Web 2.0: Enhancing Education Through Technology

Check out these great, brief videos that offer quick introductions to getting started with numerous different tech tools and resources for teaching and learning. Be sure to share these great resources with your friends and colleagues! To access all of these videos directly in YouTube, just click on this YouTube Playlist.

The author points out the importance of bringing creativity into the classroom and into the curriculum to help engage the learner. The author recommends several Web 2.0 applications that can be used at any school which include Glogster, Storybird, Animoto, and Voki to name a few.

This article was great! It was to the point and explained the importance of creativity in the classroom. The integration of that creativity helps students become producers of their own curriculum and makes them responsible for their own education. The article lists useful tools to bring that creativity alive.

The article from the Discovery Education website is relatively new and it points out how Web 2.0 tools are about revolutionary new ways of creating, collaborating, editing and sharing ... and more, these clever apps turn cell phones into smart teaching tools.

This is a wonderful compilation of Web Tools for Teachers which provides classifications such as Screen Capture Tools, iApps, Photo Editing, Polling, etc. Very comprehensive!

This is a great site! It lists great resources and tools and is easy to read and navigate. The site clearly labels methods and gives you a list of resources.

Collaboration is key to establishing an effective learning environment. The teacher and the students share the responsibility of creating an environment where optimal learning can take place. Students are often unaware how their behaviors do or don't contribute to learning. Teachers may not be aware how they need to modify their own behavior to meet their students' needs. Teachers and students need to work together in identifying the characteristics of an effective learning environment and then in making their shared vision of the classroom a reality.

This article includes a Mindmap that visually shows differences between the social media or personal side of learning vs the collaborative side of learning. As stated in the article education is now using 21st century tools for teaching and learning internet-based tools for use in teaching and learning.

The article speaks of how our students' learning styles are changing and developing as technology becomes more and more a part of our daily lives. The article identifies how collaborative learning is useful now, more than ever, and leads to the development of responsibility and creativity.

This article explains which interview questions you should not be asked and why,

This Prezi about Bloom's Taxonomy was a good example of a basic Prezi.. Each slide presented the six levels and the objectives for each level. I liked how each slide had websites you could use to strengthen the skills needed to master each level. Example: Remembering, was the first level in the Bloom's Taxonomy and this slide showed how a student might use the website, SpellingCity.com or use flashcards to help them remember the information the teacher presented. The Prezi showed the six levels and ways to achieve or master the level presented.

I really thought I had bookmarked this the other day - but I guess I didn't. Maybe I blogged about it instead. Really insightful and interesting view of all stakeholders in the classroom being responsible for making it a safe and dynamic workplace.

Good article on teaching students how to be decent digital citizens. Emphasis on parental involvement too. I found this interesting as we struggle with the admin's decision to ban mobile devices in the middle school. This article gives helpful advice on communicating with students on how to monitor and use the devices appropriately and safely.

It is usually difficult for a student to concentrate on writing their academic paper because there are so many things to do online, including social media, online music, movies, chatting with friends... A perfect reason of procrastination! This tool will make a student write in a clean space with no distractions around, helping them concentrate and make writing quicker.

..."unlock or create layers of digital information on top of the physical world that can be viewed through an Android or iOS device." Through augmented reality, you can hold your device up to an image and watch it come alive. With tools like Aurasma, students can create their own virtual reality.

This site overviews some AV products designed to help students, educators, and other professionals work together on projects and easily share information. The systems allow for two-way collaboration between teachers and students using any device.

This article emphasizes how PBL can be effective, and help students think critically and not just memorize the facts. According to the article, PBL is not just for gifted students, and can help all students, at every learning level, achieve higher order thinking skills.

Multimedia allows for students to express their creativity and show their understanding of material in a fun way. Multimedia is also a great way for teachers to represent information and allow their students to take in information an alternative way (compared to the traditional textbook, powerpoint slides, etc.). This site highlights some great apps for educators and students to make their own media!

Project-based learning, and especially examples such as this, require the students to create so much of their own learning both mentally and physically, a top priority to higher-order thinking. These were younger students, but how can we apply ideas such as this in upper-ed?

For anyone who is interested in literary theory and philosophy, this is an interesting article about Facebook and how it related to Foucault's concept of heterotopia. My AP students have had discussions about how social media changes our view and perspectives on time.

This great article from the BBC in February of 2014 talks about The Last Places on Earth without Internet Access. As you can imagine, they are few and far between but I found the *why* of the explanation very interesting. And the conclusion deals with something I feel everyone needs to do every day -- unplug. Oh, and I can add one more place where they don't have Internet access - in the guest rooms at the Luxor in Las Vegas. Speaking from experience. Linda

This may sound strange but after reading the article it made think of "Internet Free Zones" like we have smoke-free environments. We are so connected everywhere we go that it seems fine now. But all things in moderation, right. In the future I can see internet free environments happening to help peoples health :) I am sure like everything we overconsume, this will be bad for us too. Great article.

A great article to read at this time of year when we are finished with school for the summer. The six questions are powerful and reflective. Though it is recommended that the questions are asked and answered between a colleague or two, I found them helpful for me as I look back on my teaching and the different age groups of students who came to class every day.