Previously up to week five, Max had spoken numerous times about Web 2.0 tools however he had never really gone into detail other than to give us a few examples such as Facebook and online blogs. During week five we further explored what Web 2.0 tools are during the lecture as well as discussing how it will affect our classrooms. In the tutorial on Tuesday we were given the opportunity to investigate various ones for ourselves.
I had heard and seen of some of these various teaching and learning strategies before this tute but I did not realise they that they were specifically Web 2.0 tools. Web 2.0 tools are different from other computer applications such as PowerPoint because it gives students the opportunity to not only produce quality work but to share it as well on their blogs, wikis, websites etc. The following website has a comprehensive list of Web 2.0 applications if anybody would like to further explore and investigate for themselves.
http://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=38760
A number of these applications stood out to me in particular as being ones that I can see myself using to help students develop and consolidate their learning. My favourite application from this site is ‘Wordles’. Wordles are a fun way of expressing ideas that have been gathered from students in a way such as a survey. Wordles are word clouds that show popularity of the specific ideas by creating words varying in size. Large words equal most popular done to the smallest words being the least popular. Another application I would like to use in my classroom in the future is ‘Bubble.us’. This is an application that allows students to easily produce concept maps in a clear way. Concept maps are an excellent tool to express ideas and content in an easy to read and understand way.
At the end of week five, I feel I am more confident to try and incorporate Web 2.0 applications into my lessons. By doing this, students will be more engaged in lessons as they are not just using pen and paper to express ideas.
Hi Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that I would also like to implement more web 2.0 tools in the classroom, as I also feel that they will encourage students to become more engaged in their lessons.
Now that it has been a while since you posted this blog, what ICT's have you explored? Do you think they are beneficial to the KLA you have chosen?
Cheers,
Carinna
Hey Carinna, I have explored a few further Web 2.0 tools but I don’t think they would be beneficial to my SOSE KLA I have chosen for my Wiki. I have found flickr to be a useful ICT tool. An increasingly common way of sharing photos these days is via our facebook pages, however not all people have facebook accounts, but most people these days do have the internet or are able to access the internet as someone else’s house. Flickr allows us to share our photos in a different way that allows them to be accessable to everyone. A friend that got married recently has put a few of her professional wedding photos up on Flickr to share with her family and friends. However i am not sure if sharing photos in Flickr would be appropriate for the classroom because it would not be suitable or professional to put pictures up of our students. We could however put pictures up of images we want out students to see and allow them to access them as part of their investiagtions.
ReplyDeleteAnother Web 2.0 tool I have only just been exposed to is Scratch. I was watching a friend develop one of her student samples for her Wiki and I was amazed with what scratch allows you to do! I do not think I am confident enough with my ICT skills to create something like she did, but I would like to build on these skills so that one day I could create a Scratch tool for my students.
I will continue to explore more Web 2.0 tools in the coming weeks to make sure I choose the best samples for my Wiki possible.
Rachel