Web 2.0 for Students and Teachers

Agenda
This is a two part workshop. Here is the agenda for both:
  • Define elements of Web2.0
  • Define blog and blogging – find and evaluate examples used by teachers and students
  • Contrast blogging with microblogging and give examples
  • Sign up for Edmodo account and discuss uses with students
  • Define wikis – find and evaluate examples used by teachers and students
  • Sign up for Wikispaces account and begin to develop a wiki to use in the classroom
  • Define social bookmarking and examine it’s use for personal and professional life
  • Sign up for a Delicious account and join a “network”
  • Define RSS feed
  • Sign up for a reader – Google Reader
  • Projects from Web 2.0 Applications
  • Voicethread
Resources
Delicious Links for Blogging
Delicious Links for Wikis
Video on Edmoto
Edmoto Wiki
Delicious - for public bookmarking
VoiceThread – Group conversations around images, documents, and videos
VoiceThread Samples I
VoiceThread Samples II
VoiceThread Educator’s Guide
Wordle
Animoto
Classroom 2.0 Wiki

Web 2.0 and Social Media

Until 2004, almost all websites are created by authors using special software and language called HTML. Users of the internet are consumers of the information on the sites. Those original types of websites are static and can only be updated by the author or administrator of the website. A new and improved version of the web allows for collaboration between groups of users. Web 2.0 provides web-based applications and web services that allow users to participate in the creation of content. The whole process of this type of technology allows a community of people to share information easily, collaborate, and connect with others with common interests. One doesn’t learn Web 2.0, and there is no real definition - only characteristics. It is a fact that this point in time, the web is the web, and user created content so prevalent that anyone who uses the Internet uses Web 2.0. Here are a few examples:

•  Check your email using Yahoo? Yahoo news features articles that have had the most “votes” and accepts comments on articles from the readership.
•  Purchase anything from online stores like Amazon or Target? Other shoppers can create lists and comment about and rate comments.
•  Looking for recipes? All Recipes is an extremely popular website that accepts recipes from members of the site along with allowing it’s users to organize their favorites.
•  Do you have family members that share photos online? Sharing photos online is a great example of a practical use of social media.
•  Have you ever seen a YouTube video? As of earlier this year, YouTube has 100 million viewers. That amounts to about 15 millions videos a month.
•  Have you used Google to research any topic, particularly pop culture or current events? If you access any Wikipedia article, you are accessing a site that is based on the “wisdom of the crowds”.

So here’s the thing: The term Web 2.0 has been used since 2004. Five years later, the Internet has transformed to include user created content, connectedness, collaborative writing, consensus building, and the wisdom of the masses. So it might be time for us to retire the term Web 2.0 - it’s just a confusing term anyway. It’s time to understand how we are answering the question, “How are we getting our children involved in opportunities to create content on the Internet and use Internet tools to collaborate and share information and media for instructional purposes?”

The most prevalent forms of collaborative writing that is used in the classroom are blogs and wiki. Check out explanations and examples of these types of tools are used effectively in the classroom:
Blogging in the Classroom
Wikis in the Classroom