Web+2.0

The Web 2.0 is the new interactive web. It is everywhere including our classrooms. In this essay I go over some of the tools that the web 2.0 as for a class.

The Web 2.0 has many amazing tools that allow for user to connect, share and learn in so many ways. It’s remarkable how much Web 2.0 will change the classroom forever. I chose to look at 5 tools that will help enhance my teaching skills by creating an interactive an exciting new ways for students to learn. The first program that I chose to investigate is 280slides.com. This site needsno installation and can be published to any site. 280 Slides lets the user create presentations, similar to power point, but with video, pictures and audio in it. I thought that it was very easy to create a visually interesting power point. The best part of 280 slides was that in the site is a search tool for online clips; you could browse on you tube for something that could be a part of your lesson and insert the clip into your slides very easily. I think this would a huge help in the class. The most important part of learning getting your students to pay attention. Sites like 280 slides will make your lesson far more interactive and interesting. The second program I checked out was School Wax, its site that provides educational based games and “brain teasers” for students. The site is sorted out for different age groups and has a different areas of studies, like general interest, math, reading, writing, ect. It’s a great site that kids can use helping sharpen their skills and have fun at. I thought that this was something that would be great during free time or something that I could suggest for parents and students to dotogether at home. The puzzles are fun but changeling, so kids get something out of it while being entertained. Next I looked was quickmaps.com. This site is a mapping and graphing site that uses google maps that the user can edit. It was very cool, I am an adult! You can pin point anything you want with and label them. There are all sorts of different icons. And the best part is you can draw on your map and save all your work. I think it would be very cool to use quick maps in the a classroom to do something like see where all your students are from, map it and then let each of them talka litte about what’s in that city. Because google maps can zoom in to street view, students can actually see other places. Not to mention do all the traditional things you do with a map, like look at topography, distance, and landscape. I also looked at Google Docs as a learning to nol for the classroom. Google Docs take any type of document and let others see and edit it in real time. I think this would be an amazing tool for kids to use with in groups for a project and also something that I can use with their parents to stay easily connected with them. Also, this seems to be a program that will be used throughout their lives, so it would be good to introduce young students to this technology. Lastly, I looked at Tagul, something I’d never seen before. The creative site makes information “clouds” which look like similar words that are in a shape.Whenyou roll your curser on to a word, it highlights it, then takes to a google search on the word. This was so cool, I literal said “cool” out loud as I was using it! I think students would really connect will make a project with this program, which are fun to make and use.