Web+2.0

Web 2.0
=== The World Wide Web has become a necessity in today’s world. Not only do we use it for work, but also for play, personal pleasure and socializing. Web 2.0 has opened up a whole new world outside of our daily lives that is continuously changing to make our lives easier. As an aspiring teacher, I can see how these tools will help students interact in the classroom and become more involved and interested in what they are learning. I have chosen five Web 2.0 tools that I would like to describe in detail and ultimately relate their charge to the classroom experience for my students. === === Lets first start with a presentation tool called Prezi. Prezi is sort of like a slide show that moves and interacts just like we hope students do in the classroom. Prezi is easy to use and is definitely user friendly with easy navigation buttons, tips and tricks at your fingertips and a wide variety of tools so that your imagination may come to life. This program lets you work with infinite space and there is no anchor attaching the creator to just one, or a couple slides. It is similar to a map in that it shows relationship and context with ease and it also leaves room for open ended discussions with your audience, or in my case my students. You can show your students the big picture, while hiding small details and adding comments as you go. Prezi.com gives you many ideas if you’re having trouble getting started, and it also offers basic lessons to help you on your way. === === With out a doubt this tool could and will definitely be used in my classroom. I am aspiring to be a history teacher so this tool would come in handy when discussing any war or battle. I could put different countries in the show, moving from place to place, zooming in on certain battles, telling the story as we discussed it is class. And since I can add comments as the show carries on, it would be an awesome way to have an open ended discussion with students, as we fill in information concerning each posed question together. === === Next I would like to suggest Google Documents as another Web 2.0 tool that has been created to make our lives run smoother. Google Docs allows you to interactively share documents with anyone at anytime. You can access these documents from any computer or smart phone, and the best part is its live; you can see the changes to the documents as they are being written. You can easily move documents from your personal saved files to Google Docs and vice versa. Everything from Word documents to Excel spreadsheets to drawings and presentations can be uploaded to this magnificent website. === === This tool would work wonders as an editing device in the classroom. It, in my opinion, would work best as a collaborative tool. Having students individually write their own paragraphs of a paper, or having students create their own set of slides for a PowerPoint presentation, then having them edit each other’s work and produce a final product as one assignment. This tool could be wonderful also in teaching grammar, syntax and sentence structure in an English class. === === Blogger is another Web 2.0 tool that has exceptional qualities. Blogger is a blogging website to help you… well, blog. Not only can you blog, but you can also share photos with your friends, family or the whole world, if you choose. It is easy to post your text, videos or your photos from any computer of mobile device. You can also customize your template for your blog with different layouts, colors and fonts. === === I can see using this tool as more of an online journal that students can use to post thoughts about a discussion we had in class, notions concerning a chapter from a book, or material discussed in class. Other students would then have a chance to read their classmates work, thoughts and feelings concerning the topic. I think this would be effective in the learning process as this blogging website would serve as a way to express oneself in a controlled, supervised area. === === PB Works is a tool created to help students build a website of their own. They can imbed images, text, and videos on their very own website. They can choose a website style, font, color and content of their website. It encourages student centered learning, offering a wide variety of freedoms to students. PB Works in an online workspace just like the Wiki we are creating in class. It is a great tool for teachers, students and parents. === === PB Works, or any Wiki site, is definitely going to make its way into my classroom. As the teacher I can publish notes, lectures, policies, rubrics, and examples of other students work. Starting a class website would also be a wonderful idea, as it would encourage discussions from all members of the class. Finally, parents would be able to access the web page keeping them involved and up to date on their child’s progress throughout the course, as well as keeping them in the loop on what their child is doing in class. === === Finally I would like to talk about something a little bit different. It is a unique tool, unlike the ones discussed above. It is called Second Life. Second Life is a social network tool designed for a multitude of things. It’s a simulated world created by the user to be as real or unreal as the creator so chooses. This kind of social networking site has been a big hit within colleges and universities. A user can meet people, listen to course material, and communicate with professors as if they were really on campus, or sitting in a café drinking coffee with a classmate. Second Life is a playground for the imagination. Users can create just about anything, as well as hold jobs, own houses or cars, and travel the world. === === I don’t know if Second Life would fit well into my high school classroom. It seems much more advanced, and would require a bit more maturity of students. But it would be a great place for a college to seek an alternative to online classes, online lectures, or a place to interact with students in general. === === As you can very well see Web 2.0 offers an abundance of devices and tools for students of all ages, as well as teachers and parents. Web 2.0 has offered me as an aspiring teacher a great assortment of teaching tools to create an interactive classroom for my students so they stay interested and at the end of the day become educated young people, who will grow into the leaders of the future. ===

==I loved this assignment. Researching all the different types of tools that are available to __anyone__ was invigorating. Who knew so many tools were at our disposal, all for free. As explained above, all of these tools will make it into my classroom, giving me different ways to communicate different information with my students while keeping them interested!==