Web
2.0 refers to a new and improved form of the World Wide Web. The
following are some examples of Web 2.0 that teachers around the world
are incorporating into their classrooms daily:
Early childhood teachers can use a wide
variety of FREE Web 2.0 elements to help organize, expand, and support
classroom instruction, some of it is super easy- here are some of my
favorite FREE Web 2.0 tools:
From Wikipedia- "Social
bookmarking is a method for Internet users to store, organize, search,
and manage bookmarks of web pages on the Internet. In a social
bookmarking system, users save links to web pages that they want to
remember and/or share. These bookmarks are usually public, but can also
be saved privately..."
The difference between social bookmarking
and regular bookmarks or "My Favorites" is that this is a web based
program which means it is accessible from ANY computer anywhere.
"My Favorites" are only available on your home computer and therefore
not as accessible. For example, if you are at home and you find a
great website you can use at school, instead of sending a link to
yourself or worse yet, writing it down on paper (*gasp*), you can simply
save it to your social bookmarking account. The next day, when you
go to school you can turn on your computer and access your social
bookmarking account and see the link there. Better yet, if you
install the social bookmarking toolbar on your home AND work computer
you can have instant access to your bookmarks on both computers all the
time!
I have discovered links via
del.icio.us (my social
bookmarking tool of choice) that I never would have been able to find
before. I use my network to find new and useful links every single
day.
Yet another unique feature
of social bookmarking is the "social" aspect. This is what makes
this tool stand out from any regular bookmarking tool. Most people
understand the bookmark part, but they totally miss the boat on the
social aspect. Here's the deal- in order for social bookmarking to
work you actually have to bookmark items! The more you bookmark
the more likely people are to join your network who have similar
interests. The more people that are in your network the more
links to ideas you can discover...just watch the video below-
Common Craft explains it
better than I ever could!
Web based
library cataloging:
This is much cooler than it sounds.
So you're a teacher and you have a million books, right? How do
you keep track of said books without pulling your hair out? The
answer my friends, is a web-based library catalog. My web-based
library cataloging site of choice is
LibraryThing,
but there are many others out there to choose from. No more long
hours spent creating spreadsheets of all your books,
LibraryThing does
all the work for you. Here's a description of LibraryThing:
"LibraryThing
is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can
access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone. Because
everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the
same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so
forth."
Here's how
LibraryThing
works, it's very simple. First, sign-up for an account- you can go
free, paid for one year, or lifetime membership. Next, because
it's web based and doesn't need any additional software, just start
adding books to your bookshelf! You can type in the title or
author and select your books that way, or you can buy a barcode scanner
for $15 and simply scan the barcodes on each book in your collection.
The applications for teachers using
this service is incredible. I have tagged each of my books with
the "theme" or "unit" that they fall into. Some books that fall
into more than one category I add more than one tag to. This way I
can always find the books I need when I need them. Tagging my
books allows me to view all the books at once that I own that belong to
that category. For example, I have a tag titled "alphabet",
if I click on that tag it will show me all the alphabet books I own in
my collection.
Have you ever created a file in Word
or PPT that you needed for school? How did you get that document on
your school computer so you could use it? Did you put it on a jump
drive? Did you send it to yourself? Guess what? There's a better
way to do it that involves fewer steps and is much easier! Using web
based document services is absolutely free and easy. My web based
document service of choice is Google
Docs although there are many out there to choose from. Here's a
description of Google Docs:
"Documents, spreadsheets, and
presentations can be created within
Google Docs, imported through the web,, or sent via email. They
can also be saved to the user's computer in a variety of formats. By
default, they are saved to Google's servers. Open documents are
automatically saved to prevent data loss, and a full revision history
is automatically kept. Documents can be tagged and archived for
organizational purposes. Collaboration between users is also a
feature of Google Docs. Documents can be shared, opened, and edited by
multiple users at the same time. In the case of spreadsheets, users
can be notified of changes via e-mail"
- Wikipedia
The video below explains how it works
in Plain English from Common
Craft:
My district uses Microsoft Outlook
for e-mail and they do have a nice calendar feature, however it was
a pain to keep logging into my school e-mail account remotely to
access my school calendar. There were times when I needed to
compare my school and home calendars to set up appointments. With
Google Calendars you can merge calendars effortlessly and have
access to them on any computer you use- all the time, how cool is
that? I have found Google Calendars to be a great time saving
device as well as incredibly convenient. You can also set up e-mail
and pop-up reminders for events. You can make your calendars public
or private, your choice.
"Using Google Calendar, you can add
events and invitations effortlessly, share with friends and family
(or keep things to yourself), and search across the web for events
you might enjoy. It's organizing made easy."
I use a variety of on-line photo
sites such as Photobucket,
Flickr,
Shutterfly, and
Snapfish. Photobucket and
Flickr are considered photo sharing sites, while Shutterfly and
Snapfish are more for creating things with your digital photos. I
have used Shutterfly and Snapfish to create unique and professional
looking items for my classroom such as a class yearbook, class
scrapbook, and class Christmas and Thank You cards.
The video below explains how to use
Flickr, one of the most popular photo sharing sites on the web.
Flickr has many possibilities for classroom use such as virtual
field trips, digital storytelling projects, slide shows and power
points, digital student portfolios, and more.
Most school district filters block
Flickr and with good reason, because it is a public site people can
and do upload anything to Flickr. Therefore, I strongly advise
against using Flickr live in the classroom, instead, use
Flickr as a tool to enhance instruction by downloading photos to
your computer first. You will also need to be careful about using
copyrighted photos from Flickr, click here to read about the
Creative Commons
rules.
This one is easy to explain, you
can see evidence of it throughout this page with all the videos from
different sites I have included here. You can see firsthand how
useful these videos can be. I enjoy using sites like
Teacher Tube to see what
other teachers around the world are doing. Sites like
You Tube and
Vimeo are also full of helpful
videos, but also some that are not so helpful or downright offensive
so never use these sites live in the classroom. Many district
filters block You Tube, but some will allow Teacher Tube or Vimeo.
Just visiting Teacher Tube's
homepage you can view videos on every topic from how to add a new
font to your computer to a catchy rap about the water cycle. My
favorite videos to share with my students are by
SuperSimpleSongs at Vimeo (don't miss Magnetic ABC's, 5 Little
Monkeys, and Eensy Weensy Spider!)
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