Monday, November 17, 2008

Ways I would use web 2.0 in the classroom

Blogs could be useful in the elementary grades, (though limited use in the k-1 grades) because a weblog could be a student's journal that integrates technology with the uses that a journal can provide to a student as well as the teacher.

Wikis would be useful for me, with my cohort in Lyle, because it would allow us to create a wiki for our group. This wiki could have information from a carpooling scedule to a list of tasks that each person will do for an assignment. Of course, this is looking a college level, but it could also be used for high school students when they are working on a large group assignment or project.

RSS could be useful to students in the middle or high school levels because it could help them manage the sites the use or visit for any type of research assignment. Also, if they had to use certain sites for a science or math class, it would help them keep class needed websites together for later use and/or easy access. An aggregator(s) would be useful to help organize the sites that students have subscribed to.

Social Bookmaking would have the same benefits for middle and high level students to help them keep track of information and materials they have found for assignments, college applications, scholarships, etc. Especially, if they have a site like blackboard that they have to go to for some or all of their math lessons/assignments.

Social Networking could be used to help connect math students across the U.S. as well as possibly other countries. This type of use would be aimed mostly at middle and high, but upper elementary grades could use it as well with limitations on the computer usage.

Online Photo Galleries could be used for mostly middle and high level students. This tool could help students make connections to other countries or students from another state or country. Also, to help students keep connected if they are sick, etc. This could be a useful tool for homeschool students or students that couldn't come to school for awhile, because it would allow them to keep in touch with their classmates and up to date on the homework assignments. Also, if their are foreign exchange students this tool could help them keep in touch with their family, while they are here as well as with their classmates once they went home. With parent supervision elementary students (particularly lower elem.) could use this tool to introduce their parents to their friends/classmates, etc.

Audio/Video Casting this would be useful to students in higher education to view lectures of distant prof. The same use could be for middle and high level students, because it could allow them to see a presentation or lecture from a solid source (prof. of ...) or to watch a demonstration of a science project that perhaps the students can't do or don't have the supplies for.