. The author promoted some free social media sites"http://www.wecollaborate.com" & "http://www.technologyintegrationineducation.com/". They were all designed for the teachers. Please enjoy the article, enjoy the education world community!

Though it is an old article, it continues to be extraordinarily valuable in nowadays. The most important point that the author insisted was that Web 2.0 is not only a tool, it connects everyone in the world in every different aspect. It is a shift, a revolution!

Mind Map for different purposes across the curriculum

This is a topic that creates a similar feel as the value of neat handwriting on paper for students at school. Is it worth debating and reaching a decision about? Or do we just proceed to use paper as the need arises in the classroom? Students are exposed to the use of paper and digital media and resources on different levels. Where do we start saying less or more paper OR digital devices are the way forward?

The article suggests 3 approaches to develop multiple choice questions to assess higher-order thinking skills. Students can be asked to respond to real-world scenarios, analyze visuals such as diagrams and graphs, and synthesize explanations that support the answer. Included are samples of questions that measure these higher-order skills.

Top education iPAD apps organized according to Bloom's Taxonomy and 21st Century Skills.

This article reviewed or introduced some free or mostly free software that could be used for classroom collaborations across the miles. I liked the information on VRoom from Elluminate that is free for three people. Many others were noted such as Skype, UStream, and TalkShoe.

This article is lists and explains resources that can be used to bring classrooms together as mentioned 'Services that bring together distant colleagues or classrooms' listing software such as Skype, Ustream, Elluminate, Talkshoe, SightSpeed, and Vyew.

This article by Sam Somani, explained the new fad at universities call MOOCs- massive open online courses. These courses are free and open to the public, and thousands of students can take each course. The author, being skeptical of MOOCS, decided to try one. He found that not only were students benefiting from the course, the quality of instructional videos was such that it could be used as a tool to ,"to see on a fundamental level how other schools may approach teaching differently and how these schools are able to better reach out to students through their teaching."

This article views a bold move by two Standford professors, ditching lectures and webcam lectures for hands on learning in the classroom. They do rely on technology to flip their classroom. Here is a quote "in an era with a perfect video-delivery platform - one that serves up billions of YouTube views and millions of TED Talks on such things as technology, entertainment, and design - why would anyone waste precious class time on a lecture?,"

Ten Ways Schools Are Using Social Media Effectively

A good suggestion for students to purposefully track and develop their own progress. It holds potential to increase student pride in and accountability for their work. A good alternative to include a wider audience, evaluation and perspective of individual's work.

In this article educational areas surrounding the changing trend of online and traditional teaching are highlighted. Online enthusiasm and concerns, the flipped classroom, the value of online courses and prioritizing teaching students on campus could be issues all educators will have to debate at the rapid pace online teaching are accelerating.

A simple video to demonstrate communication, communication, collaboration, critical-thinking and creativity.

This is an article about a 15-year old student that gave a speech to 3,000 teachers, principals and other administrators about implementing Twitter and Facebook in schools. She gave the keynote address at the conference. At the conference the tables were turned ,the student became the teacher. The adults were taught how to sign up for Twitter accounts, tweet and use hashtags. This fits in with our weekly topic of creativity and innovation as teacher now became the student. The student was teaching what she knew best, this helps to foster communication. This was a creative way to engage adults.

Children in grades one through six submit short videos promoting their favorite books. The StoryTubes contest capitalizes on children's interest in technology to promote reading and media skills.

I thought this was an interesting article to plea to people during and after Sandy to use text messages and social media to keep people updated so they can use cell towers to manage rescues.

Using an online exchange project called PenPal News Red-Blue,middle-school and high school students across the country are participating in conversations about election-year issues with peers from different parts of the country. Students are asked to use facts- not just personal experience to converse with their peers about election issues.

This article suggests that blended learning is better than either on-line learning or face-to-face learning. It further suggests that more research is needed to determine what type of learning is best for what type of student.

This article was very interesting. It indicated that grades meant different things to different people. If students received a C, some people would say that the teacher wasn't presenting the material correctly. Lessons should aim to motivate, and inspire students to learn. One professor began class by asking if all students would complete all assigned tasks. When they agreed, he told them they would all get As. He claimed that not one of his students fell back on their word and that work submitted was better than ever. They were more concentrated on learning and understanding rather than worrying about their grade. While this article does not directly relate to online communication, it does relate to how we communicate course expectatioins.

This article discusses a couple of new books that are being published to help train teachers in blended and online learning models. It is a series of lessons that other teachers have had to learn in order to create high learning thinking skills.