Web 2.0 Tools and Their Educational Applications

February 8, 2008Faces of Technology Conference

FacilitatorDavid Brear:dbrear@shaw.ca

Blog: http://onlineworkshops.blogspot.com/

Web 2.0• It is an amazing socialization of the Internet.• It is a phrase used to describe a change in the way

we use the Internet.• We are sharing, collaborating and exchanging ideas

in ways that were not dreamed of a few years ago.

Selected Video Introductions to Web 2.0

• Web 2.0 in just under 5 minutes (change in one area (such as the way we communicate) can have a profound effect on everything else.)

• What is Web 2.0 (Andi Gutmans of Zend defines Web 2.0 and explains how it's changing the face of the Internet.)

• Understanding Web 2.0 (this video is to help teach educators about Web 2.0 tools.)

• A Vision of Students Today (began as a brainstorming exercise, thinking about how students learn, what they need to learn for their future, and how our current educational system fits in.)

• Did you Know ? (Innovation is cumulative and the rate of change accelerates.)

• Shedding Light on Web 2.0 ( Kathy Shrock presentation, Necc’07. )• Resources for shedding light on Web 2.0 - This page will provide you with links to

sites to support the above talk.

Why use Web 2.0 in the classroom ?

• There are advantages that benefit educators. • Web 2.0 addresses some basic frustrations that plague students

and teachers. • Frustrations with contrasting operating systems ( PC/Mac) and

expensive software are just a couple.• In contrast, Web based applications run smoothly on minimum

system requirements. • The backbone of the Internet is the common thread that allows for

easy access to Web-based solutions that are accessible with a variety of browers such as Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox.”

• Source: April 2007 issue Classroom Connect, Volume 13, No. 7.

Classroom Applications• Zoho Virtual Office - Online office tool that has developed a wide variety of integrated

online collaboration tools.• Google Docs and Spreadsheets - Google has grouped services that include photo

album, email and calendar. You can create and share projects online and access them from anywhere.

• gOffice - provides an online office suite which allows customers to quickly create documents via a web browser.

• Thinkfree - is the leader in next-generation office productivity solutions for platform independent, anytime, anywhere-computing.

• Joomla - is an award-winning Content Management System (CMS) that will help you build websites and other powerful online applications. Best of all, Joomla! is an open source solution that is freely available to everybody.

• Creating ePortfolios with Web 2.0 Tools - Dr. Helen Barett, in 2006, began exploring the use of Web 2.0 tools, and constructed portfolios using these tools. One advantage of Web 2.0 tools is that many of them are free.

Organizers, To-Do's and Note Taking

• We appear to be always busy and Web 2.0 offers us many "organizers", "to-do's" and "note-taking" to help us with our daily tasks.• Gradefix - Simply add your homework tasks and Gradefix will work

them into your schedule.• Backpack - is a simple web-based service that allows you to make

pages with to-do lists, notes, files, and images.• Chalksite - It's the quickest, simplest route to expanding your

classroom onto the internet. • NoteMesh - is a free service that allows college students in the

same classes to share notes with each other.• JotSpot - Google has acquired JotSpot.

Our Growing Need to Connect

• Web 2.0 service offerings grow day by day. • The expectation is that new services will continue to surface and develop into

narrow online tools that compliment educational experiences. • Young students gravitate to Web 2.0 because it recognizes their individual

contributions and it validates the essential need to connect. • Some of the sites need to be checked out first before they are used in the

classroom.• Source : " Web 2.0 Wave Rolls into Classrooms" by Donald Hawkins, April 2007 Classroom

Connect Newsletter, Volume 13, No. 7• Facebook - is a social utility that connects you with the people around you.• Friendster - is a leading global social network emphasizing genuine friendships and the

discovery of new people through friends.• MySpace - An international site that offers email, a forum, communities, videos and

weblog space.• Scrapblog - is the best place to share your digital scrapbooks with your friends, family,

and the world.

Back to School with the Class of Web 2.0

• Each of the 3 Part series linked below, contain in one place many of the useful Web 2.0 tools with explanations that you can use in your educational setting. • Part 1- Written by: Brian Benzinger, with the start of the new school year, many

teachers and students are seeking new products and technologies to help them through their upcoming academics. With the increase of teachers using blogs and wikis, and students networking and utilizing online tools, the demand for easier and more efficient ways of learning is on the rise.

• Part 2 - Brian covers web-based alternatives to desktop office applications including: word processing, presentations, diagrams, spreadsheets, and more.

• Part 3 - Brian researched possible scenarios and real case studies of Web 2.0 in education in hopes to show others where we are with today's education and where it could be.

Blogs and Wikis for Educators

• Blogging4educators wiki - electronic village online 2008• Technology Tools - Deirdre’s Wiki• Web 2.0 Teaching Tools - This site lists Web 2.0 websites and webtools that

have potential for use college and university teaching.• Educational Software - On this wiki you will find resources for different

educational applications, Web 2.0 and digital image and video resources.• EdTechWeb2 - This is the common space for educators to list and share their Web 2.0

ideas and applications for best practice in K-12 education.

• School 2.0 in South Africa - How can Web 2.0 transform teaching and learning ?

• Classroom Blogging - blogging in the classroom. • eLearning Technology Blog - Tonny Karrer’s blog on eLearning and Adoption of Web 2.0

and eLearning 2.0 revisited.

Other Helpful Sources • Classroom 2.0 - the social networking site for those interested in Web

2.0 and collaborative technologies in education.• Go2Web20.net - the complete Web 2.0 directory.• Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day - a daily item of e-learning

interest selected by Jane Hart of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies.

• Directory of over 2,000 E-Learning Tools - Jane has been building this Directory of Learning Tools over the last year. It now contains over 2,000 tools that can be used for creating learning and performance support solutions as well as for managing your own personal learning.

• Welcome to Stephen’s Web - by Stephen Downes, works for the National Research Council, Institute for Information Technology, in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada and he specializes in online learning, content syndication, and new media.

Other Useful Web 2.0 Tools• WiZiQ -The free online teaching and e-learning platform. Find teachers,

network, use the web-based Virtual Classroom for collaboration and conferencing, share documents and take tests.

• The Broth - created by an Australian web publisher and developer, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. Our focus is collaborative art and social media applications.

• SlideShare - is the world's largest community for sharing presentations on the web.

• TokBox - Video chat and video message with friends and family for free.• Voice Thread - is an online media album that can hold essentially any type

of media (images, documents and videos) and allows people to make comments in 5 different ways - using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam) - and share them with anyone they wish.

References• Web 2.0, New Tools, New Schools - this book provides a

comprehensive overview of the emerging Web 2.0 technologies and their use in the classroom and in professional development.

• Technology Literacy and the MySpace Generation -They're not asking permission.

• The Invasion of Web 2.0 - The Internet-based software programs that are generally referred to as "Web 2.0" may have been perceived, as recently as last Spring, as the latest pet technology of the educational uber-geek or the conference presenter. However, Web 2.0 programs are rapidly becoming tools of choice for a growing body of classroom educators, who are discovering that they provide compelling teaching and learning opportunities.

• The Web 2.0 Bubble - Why the social-media revolution will go out with a whimper, article from The Atlantic.com, April 2007