Web 2.0 Tools Within the Classroom
Explaining the use of internet applications inside the classroom
Website- twitter.com
Twitter is an online social netowrking application that allows you to connect you to people around the globe. It enables the user to send and read messages in less than 140 characters called "tweets". You can also search for variety of topics or people and gives you the choice to follow them, meaning that their tweets will show up on your feed for you to read.
Twitter is available to users through computers and even mobile devices. Many apps, like Tweetdeck, have been created to allow users to view twitter more efficiently or in a different format from the original.
Twitter is able to break barriers in education by enabling a teacher to create a professional twitter account and make it available for students to ask certain questions pertaining classroom topics outside of school. It can also be used by the teacher to notifty or remind the students about upcoming due dates, assignments, or tests.
For example, if the teacher created the topic #JLCroweBio12 and a student had a question about a Bio assignment outside of the classroom, this could be a more efficient way to make that question available to other students and the teacher. If a student is shy or nervous about asking a question, maybe it would be available to the student to address the class online about the question.
Technically, Twitter is available to people above the age of 13, therefore making it an acceptable for students in high school
Kwiqpool
Website - kwiqpool.com
Kwiqpoll is an application that enables a user to create a question with multiple answers for a body of people to select from, aka creating a poll. It is very easy and brief to use, where you type your question, add multiple answers, creat the poll and share the link with the classroom, and let the students answer.
This application can create another way for students to show a teacher where they are pertaining to subject matter. For example, creating a tough question and seeing how many students can answer it reveals to the teacher where the class is as in thier knowledge of the subject. It can also be used for showing opinion on a certain subject or question to see which direction the class wants to go towards in projects or assingments.
A good trait of this application is the anonymity behind the polls. This means that if one of a couple students have an unpopular opinion or have the wrong answer to a poll, it doesn't get revealed that it was them in front of the entire class unlike if they raised their hand to answer the question. It allows people to express themselves easier to see where they stand with the rest of the class.
Learnclick
Website - www.Learnclick.com
Learnclick is a website that allows a teacher to create online quizzes and tests. It has a very user-friendly and is available to anyone. From the site you can create a variety of tests or quizzes, like multiple choice, true/false, matching exercises, and even clozes. Not only can you provide you classroom with tests/quizzes that you create, but you can share it with other teachers and students anywhere with an internet connection. You can also view the statistics of the tests online as well as include multimedia or embed it on your homepage.
Learnclick is another example of using technology inside the classroom to augment already good teaching practices. It can be a more efficient way to for students to complete quizzes or tests and having the application do the analyzing of the answers. And since it can also give the statistics of the test results, it can show the progress of the class in that subject matter. Because it is so simple to create tests, it can also be easier for a teacher to use laernclick instead of having to create and print out a test for everyone.
The only drawback is a subscription fee of /year for the basics and /year for all the features of leanclick, but I believe it would be a well spent.
There is no age limit on the terms of service but it is implied that this site is mostly used for teachers.