Web 2.0 Tools in the Classroom
By Lisa Wilkinson
Animoto is a web tool that allows users to create videos and presentations with photos, music and video clips. It is easy to use and the final products look very professional, the results are outstanding. The Terms of Use page explains that users are required to be over 13 years of age.
This web tool can be used in the classroom for many age levels because it is so easy to use. Middle school and Secondary students can use this to present all sorts of class projects in all subject areas.
Students with varying educational needs are also able to use this tool. Students with problems with speach or presenting in front of the class are able to add video clips of themselves speaking and sound clips of them presenting in a more relaxed setting. It can help students better communicate their ideas to others. I believe that this website has so many possibilities for learning, and can be an effective tool for teachers of any grade and learning level.
This web tool is used for creating, reading, and sharing books made by users. You can completely customize pages in the books and chose templates, font sizes and colour, upload images, upload sound files, and use their provided "coaches" to help readers throughout your book.
This tool would best be used by elementary teachers in their lessons. They can create easy reading material for their students in a fun and interesting way. The title of this web tool even says "Universal Design for Learning", showing that it can be used to help all students. This website is not the easiest to use, and young students may have a hard time creating their own books.The Terms of use page does not however indicate an age restriction.
Students and teachers are able to use this tool to share their own books that they have made, as well as read other user's books, this provides a great network for students to gain new ideas.
Students who learn better visually will find this site very helpful. It allows so much creativity that learning can be made easier for students. I believe that this tool is great for UDL and assisting students in their learning.
This web 2.0 tool allows users to create unique "word clouds". You simply enter what words you want in the cloud, chose colours, fonts, sizes, and then it randomizes the words and creates a very intersesting image. You can alter your image into different shapes, sizes and layouts.
These word clouds can also be made in real time, which cn allow teachers to make a word cloud with their whole class on a smartboard. After creating your word clouds, you can save the image, print it, or even get it printed on a t-shirt, mug, almost anything.
This tool can be very helpful for tecahers to show students how important certain words are from a book, poem, speech, play, etc. Students with special learning needs, can use this tool to better visualize the content that they are learning and looking at in class. Overall this tool is very fun and interactive for teachers and students.