Discussing the use of Web2.0 in the Classroom

Wow, technology has greatly changed the art of teaching in just a couple decades! We are getting to a new age where using chalk is lame and looking up a book at the library is un-heard of to do research. I would have to say there are pros and cons to this new technological world that we live in, but there are some definitely some cool things to take advantage of over the web. Many teachers would agree that half the challenge is keeping your class interested and involved in what you are teaching. With the new tools available, the web can become a very useful in involving the kids in their learning. However, knowing what to use and which programs work best might be the next obstacle that teachers will need to overcome. Luckily, teachers everywhere are looking out for each other and using Wikispaces for teachers allows teachers to leave lesson plans, ideas, programs, their reactions to using the programs, and so much more in their blogs. Teachers can access a lot of information and feedback about what works and what doesn't. They even have a chance to share their own ideas and stories. It is a chance to keep teachers everywhere connected to each other and updated on the latest web 2.0 in the classroom.

There are many different types of web 2.0 type of sites that teachers can use in their classroom. There are web sites such as flickr.com, commoncraft.com, intelligenic.com/blog, voicethread.com, and so many more. One site that was especially interesting to look at was uses of Google Earth in the classroom. Google Earth is an application that shows planet earth and allows you to zoom in as close or as far as you like on a particular location. So a teacher who is doing a unit on China or talking about the Great Wall of China, they can bring Google Earth up on the screen and show China to the class instead of using a regular map. The teacher could also try to zoom in as much as possible on the Great Wall itself. Anywhere in the world you can find on Google Earth and it is a great alternative to regular paper maps.

Another application of using web 2.0 in the classroom would be using collaborative web trails (http://trailfire.com). Collaborative web trails allows a teacher to guide their students through certain web sites using step by step instructions on what the student should do. It is a great tool to show students what steps to take to complete a certain project. This allows students to have a sense of independence and doing things on their own while still under the guidance of a teacher. It also allows teachers to be readily available for individual questions or problems instead of instructing a class and risking leaving a few who are lost behind.

Although using the web can be un-realiable at times and confusing for many, when the right sites are used it can be a refreshing teaching technique for in the classroom. When using too many web 2.0 applications, teaching can become a little impersonal but there are some really cool programs out there that are free and when appropriate should be incorporated into the lesson plans. By getting help from other teachers and sharing ideas over the internet, teaching can keep up with the 21st centrury and keep children interested.

-Carolyn Ehlinger

In addition to teacher's being able to guide their students throughw webpages, and using applications such as the Google Notebook allows students to combine the new web 2.0 technology with research that they will be using not only for the one project, but through out the rest of their academic career. Appliactions that allow students to work together and collaborate online, such as with Google Docs to create documents and projects, or with http://www.bubbl.us/, that allows online brainstorming, creates a new environment for students to work together outside of the classroom.

Because Web 2.0 is emerging as a more prominent source of information and collaboration, it is important that studenst are given the opportunities to see it in use, such as with Google Earth, and with their own projects. By being able to begin understanding and participating in this new technology, they are becoming educated adults that are able to use all of the resources available now, not only by researching in libraries and online, but by having discussions and collaborations with other students to gain a broader sense of a subject.

A great source to start at is the wiki spaces for teachers. (http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers100K ) Because this site allows even the youngest students to use the web and post their thoughts online in a safe environment. Students are excited to be able to show their parent's at home what they are doing at school online, and perhaps teachers can even allow parents access to a wiki site to voice their concerns and discuss what is going on in the classroom with other parents. The same excitement that students feel with putting something online on a wiki can be used in projects with voice threads. (http://www.voicethread.com ) Using this application in even our college class, allowed us to share what we had done with others and use a new technology that many of us had no experience with. The example looked at with new year's resolutions from a classroom was another great example of how to use the program cohesively with the regular lesson plan. By having students write down a script their writing skills are being used and tested, as well as their reading skills by having the kids read what they wrote aloud into the microphone.

The new applications that are available to students and teachers are an important thing to incorporate into the classroom in every way possible. If the resources are available, then why not use them? Allowing students to express themselves with something that they are using at home for entertainment anyway, allows them to make connections with their school work and their home life, again, keeping them interested.

- Melissa Cole

Technology in the classroom is becoming more and more of a requirement in this day and age. A few years ago the Internet itself was a revolutionary idea. Now we are not only given access to all kinds of information, we are able to post that information ourselves. It used to be that the only people that were able post anything on-line were the most tech savy among the population. It is only very recently that the concept that ordinary citizens without any real training at all are able to post and share ideas with others around the world. It is very important to keep the classroom environment as up to date as possible in order to keep the kids interested. By taking things like blogs into the classroom they take something that could be used in destructive ways and teach the children to use them for educational purposes. Most kids when they think of a blog they think that it is just a personal journal put out there for all to see. They don't see these blogs as opportunities to share relevant and helpful information with their peers. By using these resources in the classroom teachers can explain how to use them appropriately and safely.

Resources such as bubbl.us can be particularly useful in the middle grades. In this stage children have trouble keeping themselves organized which can make writing papers and organizing information difficult. But if you give them a kind of format to follow this is particularly helpful. Bubbl.us gives the student the tools to make an outline or flow chart in a neat and organized way. The format of the program makes it very easy for people of any age to use effectively. In addition to the ease of use bubbl.us allows this information to be shared with numerous others with very little difficulty.

It is very important to take these new resources into the classroom. If nothing else the new and interesting technology can take something that is very mundane and make it fun to do. These resources make collaboration much less of a hassle. Previously when you wanted to compare notes with a friend you had to meet them somewhere and work around the schedule of others. Now all you have to do is type it into a google doc and your done. This new technology is encouraging students to be part of a learning community and not feel as though they are being left to forge onward alone.

-Danielle Rodriguez

The use of web 2.0 in the classroom is advantageous, but some educators might be hesitant to use it because of their lack of knowledge. Web 2.0 includes sites that can educate people about different aspects of web 2.0. For example, Common Craft produces videos that explain things like wikis and social networking and give a general overview of how to use those kinds of things. Common Craft allows educators to learn about applications of web 2.0 and to feel more comfortable with them so that they can integrate them into the classroom. Common Craft can also be used in the classroom to familiarize students with different aspects of web 2.0 that could be useful to them.

Web 2.0 has made more pictures accessible in the classroom. Photo sharing sites such as Flickr allow anyone to access pictures. A history teacher could show photos of World War II uniforms from Flickr's Library of Congress page. Pictures enrich lessons, and web 2.0 makes those pictures more accessible.

Another feature of web 2.0 is very useful in classes. Online calendars allow teachers to post assignment due dates and special dates of interest. Then, students and parents can access the calendar. It makes it easier for parents to stay involved in the child's education. Parents and students can look at the calendar and make sure that assignments are done on time. With an online calendar, not know when something is due is not an excuse.

-Aimee Belanger

All of the points mentioned above are great, and there are a lot of neat websites referenced. Another thing to add would be podcasting. I like the idea of students creating their own podcasts or recording a story or a play for the class to listen to. I am pretty sure there video as well as audio podcats. I also like how universities are putting speeches made my professors and outside speakers on the internet as podcasts. Podcasts can be a neat way to gain information in a free and convenient way.

Any of the voice software like voicethread is also good for foreign language and/or speech classes. It is good for students to hear and see themselves speaking so that they can better understand what they sound like, and technology can be a great tool for accomplishing this.

I'm not so sure that students really need to be broacasting their work on the internet or that that is such a good idea, but what all these programs can do is worth learning about.

I would like to add a word of caution to this discussion. Sometimes technology can make things more impersonal/boring (think of how what your immediate reaction is when a teacher starts another 45 minute long powerpoint). Technology can also sometimes subsitute for human interaction which can be dangerous.

Technology is also not always reliable- last week at Jackson Middle School the kids were supposed to be researching on Gandhi in the library, but the network shut down. Few of them knew how to use an encyclopedia. I think paper and virtual knowledge are both important, and the paper sources are often a better value than stuff one might find on the internet.

So I think technology can be very relevant and appropriate if used properly.

-Emily Carney

I absolutely agree with everything mentioned above. It is the new era of our classrooms. Education and educational content is evolving, there is no way someone can teach the way they teached 50 years ago. This world is becoming full of information (good and bad), and professor need to keep their students updated. Globalization is not only happening in business or in communication, it is also happening in education. The fact that a group of student at New York can hear and see a conference in Japan, LIVE! Web 2.0 is that new generation that is and could be even more useful in schools. With things like podcasts, blogs, voicethreads, videos etc. Students and teacher all over the world get closer. The kids nowadays are not only citizens of the US, Mexico, Argentina, China, but are also citizens of the World. We have these powerful tool in our hands, technology. I truly believe that there are some aspects in education that work better the traditional way. But, it is also true that technology, specially Web 2.0 can be a very useful aid or even teacher. A very interesting site for education is Teacher Tube, as the name suggests, it is a vdieo community for teachers and students to share opinions, lessons, images on any topic. I agree that sometimes technology avoids human contact or interaction, but, the idea of using Web 2.0 is to actually interact in a faster and more organized way. As Emily said, it is boring to see a 45 minute long presentation, there is where professors need to think about it and create things that would capture the students' atenttion.

It is also important for the educational environment to keep everything clean. Internet is a very powerful place to find information, and very easy to find it. Students and teachers should make an enormous effort to contribute and try to use only the true and valid information on the internet. That is another reason why Web 2.0 sites are good, because they can be edited and have professors contributions, not the information someone we don't know is giving on a webpage. It is important for education to adapt as fast as possible to this new era. Education is basic for all the people in the world, it should not be left behind in this technological era.

- Andrea Flores

As many of have said in the previous paragraphs, technology is really becoming a major influence everywhere. It has affected almost all aspects of people's life. It makes our lives more efficient time-wise, which in turn also allows us to do more, whether or not this is a completely positive thing could be argued. In the same way, the effects of technology could also be a good or bad thing. I think that it is important that people use technology to enhance education and not rely on it completely. Web 2.0 in the classroom could have the potential to be useful very effectively, but it should be relevant to what is going on in the class.

Almost all students in this age are already participating in Web 2.0 outside of the classroom and because of that they would be very apt to bringing in the classroom. It does not seem like real work, it's fun. I think that it could be pulled in the into the classroom and still be fun but it should not be made into busy work. It should be used in a way that has purpose and meaning.

From personal experience, I think that a lot of students do not really realize how many different resources are really available on the internet. My students or young adults use the internet a lot of social reasons. They are most actively taking part in websites like MySpace, YouTube, and Faceboo but they are unaware of the many useful academic websites as well. I thought that the idea of have a website online for a peer edit groups to admit their papers and talk about it was really cool. I never realized until this class all the helpful things that Google has to offer for free. I think showing students these resources and allowing them to use them for their classes could be very helpful.

-Sara Griffis

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