Web+2.0

Chris Venturini EDT 3010 Web 2.0 2/14/2011

In order to best serve the needs of students, education in the classroom of today and in the future must be approached in another way than it is currently considered. In today’s world of new technologies people and students interact and learn about the world around them in much different ways than just twenty, ten or even five years ago. The internet has dramatically changed the way people interact and the rate of transfer of information across local, state, nation, and world boundaries. With the use of web 2.0, information can be spread, commented on, reviewed, and rebuked as fast as someone is able to enter the text on a screen. As a future teacher I am openly receptive and welcome of these changes and plan to bring these new aspects of technology to my classroom.

The use of the internet and the interaction between users can potentially be a used as a powerful learning tool. Students are already readily familiar with how easy and effective the transfer of ideas can be in Web 2.0 through their own personal experiences using online social media such as Facebook, blogs and other interactive websites such as Youtube. Student’s familiarity with Web 2.0 presents an invaluable opportunity for educators to connect with students and relate school content in a format that is easily interpreted. In addition, because of the potential for user interactivity in Web 2.0 websites, teachers can gain valuable and instant feedback about the progress of their students learning by required students to post replies or answers to specific web based questions, media, information or whatever they desire. The benefits of Web 2.0 not only are grand for students but I can envision so many possibilities that Web 2.0 can make my life as a teacher not only easier but inspire creativity and make my job that much more exciting. Through Web 2.0 I can create lessons that capture not only my students imagination but also encourage teacher creativity through captivating presentations using tools such as Prezi. Unlike traditional slide show presentations, Prezi allows presenters to communicate in a fashion more in line with “brainstorming” where the presentation is able to flow effortlessly with the ebbs and current of the lesson. As a social studies teacher I can see the practical application of this tool in a simple history lesson. The lesson could start in a typical “powerpoint” fashion, being linear, but if a student were to pose a provoking question, or if compulsion required that the course delineate from it’s course, as classrooms often do, then the flexibility of Prezi allows for a quick transfer to a new topic, media, or whatever I can plan for to present new information. I can easily see myself exploring the “mind map” format that Prezi caters to so well, which I know helps me to organize and conceptually compose ideas.

Using the Web.20 online tools such as “Slide” I can create my own classroom Pecha Kucha. Using “Slide” I can ask students to all make their own Pecha Kucha (a presentation comprising of strictly 20 images x 20 seconds) where they are asked to give a presentation on a cultural artifact in an AP Geography class, in this assignment they must present their cultural artifact through a picture slide in the form of Pecha Kucha, explaining how their cultural artifact is important regionally, nationally, and globally and talking the class through each image.

Google Docs is a Web 2.0 that I currently use almost daily and can perceive as a possible powerful learning tool in the classroom. Through Google Docs, students can submit drafts or even final assignments online and have them available for both teacher and peer review. For a large essay assignment the students could submit their rough drafts online to a GoogleDocs and have their document available for a group of students to proofread the submitted assignment and make changes before the final submission.

With programs such as “umapper”, I can create practice lessons, assignments, games or even tests in a geography class. Through the “umapper” tool student progress can be tracked through a teacher created, interactive map of a specific region. The teacher could also use the tool to allow students to study for quizzes, allowing a fun and interactive way to test their geographical knowledge.

Uuorld is an online visual map graphing tool that presents statistically geographical data in organized ways on maps. The uuorld Web 2.0 could be an essential part of a geography or history classroom, giving teachers the ability to present information or historical data in an easy to read and practical fashion. One way that I could see myself using this tool would be in medieval history class, using the statistical map data to indicate what cities were hit hardest during the plague epidemic.