Web+2.0

Web 2.0 is something new for all of us. Personal interaction and progression with technology is part of life. I feel that there will be students who are much more computer and Web 2.0 literate than I, but that is something that I will have to use to utilize and moderate. Here are a few specific examples here of different ways that I can use 2.0 to help make my classroom a better place. There are many more options that I am sure these few tools will lead to as we all get better and more comfortable with using them.

I think that the first area that I will try to focus attention to benefiting the classroom is using a blog. I think that it would be very beneficial for myself as well as the students to participate in a blog. It will lead to better communication and organization of daily life and major events coming up at school. I could keep one myself so that the students could read my thoughts about a topic or assignment. I would be able to show my students why I thought that something was more authentic or important. A blog will be like an annotated syllabus with explanations, jokes, interesting facts learned, and anything else that will help my students retain information from that day or questions that we all had. This could also be a way for students who may have missed class or need a little extra help to see my notes and have a second method of the information for them to process. A blog will simply open up communication and help get everyone on the same page.

I think it would also be very beneficial for the parents to be connected to my blog. This would allow the parents to be informed on everything going on in the classroom and by the parents having access to my blog they will know what their children are doing and the lessons that are going on in the classroom. My parents always used to ask me, “What did you learn in school today?”, If it was something interesting enough or fun I would tell them but plenty of time my answer was along the lines of, “Nothing” or “Whatever” or a diluted version of what really took place. I think that my parents would have read the blog if my teachers wrote one and then they would have been able to fire questions at me and get more involved in my school work. In the end, parents participation is great. Even parents just asking questions so that their children slash students keep thinking about school at home. This could be a little tough in situations where parents do not have access to the internet, maybe a letter could be sent home or some other type of accommodation.

A third use for the popular blog would be for the students. They have plenty to write about. I would hope for them to write about what they learned, what they have questions about, what they thought was helpful or cool, and finally what they did not like. This could keep us communicating all the time and me thinking about what I need to alter or modify to make things better. This blog could also be shared with so many different groups of people and take us as a class to new places with this communication. I would really hope that I will be able to get my students to be writing a blog and sharing it with students at other schools and maybe overseas. International conversation and international thought process will make students minds stretch and think globally. I think that his is really exciting - making the students see and think in big picture terms. Other schools in the city or state could participate and a new local network could be formed. No matter what, technology and Web 2.0 is stretching well beyond the school wall limits.

Youtube.com is another great Web 2.0 tool for students. Youtube.com is an online video library that allows the user to upload videos for the public as well as watch other peoples videos. The students and I can always search for different types of videos that are actual events, to movie clips, documentaries, to demonstrations and so on. There are limitless videos to search and learn form. It could also be fun and interactive for students to make there own videos or demonstrations to share with the world. This is an area that we would need to be careful and make that anything the students put online was safe and appropriate.

Google documents is another Web 2.0 tool that is great for students and teachers alike. Google documents allows the user to keep documents online so that they can be access and worked on from anywhere and on any computer. Students and teachers can work in unison on papers and documents giving everyone free access. Google maps and Google Earth are two other Google tools that let the user access all types of information from a personal computer. It is extremely user friendly and free. The maps and earth tools can let us as a class travel around the world making observations, measurements, and documenting it all from the classroom as a group.

Podcasts are another Web 2.0 tool that can be interactive for students and teachers alike. As a teacher we can create lessons and messages for the students to access from anywhere. As a history teacher there are all types of exercises and lessons that a podcast can make easier and more efficient. Students can use podcasts to present projects by themselves or in groups. Students can respond to my podcast with their own podcasts and we can work together from different locations. This still permits a much greater amount of communication between students and teachers than any other method in the past. Podcasts also allow teachers to reuse lessons and plans from year to year. Podcasts can be boring and just a recorded speech, or have music sound affects and be very organized and planned to create success. With all of the recording options it gives the one in control the flexibility to go back and add things or fix mistakes. A podcast really puts so much control in the hands of those creating that there are endless options. For students and teachers not working together in person a podcast can still show a persons personality, emotion, passion, and effort towards the goal.

Facebook.com is another Web 2.0 tool. Facebook is a little more controversial because of privacy issues and information being so public, however, it as a network has great power. People of all ages, races, sexes, religion, and so on log onto Facebook at all hours constantly to be connected to the huge social network. Facebook allows people to talk and share their lives with people around the world - messages, pictures and video. Facebook also conducts research and collects data about its users. As a tool Facebook is a way to have students write to each other and other students anywhere in a fun non traditional manner that they do not mind. Privacy issues are always a concern so as a teacher one has to be careful of what is shared among the public for everyone. A class may have a page to share information with another class doing the same type of project or studying a similar subject. Facebook allows for real time updates from anywhere and access to the public. Web 2.0 is a new tool that we are all working together with to make education in the future better for teachers and students. Web 2.0 is going to take much work and cooperation between all those involved. There will be times when everyone is confused and we are cursing these machines but then we have to think of how easy and how much work this technology is doing for us. Web 2.0, computers, and the internet have changed education and all of our lives, now we must utilize these new tools to the fullest and make our classrooms the best learning environments possible.