My Favorite Web2.0 tools

What is Web2.0?

Web2.0 is the online platform that supports all our information, allowing us to create and store information online so it can be accessed anywhere that has an internet connection rather than on a single computer. It is user friendly and the seemingly endless tools available for users now make the internet a personal experience that you can use in numerous ways. As more and more varieties of computers are being developed in cell phones, blackberries, etc. it becomes more important that the internet is easily accessible from any location so users have constant access to their data. Below are descriptions of a couple of tools that are utilized by Web2.0 users.

Delicious-

Function: Delicious.com is a site that allows you to bookmark your favorite sites not just on one browser, but to save your favorites on the web so you can access them from any computer or cellphone you may have access to. You can also share your bookmarks with friends, colleagues, students, etc. they may have easy access to sites you want them to see as well without having to search them out. You can also "tag" your favorite websites with category descriptions, making it easier to remember what contains what information. With these tags, you can also find the sites through keyword searches as Delicious will remember what you tagged them as.

Increasing Productivity: First of all, it will cut down searching time, so both myself and students will need to spend less time working on finding information that we were looking at before, or want to use so every minute can be used productively. Secondly, I love that we are able to share our bookmarks with people. I see this coming in handing when using technology in my class so I can share something with my students that they will all be able to look at on their individual computers. I will also be able to share helpful things with other teachers, and students will be able to share things with me, so we will be opening up those lines of communication. I also appreciate the tagging feature as I have found things online many times before that when I close the browser or use a different computer I am trying to remember exactly what I searched for that led me to that exact place before - Delicious makes that considerably easier.

A second tool . . .

VoiceThread:

Function: VoiceThread allows you to record a speaker and then link this with a PowerPoint presentation so the speaker is able to annotate what is happening in the presentation. This can be a very powerful tool, for many reasons. You can have "experts" speaking about what is happening in the presentation which will lend strength to what the students are learning, or teachers can make these available to students, which may be especially helpful for trying to catch up after having been absent, just to name two. The presentations may be made available online for many people to have access to it.

Increasing Productivity: This is a tool that can be used by students are are nervous about public presentations or public speaking so they can record it beforehand, and still present at the same time as the rest of the class, lessening the anxiety for them. As mentioned before, it can help students catch up after being absent, and can also be narrated by speakers who are notable to a particular subject area, which at times will make the presentation more impactful for students rather than hearing the information from their teacher.

There are many tools that can be used in the classroom - these are just two. I look forward to using these in my classroom though, and think my students will appreciate having them at their disposal as well.