WEB 2.0 Tech Camp

Hi everyone - this post will help take you through some of the valuable Web 2.0 tools and sites that educators can think about using in the classroom.

Students (and teachers) should have responsible and ethical lives online. What they do and say will follow them forever, so it is imperitive that we train our students to be confident and appropriate with their online work. What we add to the web is important, and we should take such responsibilty seriously. With employers doing background searches through google before hiring, work students do now can show that they are capable of adding new and interesting content to what is already out there.


OK, let's start with a quick video about the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. The video is an advertisement for a technology company, but the basic information will help us out.



Now, let's see some Web 2.o in action...

Ways to make WEB 2.0 for you...

1) Commenting Features - find relevant sources (blogs/articles)that allow for users to comment back to the author. As teachers, we can keep track of what our students say by having their user names. Grading for comments should be simple but straightforward:
a) Require a specific length
b) Require students to use ideas from others to support or refute
c) Require the student to back up an opinion with a source
d) Require the student to have a response to another student's comment
e) Require appropriate sentence/grammar structures
f) Require students to use specific class vocabulary in the response

Here are some examples of articles or blogs with comments on them:
a) From The Bergen Record
b) From The Freakonomics Blog at The New York Times
c) From my blog


2) DELICIOUS - An online bookmarking site that you can share. This has wonderful value to any kind of class. As teachers, we can locate, store, and share any and all web sites we want our students to use. The students in turn, can then create their own accounts which shows the sites they are accumulating over the years. They can become "experts" in specific parts of class, and their Delicious accounts can become sources for other students to use. There is more, but let's see it first :) Let's go to my account.

On the left are my most recent bookmarks - they are not organized. On the right, you will see a cloud of 'tags', which are folders for my bookmarked websites to be filed under. Remember, that web sites can be filed under numerous tags.
Grading for Delicious accounts should be simple and straightfoward.
a) Require students to have specific tags for class and tags for themselves (the more they use it, the more they will see the value)
b) Require students to be a part of a specific number of networks (both from students and from others)
c) Require students to become "experts" on topics - they use the year to build up a specific tag. Their accounts will then be used by other students
d) Require students to use some of your sources

You can often times add to your delicious site straight from the articles or blogs you are reading.  Just look for the 'share' link, and you will probably find the delicious logo or name. 

3) This one is the biggest and the best - Wikis. A wiki is a web site that is allowed to be edited by anyone who wishes to. Wikipedia is the biggest example, but there are many more sites just like it. People can go to a wiki, see something that they want to change or add, and alter the content seen on the page. It is a communal process that, over time, will show great depth. Let's check out the wikipedia page for Pascack Valley High School. There is much to look at beyond the actual article...the history and discussion pages.

Here are some powerful wikis right now...
a) wikihow
b) wikitravel
c) wikiversity
d) wikinews
e) wikisource

The same technology is available for teachers to use at a site called Wikispaces. Here, teachers can wikis that multiple classes can contribute to and work on together. Actually, classes from different teachers, schools, states, and countries can all work together.

I started one this year just to practice with the technology, and you can see the opportunities it presents.

4) Voice Thread allows for users to speak, draw, and write to each other about uploaded images. Here is one example of a voice thread about Egyptian Mummies with threads from different students. This site allows students to use many types of learning styles, and because it's web 2.0, the users are creating the information and adding to the site.



5) Create Debate  CreateDebate

This site allows anyone to jump into a debate. There are many debates already going, but anyone can start a new one. With this site, students can hone their persuasion skills while focusing on any topic for class. I will make sure to have students use appropriate MLA citations when they take information from other sources. Responses should be short and sweet to make a point, but they can also be targeted at other users to discuss opposing views.
Here is an interesting debate... http://www.createdebate.com/debate/show/Outsourcing_of_US_jobs_to_foreign_countries%3A_Bad_or_Good

To put a final thought on web 2.0 - these sites can be extremely powerful in getting students to work outside the lines. I wold stress making rubrics that are simple and to the point, so grading is easy on everyone. Have specific tasks the students should do, and to make these sites more interesting for everyone - have students respond to each other's ideas (especially when their responses are differing points of view).

To practice being in the shoes of our students, by the end of class, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post as to how the presentation went or what you would like to see more of, and I can create a new post for that. Remember, your comments will be seen by all :)