Web 2.0 Tools in the Classroom

Web 2.0 Tools in the Classroom

Written and Produced by Jonathan Harkins

Twitter is a Web 2.0 tool that allows people to interact from just about anywhere in the world. Twitter is primarily a social media site where people can catch up with friends, find out the day's news, or search for random information. However, Twitter can have many applications in the education world.

Twitter can be used in education as a gateway for students to find useful information on a wide variety of school topics, as well as experts whom they can follow to gain even deeper insight on subjects.

Twitter can reduce barriers for students who have issues with organization. It provides them with a place to organize and find helpful information for school. Options such as "lists" can help them organize their sources for each topic. All the information one could imagine would be available to them, just by logging in.

Twitter states that they do not knowingly allow users to be under the age of 13. So this site would not really be useful to an educator until the middle of junior high or so, but once the age requirement is met, I believe it would be very helpful.

Google Docs is another outstanding Web 2.0 tool. It is an online word processing application that allows a document to be accessed by multiple people, who can be anywhere in the world with an internet connection. It allows for collaboration and group work without the group actually being together.

The Google Docs application has a wide array of uses in the classroom. It is an obvious choice for implementing group projects as homework. Since it can be accessed any time, anywhere, the students would be able to work on the assignment at different times without having to physically exchange existing work. It is also very helpful for the teacher, because they would have access to the document as well, allowing them to monitor the work being done and provide feedback throughout the work process.

Google Docs helps to reduce physical barriers for learners because it makes it much easier for them to access their work. As mentioned previously, it allows group work to be accessed any time, any place, relieving students of the burden of finding time to get together for group work.

In order to use Google Docs, students need to create a Google Account. The minimum age to own a Google Account is 13 in Canada. Therefore, students would not be able to use this application until junior high.

VoiceThread is a Web 2.0 tool that allows users to post their own thoughts to a picture or video using audio, video, or typed text. Collaborators, or in this case, students, can add remarks to VoiceThreads as well.

VoiceThread can be a very useful tool in the classroom. A teacher could use it to post a picture of something relatable to a school topic, and then add audio comments to explain the picture to their students. Students would the be able to comment on the picture, hopefully sparking intense discussion and debate.

Using VoiceThread can eliminate learning barriers, especially for students who are auditory learners. For example, the teacher could post a picture of something from the textbook, and then use audio or video comments to explain the concept. This would make grasping the concept much easier for auditory learners in comparison to reading directly from the textbook.

The VoiceThread Terms of Use state that users must be at least 13 years of age. If under 13, a child can still use the service, but it must be on an account created by a parent or guardian and they must have explicit permission from a parent or guardian to use it. So, a teacher could use this tool in the elementary grade levels as long as they have parental permission, but it would be better suited for use at the junior high and high school levels.