Web 2.0: Enhancing Education Through Technology

What a better way to promote collaboration by students than for a student to create his own social networking site for his high school.

I wonder what program he used to create the social media website.

webs.com

"Students were involved in creating their online textbook using a wiki that involved collaboration with students in 2 other schools where they peer reviewed the work posted by other students on the course". I think students would get a lot out of this!

A tutorial on who to use Adobe to assess digital work, best practices, commenting and markup tools, audio commenting

This article discusses the new media literacies (cultural competencies and social skills) that young people need to successfully navigate in the new media landscape. It also provides an overview of programs, and benefits, and challenges associated therein.

Tips on how to avoid scams on facebook - written by Richard Byrne

This article talks about how companies use Web 2.0 media as an advertising agent, and how some of these are scams. Furthermore it suggests he Better Business Bureau as a tool to identify these scams. It relates to IML as students need to have the technological literacy to determine which posts are frauds and which are legitimate. Furthermore, the need to have the awareness and ability to check these scams out on a legitimate source

Great article providing a Better Business Bureau list of scam alerts which I found interesting. The article mentions Facebook in particular but I have faced these scams and schemes in emails and on other game sites. I don't trust these surveys either that are sent through emails where they promise you to enter you into a prize drawing etc. So many scams- its good to know there's someone trying to do something about it by making the public aware of these scams. Also teachings students how to use the Internet safely should be part of the curriculum and also digital citizenship. We need to make our students responsible internet users and contributors.

This article discusses a report published by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory and the Meteiri Group entitled "enGauge 21st Century Skills: Literacy in the Digital Age" . The brief outlines the skills needed to be successful in the 21st century, but also reinforces the fact that Digital Age literacy is grounded in the traditional 3R's.

This webpage provides a master list of web 2.0 tools and their correlation to Marzano's strategies. The list indicates whether or not the tool is free of charge and suggested uses for particular tools.

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 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 article puts forth the premise that if student transgressions with technology are handled early on with an open school, parent, and student communication loop - then there will be a decreased likelihood of a major transgression later on in life.

After reading the article and as a parent myself. I tend to disagree with this article. Students learn by reading, seeing and applying. It's great to be book smart, but you need to know how to apply the smarts. I love my classes and the project based learning. I think that's all I do the majority of the day. It's great to be a teacher and facilitator at the same time. All students are different.

About half of K-8 teachers say digital games have become a regular and beneficial part of today's classroom, according to a survey by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, a nonprofit research organization that studies children's learning through digital media.

This article is available to subscribers only. I only could read a paragraph.

From the Free Technology for Teachers blog, I found an entry about web search lesson plans created by Google. From our previous readings, I've come to understand research strategies as a major component of media literacy. In the blog, there are links to the Google created lessons. The plans are developed according to skill level. I find this an interesting and helpful teacher resource; however, there are some search categories, which are quite elementary, if not useless. Student's research habits are often deplorable, so these tutorials point them in generally useful directions. It is necessary for our students to develop strategies for differentiating between poor resources and rich, academic sources. Is Google created strategies the best option?

It appears this link may be dead

Hi Kevin, I am sorry about the dead end link. If you are still interested try here: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/05/web-search-lesson-plans-from-google.html

An excellent piece on the relationship between Web 2.0 and the development of high-order thinking skills. The article describes a project by EDC to train teacher-trainers in Indonesia via Web 2.0 tools. The article describes in very concrete detail how specific Web 2.0 tools promote thinking skills in the upper realm of Bloom's Taxonomy. The article includes a useful chart linking applications like Diigo and Voicethread to the specific skills they promote. It also explains why Web 2.0 tools are more conducive to higher-order thinking than less interactive Web 1.0 tools.

threading and tagging

Just heard about this game creator, never tried it. Looks interesting though.

Hi Sterling, I have used game maker and it's a great tool once the students master the concept.

Motivate and Engage Students with Web 2.0 Teaching Tools Hook even the most reluctant learners with Web 2.0 teaching tools. Boost your students' academic achievement with these Web 2.0 applications. Revitalize your lessons by integrating these instructional technology tools into your teaching plans.Web 2.0 sites come and go.

Another web-based screencast option.

Another one? Wonder if it makes sense publishing to start-ups. They might be gone tomorrow, so will your work. Great that there is a YouTube option.

The author of the article reviews a new training software release "Articulate Storyline". The program combines several elements: video, dialog balloons, and questions with multiple scenario resolutions for starters. Each scene is very short. The video action stops, and text balloons appear showing the dialog of the scene. Then three possible resolutioins to the scene appear. The user chooses one, and the video continues. It works like an improv play where the audience chooses how each scene will end. Although it's designed as a tool for the teacher, I can see where students would love this, too. The reviewer is definitely not unbiased, but there are links to samples that showcase just what the program can do.

This educational web 2.0 tutorial demonstrates a great online method of taking collected data with your classroom and inputing the information into a chart in just a couple of easy steps. Create cutomized data charts simply.

Shows 50 tips that your students can make use of when incorporating Google Docs into the classroom. I like using Google Docs instead of emailing attachments and create shortcuts.

Excellent podcast about astronomy - easy-to-understand explanations of everything from nebulae to searching for aliens to the planets in our solar system from a physicist and publisher. Go to their archive to find all the podcasts (over 100). Astronomy Cast takes a fact based journey through the cosmos as it offers listeners weekly discussions on astronomical topics ranging from planets to cosmology. Hosted by Fraser Cain (Universe Today) and Dr. Pamela L. Gay (SIUE), this show brings the questions of an avid astronomy lover direct to an astronomer. Together Fraser and Pamela explore what is known and being discovered about the universe around us.