web 2.0 presentation tools

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Five Free Web 2.0 Tools to Support Lesson Planning

"Teachers need to integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an add-on, an afterthought or an event." -- Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Educational Consultant, Curriculum Designers, Inc.

Web 2.0 tools are online software programs that allow users to do a number of different things. They can be used to teach curriculum content, store data, create or edit video, edit photos, collaborate and so much more. These programs are often free and are used by teachers, students and sometimes parents, both in and out of the classroom, on a pretty regular basis.

The question then becomes: are educators prepared to use these tools? Are educators, especially new ones, ready to incorporate Web 2.0 tools into their classroom? How can they be sure that the tool will remain a support piece rather than a replacement for their lesson planning and instructional practice?

Embracing the use of Web 2.0 tools in lesson planning may still be new to many educators. However, it's important to consider how these tools can serve as a powerful companion as we seek to improve and enhance our lessons with students. When we learn to harness their power to bring learning alive in the classroom, it’s a benefit to all!

As we talk about Web 2.0 tools, here's one point I want to stress. We need to remember that it's not about the specific tools we use with our planning and our students, but why and when any given tool is needed. Ideally there also needs to be a culture within the school that values using technology to build lessons that ultimately will be used in the classroom. As a former school principal, I can guarantee that if the school leadership is modeling the use of technology by providing professional development in this area, it will support the school community to effectively integrate technology for teaching and learning.

With so many free tools available on the web today, how do we decide which will be the best fit for our use? Let’s take a look at five free Web 2.0 educational tools. I encourage you to seek them out, practice with them and learn to incorporate them as you prepare your lesson plans. Will learning to use these tools take time? Yes. But I hope you’ll agree that the benefits are well worth your time!

1. Pinterest

If you've not heard of Pinterest, what rock have you been hiding under? OK, kidding aside, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard filled with incredible resources for anyone, anytime! Most importantly, it’s become a huge support piece to educators worldwide. The Pinterest team describes it this way:

Pinterest has taken the educational community by storm, and here’s why: resources there are visual, clickable and shareable. Not only that, the virtual boards created can be shared by a group or built by one person . Further, the lessons being curated in an "open source" manner are easy to access and integrate into your planning. Many thoughtful, experienced educators are sharing great lessons and resources that simply should not be missed. Here are a few "pinners" that I recommend you seek out as you consider this resource for lesson planning support:

• Laura Candler
• David Kapuler
• Angela Watson

Each of us has resources to share that you can easily access and begin to incorporate into your planning. If you have an account, you can choose to follow a bunch of cool pinners and take advantage of the resources they share, or just curate for yourself. And remember . . . you don't need to have a Pinterest account to access these great, free resources.

2. Edcanvas

Edcanvas is a fairly new free Web 2.0 tool. I see so much potential for it as a support system for good, strong lesson plans. The education community is growing at Edcanvas, and developer Amy Lin blogs about product updates here .

Here's what the Edcanvas team has to say about their tool: "Edcanvas is the one place for teachers to create and deliver lessons digitally. Teachers and students can use Edcanvas to organize their work and present knowledge." Pretty neat concept.

Through the use of canvases that you build and create following simple steps, you are organizing, presenting and sharing online resources with your students and colleagues in a way that's vibrant and unique. Visit the Edcanvas home page to see how it works and how easy it can be to start building and sharing a great lesson. Once there, you'll see and experience tons of resources that you can start using right away to enhance your lessons. Here's an example of a canvas already created by Anthony Evans on Sentence Writing . Lastly, here is a short 38-second video that shows how easy it is to create an Edcanvas.

3. LiveBinders

I'm a big fan of Livebinders, and so are thousands of educators world-wide! Livebinders were created so that anyone, but especially educators, could do with digital information what we typically do with the papers on our desk -- organize them into nice containers like three-ring binders on a shelf. With these online binders, you can also upload your documents and easily combine them with your links in a neat and organized way. The beauty of LiveBinders is that you can organize a lesson there, collaborate with a colleague in writing that lesson on a binder, and share it across many spaces. You can even have students work collaboratively on binders.

Once you’ve created your binder by filling it with links, resources, photos or videos, you can share it via email, link it to anything, embed it in a blog or view it in presentation mode. Many educators are using LiveBinders to support their going paperless or to house their presentation materials for an upcoming conference. Or they might create one at an event and add links to it as the event is in progress. Creating a LiveBinder to support your lesson planning will save you time and become a living document that you can update anytime. Here's a binder that I created for my presentation in June at ISTE12 that's been viewed over 4,800 times! Take a look at it and think about ways that you could begin developing one to use in your classroom. Could it work for you?

4. Storybird

If you're looking to provide vivid, visual support to your language arts lesson, this is the tool for you. Here’s what the Storybird team shares:

That said, Storybird is a fun and easy-to-use tool for creating short, visual stories. You and your students can select artwork, drag and organize photos, and add your own text to create beautiful digital stories. These creations can then be published on the web with adjustable privacy settings and with the option to allow comments, which is perfect for teachers to encourage student collaboration. In addition, there is the option to create a classroom account. You can sign up for free or consider an upgrade to a paid account. There's even a "refer a friend" program . The opportunities to use this free Web 2.0 tool to enhance your reading lessons are there for the asking. Take a peek at one of my Storybirds , then get started with creating yours!

5. VoiceThread

VoiceThread has been a solid lesson-planning standby tool for some time. It's a collaborative, multimedia slide show that allows students to comment on images, documents and videos through text, video and audio files. Teachers can set up groups and classes as well as moderate comments, embed in blogs, and export to audio files. It's an easy way to differentiate instruction while providing choices to "show" learning, engage in conversation, and think openly and critically about content. Click here to see a great example: "What's a VoiceThread anyway?" Then consider the ways you could incorporate VT into a great lesson in reading, writing or arithmetic.

Finding Your Comfort Zone

Sometimes the idea of incorporating these tools into your lesson-planning structure might seem overwhelming. You may even be concerned that Web 2.0 tools won’t fit into your school or district standards. Well, for those who have trepidations, ISTE has developed a set of educational technology standards for teachers. These standards, called ISTE NETS , seek to move beyond the tool and address the bigger picture of technology in the classroom and in professional practice. Take some time to visit the teachers' page and decide for yourself regarding what will or won't work to support your comfortable tool integration. In the meantime, take a look at a great video on how one teacher uses free Web 2.0 tools in her classroom:

Do you already use these Web 2.0 tools? Will you commit to trying a new one? Are there others that you use? We'd love to connect with you! Take the time to check out these five cool tools. And leave a comment below to share with us which tools you use, and how they're supporting your lesson planning.

Distance Learning

Web 2.0 digital tools selection: online presentation tools.

by William Guth

In Part 1 of this series, Web 2.0 Digital Tools Selection Criteria , I shared a method for evaluating digital learning tools that may find their way into our online courses. In this continuation entry, I will demonstrate the method in action by discussing tools which I evaluated as part of my course work for Introduction to Online Presentation Tools .

If you missed the last entry and want a quick catch up, the premise of the Web 2.0 Digital Tools Selection Criteria is to quickly evaluate proposed learning tools by measuring their user-friendliness against a thorough checklist which tests for: Accessibility, Usability, Privacy & Intellectual Property protection, Workload & Time Management, and Fun Factor.

Course Objective

The main objective of the course was to explore and evaluate promising alternatives to PowerPoint for presenting information online. In order to familiarize ourselves with the selection criteria the course presented us with a variety of popular technologies to test and select for our evaluations. Click to view the full list of tools and have fun exploring.

Each participant was tasked with selecting two to three from the list to evaluate against the selection criteria checklist, explain how they might use it in their own online course, and whether not we would recommend it to others.

At the time of my participation I was developing an asynchronous Integrated Marketing Communications course with a final presentation component, and a need to present large swaths of numerical data visually; so I chose Google Slides, VoiceThread, and Infogr.am.

The course learning objectives these tools to would need to support were:

• To effectively communicate financial consequences of businesses in the areas of strategic intent, profitability, capital returns and shareholder value as it evolves in a digital age; meaning, can you prove that your retail business is Amazon proof.
• use ratios to analyze and explain a firm’s liquidity and activity,
• use ratios to analyze and explain a firm’s profitability and its market value, and
• explain the interactions of the financial statements through financial ratios.

Google Slides

At first glance, Google Slides probably seems like low-hanging fruit. It’s basically a stripped down version of Microsoft Power Point available free online and supported by Google). For our working professional students that makes it easy to learn (Usability). University enrolled students have single-sign-on access to Google Apps through @u.northwestern.edu (Access/Privacy). Work can be shared internally among students/faculty for collaboration and review, or embedded in the Canvas (Privacy/Workload & Time Management). And the software can be used to include multimedia (Fun Factor) Google Slides easily ticked all the boxes on the checklist.

VoiceThread

I felt compelled to try VoiceThread in that it had been recommended by many colleagues before as an alternative discussion tool that could infuse greater social interaction. And as I would come to learn it has easy to use features for incorporating media from a variety of sources allowing participants to layer comments and other media. This type presentation and discussion can not only ramp up asynchronous social interaction, but can introduce active learning opportunities to instructional materials and discussion which take on a life of their own. (Fun Factor, Usability). Designed for education, the web based platform platform operates on most browsers and is accommodates the needs of differently-abled learners such as dyslexic or ADHD, hearing impaired and beyond (Access).

Additionally, I felt obligated to test the tool as despite our best efforts many faculty insist on recording voice over PowerPoint. While VoiceThread is not V.O.P.P . you can utilizes many aspects of the V.O.P.P. approach that faculty are familiar with when it comes to teaching them about the platform and its robust features (Usability). Testing the software helped me discover what to listen for in order to confidently recommend it as an alternative when faced with the prospect of V.O.P.P.

My experience with VoiceThread was much like interactive and rich media production of all kinds. Scripting and pre-production proved to be essential tools for success, a basic knowledge of your computer’s recording tools are required, and it can serve as more than an alternative tool for discussions. The tool can be integrated with LMS systems (e.g. Canvas) and set-up for single sign-on much the way we access BlueJeans (Workload & Time Management, Privacy 7 Intellectual Property)

Check out this example that I created.

( Note: The first slide has no interaction, simply click next slide arrow in the lower right to continue.)

I was drawn to Infogr.am as I have always sought easy to use software and platforms for generating info graphics. These are eye catching graphics for statistics and viral messaging that have taken hold in public and social media. And although Infogr.am is was not designed for the social media purpose, it is a web based platform designed to visualize data and present it in an interactive way (Usability/Fun Factor). Several platforms have this as a feature in some form or another and have a built in utility for importing or linking data for your chart, however, Infogr.am is dedicated solely to data representation and interactivity. This is both its strength and its weakness.

If you’re looking to represent your data visually, Infogr.am has templates and themes as far as the eye can see for charts, graphs, maps and infographics (or reports,) and can accept data in several formats including .csv upload, and .json feed, or update dynamically from Google Sheets.

Each type of graphic is interactive in that you can click, toggle, and hover to display different aspects of the data so there is great potential for students to interact with data and learn from these interactions.

Unfortunately, the platform does not play well with LMS systems where content creators have  no control over javascript or CSS which limits the app’s responsiveness ability. In Canvas users can embed their work as an iFrame as you would a YouTube video, but viewing the content on anything smaller than a laptop would be difficult. Infogr.am does have access to video tutorials and How-To instructions, but for uninitiated number cruncher the platform is not all that easy to learn without some frustration.

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One response to “ Web 2.0 Digital Tools Selection: Online Presentation Tools ”

Amazing Post William, Thanks for sharing it with us.

10 of the Best Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers

What is Web 2.0?

The term first came into use in 1999 and simply describes websites that use technology above and beyond the static web pages used by earlier sites. This often allows users to be more interactive and collaborate with each other and with the page itself, such as in social media, for example, rather than simply viewing static content.

10 Top Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers

1.  poll everywhere.

This invaluable resource gives a new lease of life to student surveys and polls. Quick and simple to use, it works across multiple platforms, with respondents able to submit answers via mobile phone, Twitter or web browser.

2.  Animoto

Brilliantly easy to use, Animoto produces high-quality videos from pictures and text, set against chosen backgrounds and music. A great way for students to get creative and produce something they can be proud of, Animoto has a wide variety of classroom uses, from projects to reports.

3.  LibriVox

A great site for introducing students to literature or encouraging reluctant readers, LibriVox contains a wide catalogue of free audio books. To help students improve confidence and presentation skills, encourage them to submit their own content too!

4.  Twitter

Boasting a host of brilliant ways for students to connect with teachers, peers and world experts, Twitter is a top tool for research and communication in and out of the classroom. Check out our list of 5 great ways students can use Twitter for research !

5.  Dropbox

Simple, foolproof, easy to use… Dropbox is the best way to share files and documents with your students from any computer, anywhere!

6. + 7.  WordPress  and Blogger

These two sites go side-by-side because there’s so little to choose between them! Both provide brilliant creative platforms for classroom blogs, either for students learning to express themselves and create online content or for teachers keeping students updated on important information and projects.

An invaluable tool for the busy EdTech teacher, Diigo is like an electronic, all-purpose digital Filofax! Use it to store links, resources, websites, blogs and more. It boasts handy sticky notes for reminders, highlighters for personalizing documents, and the ability to store documents and images too. An all-round winner of a tool!

9.  Conceptboard

One of the most striking manifestations of online technology is the rise in digital whiteboards. This one hosts a bunch of fantastic features, allowing teachers to share and discuss ideas in multimedia format with students both in the classroom and virtually.

A must-have tool for teaching presentations, this is one web 2.0 resource that really has changed the face of the classroom. Including photographs, diagrams, flowcharts and being able to zoom in and out makes presentations far more engaging and visual than ever before.

Any we’ve missed? I’m sure there are! What are your favourite Web 2.0 tools for teachers? Let us know in the comments box below!

Images courtesy of Flickr, Neal.  &  Ed Yourdon

Laura is a writer and recent Cambridge graduate with particular experience in the area of education technology. She has worked with a variety of different education companies and is active in the 'edtech' community on Twitter, so she prides herself on always being in touch with the latest developments and exciting new tools in e-learning.

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• Accessibility

Using Web 2.0 tools to engage learners

• Kevin Syers

Introduction

Udl alignment, what are web 2.0 tools, benefits of web 2.0 tools, choosing and using a tool with students, sample student work, limitations of web 2.0 tools, references & resources, joyce gulley, jeff thomas.

Web 2.0 tools are free digital programs that can be used for creating and sharing student-generated projects and products. They are interactive, multi-purpose, easy-to-use digital platforms that encourage students to collaborate with each other or create and share individualized response products.

Web 2.0 tools provide engaging ways students can interact with, and most importantly, learn from course material. They are particularly helpful when aligned to teaching and assessment exercises meant to increase student engagement, require students to summarize information, or verbalize insight into their conceptual understanding through means other than traditional writing exercises.

Web 2.0 tools also provide students an opportunity to interact with others as they share their knowledge. Students can collaborate with classmates to create response products, or they can share completed products with peers in their class, students in other sections, or other learners around the world. Web 2.0 tools create opportunities for students to share what they are learning with a wider audience.

This video provides a brief introduction to Web 2.0 tools:

After completing this module, you will be able to:

• List examples of Web 2.0 tools and discuss their applicability to the college classroom.
• Evaluate a potential technology tool for applicability to your learning objectives, class content, and student population to determine if it is a tool you will incorporate in your course materials and/or assignments.

This module aligns with: Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression, Principle 1; Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression, Principle 2; and Module Alignment with Provide Multiple Means of Engagement, Principle 3.

Module Alignment with Provide Multiple Means of Representation

While instructors may decide the core idea of what is to be shared, it is students that ultimately decide, and customize, how they represent details of the material. Students increase their time on task and fluency with content and technology as they interact with content and recreate connections to it. When students struggle how to express information, they are forced to face their (mis)understanding, which helps them better learn the material.

Module Alignment with Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression

Students use (and improve their skill levels with) technology devices to capture their own words, images, sounds, and work as they express acquired knowledge. By expressing conceptual understanding through their own framework they make their own meaning.  Instructors can then verify correct application to students’ learning frameworks. For specific students (e.g., language deficient students) tools can serve as methods to share written or spoken understanding of concepts when they haven’t yet mastered subject specific vocabulary.

Module Alignment with Provide Multiple Means of Engagement

Using Web tools increases students’ autonomy and engagement with content as they identify what they know, value, and find interesting about it. Because students see and hear themselves when working with Web tools they often invest more time and energy, while simultaneously utilizing multiple modalities, to engage with content.

Instructional Practice

Web 2.0 tools can very broadly be defined as end-user applications that require dynamic interaction, social networking, or user interfacing between people and information. They almost always have accompanying websites and associated apps for smart devices. In a Web 2.0 environment users decide how they want to use, interact with, and create information. This contrasts with earlier Web 1.0 environments where one simply read static information on the Web (Morrison & Lowther, 2005).

In addition, users have the ability to generate and manipulate content from multiple locations in a Web 2.0 environment. Users can add images, videos, or links to other media content. Students have unlimited opportunities to individualize the content they embed in their products, and the ease of use of these tools encourages student creativity. Unlike traditional pen and paper type responses, students are not limited by their own artistic abilities, page-length, or word count limits. Students will often go beyond the basic expectations of an assignment because these tools facilitate students’ creative processes.

Familiar examples of Web 2.0 sites and tools include wikis and blogs ( PBworks  and   WordPress ), social networking sites ( Facebook   and   Twitter ), image and video hosting sites ( Flicker   and   YouTube ), and applications to generate Web content for education, business, and social purposes ( Wikipedia ,   Weebly , and   Instagram ). It is important for teachers to remember that the magic is not necessarily in the tool itself; teachers must first consider their objectives for the lesson as well as the purpose of the student response project. The right tool can help students synthesize their learning, engage more deeply with the content of a lesson, and interact with other learners in more meaningful ways than traditional response projects or assignments.

One of the benefits of Web 2.0 tools is their ease of use. Most students find these tools to be intuitive and user-friendly. Because of this, there is little time wasted in learning how to use the programs. The tools facilitate interactive learning and innovative responses to assignments and assessments. Students see their ideas take shape quickly, and they are rewarded with professional-looking results. It is also easy to edit the projects as they are being developed so students tend to take more risks during the creative process. This ease of use combined with the quality of the finished products increases students’ self-efficacy, and it motivates students to engage more earnestly and actively in the content of their responses.

Web 2.0 tools also can facilitate authentic interactions with content and with other learners. These tools offer students opportunities to solve real-world problems and to collaborate in meaningful ways with peers in face-to-face or online classrooms. Students have the freedom to customize their responses using multimedia or multiple modalities. Unlike a term paper or more traditional response project, no two projects look exactly alike. Students’ individual interpretations and representations of their conceptual understandings can easily be shared with others, thus increasing the learning opportunities for all.

The right Web 2.0 tool for the task is the one that matches the objectives of the lesson. The tool should not just be an “add-on,” but rather it should be a natural extension of the lesson that reinforces the skills or concepts taught. What do you want students to learn or to be able to do as a result of the lesson or unit of study, and what tool will help you achieve that goal?

There are a couple of useful websites that describe a variety of tools according to instructional purposes. One such website is   http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/ . Another is   http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/Finding+the+Right+Tool   These websites are organized by the types of tools, such as presentation drawing, video sharing tools, etc., and they provide links to the websites for different tools. Most tools can be adapted for a myriad of instructional or assessment purposes and subject areas. Five examples of specific tools, their applications, and sample student projects are provided below.

Described below are five tools and a brief summary of how each was used by students in a learning or assessment exercise. These specific tools were chosen because of their versatility and the fact they have no cost to download and use. They all have a “pro” version for a nominal fee. The exception is VoiceThread and it was chosen because it is commonly supported by many campus across the United States or can be purchased by individual instructors for a relatively low fee.

ShadowPuppet . This tool belongs to a group of tools known as digital storytelling tools. ShadowPuppet works for iOS devices like the iPhone and allows a user to capture images and then record a message over the image(s). An Android alternative is WeVideo. One example of its use is to have students summarize an exercise they have completed. Such a review allows instructors to use it when gathering students’ thoughts might be better, or differently, done verbally than through writing. The following example shows how students captured their work and additional thoughts through an assessment technique abbreviated by the acronym RERUN.

• Recall: Summarize what you did in this exercise.
• Explain: Explain the purpose of the exercise.
• Results: Describe the results of the exercise and what they mean (support claims with evidence).
• Uncertainties: Describe what you are still unsure about.
• New: Explain at least one interesting thing you learned (or at least one question you have).

Students’ captured recordings are stored on the ShadowPuppet website but can be downloaded as an mp4 video file, uploaded to YouTube as students complete their work, or forwarded as a viewable link from ShadowPuppet’s website. The creator can also delete the recording.

Examples connected to other disciplines:  Shadow Puppet, and other digital storytelling tools, can be used any time students need a way to organize their thoughts and communicate their findings to a wider audience. In a history class, students could present primary source documents and analyze their content. Anatomy students could create a digital storytelling presentation to discuss one of the body systems. Students in an English class could use digital storytelling to showcase their original poems with narration and a musical soundtrack.

Padlet . Padlet is a multipurpose tool acting as an electronic corkboard where students can post ideas, photos, images, videos, or documents. This digital corkboard is both versatile and easy to use. The user can control the privacy settings on the Padlet to allow others to add content or simply to view existing content. Viewers do not need an account to post comments, and the owner of the Padlet retains full control to moderate or delete comments. In the assignment displayed here, students created questions in advance of a Skype visit with a children’s book author. The link was shared with the author in advance so that he could see the types of questions students would be asking.

Examples connected to other disciplines:   Padlet could be used in any content area classroom for bell-ringer activities or exit tickets at the end of class. Marketing students could use Padlet as a corkboard to post effective print ads or links to digital ads. Political science students could use Padlet as a place to collect campaign slogans and reflect on their significance.

Thinglink . This tool is useful for sharing visual information. The user uploads an anchoring image, such as a map, photograph, or drawing. The user then inserts “tags” which link to additional information such as definitions, maps, images, or other websites. In the example   below , the student used images from a novel to illustrate vocabulary that is used in the book. The dark circles indicate where the viewer should click to access additional information.

Examples connected to other disciplines : Thinglink could be used as a getting acquainted activity; students could post pictures of their hobbies and interests and then share with classmates. Thinglink could be used as a tool for many different types of reports. For instance, when studying the lives of famous people in any discipline, upload an image of the subject and create links to this person’s accomplishments, noteworthy speeches, or historical events related to the subject. Similarly, Thinglink could also be used effectively with any type of mapping activity, such as identifying landforms or landmarks in a geographical location.

Weebly . Weebly is one tool in a family of tools that users use to create websites. Like many tools it offers a free and “pay for” version. Instructors and students can easily get what they need from the free version. Perhaps the most significant limitation is the inability to upload video with the free version. However, an easy work around is to upload videos to YouTube and connect the video to the Weebly site. One of the many useful features in Weebly’s setup includes the ability to design one’s website using a drag and drop tool bar. Examples of items that can be added include images, slideshows of images, text boxes, hyperlinked text, files, linked YouTube videos, maps, and linking Web elements containing embed codes. The image below links to a sample assignment with preservice elementary teachers. One of the course’s objectives is to provide an environment that models many of the teaching and assessment strategies future teachers can use in a classroom. Using their cell phones, students capture, and reflect on, these moments they build a website throughout the semester that includes their work, the strategies we model, and relay its connection to themselves and their future students. It, therefore, adheres to one of the more significant aspects of writing, learners should “write a little a lot” versus “write a lot a little.” That is, the more ongoing the writing the more students can remain engaged in processing and internalizing information. Additionally, if one is using other Web tools those products can be linked or embedded to their website.

Examples connected to other disciplines:   Weebly can be used to showcase student work in any discipline. In art classes, students could create digital portfolios of their work showing pieces they have created over time or in different media. History students might use Weebly to analyze a specific event and its impact on society. Students in an English class could share their reflections on assigned or free choice reading selections.

VoiceThread . Voicethread is a free tool to use for presentation of material. It can be used by the instructor to record announcements or lectures, and it can be used by students for individual or group projects. Voicethread can be a static one-sided presentation, or a collaborative tool where multiple users interact around a topic, an image, a Powerpoint presentation or other media. Students can leave audio, video, typed, or drawn comments using a computer, tablet, or cell phone. Voicethread has a computer-based platform, as well as apps for iOS and Android devices. The following example is one student’s presentation on a children’s book illustrator. The assignment required students to research an illustrator’s life and work. The student created a Powerpoint and then uploaded it to Voicethread. The student then provided an audio narration to elaborate on the slides, as well as music to enhance the presentation. Voicethread allows for viewers to comment on the student’s work in both a private mode (viewable by the project creator) and a public mode (viewable by anyone with the link to the project). The creator of the project can moderate the public comments or delete them entirely. Many universities have Voicethread integrated with their campus-wide learning management system, such as Blackboard, so that the posting, sharing, and grading of projects is seamless.

Examples connected to other disciplines:  Because of its interactive capabilities, Voicethread can be used in multiple disciplines, and it is especially helpful when students need to present their work and then receive feedback from classmates, the teacher, or anyone with whom the link is shared. For instance, students in a world language course could use Voicethread to practice their oral speaking skills. The instructor could then provide private comments to that student reinforcing correct pronunciation of vocabulary words. Science students could use Voicethread to create an oral report on any topic, and classmates could add written or oral comments reflecting on what they learned by listening to the report.

While Web 2.0 tools offer many advantages for instructors and students alike, they are not the perfect solution for all educational challenges. The tool must actually enhance the learning process, not simply add unnecessary tasks for students to complete. If students can communicate their understanding of the learning objectives without technology, then a more traditional response assignment may suffice.

Instructors must also consider all of the steps in the process of using the tool. Does a particular tool work on all types of computers and tablets, or will students need to use a certain type of device? Does the tool require students to create their own account, or does the teacher create a class account for students to use? Does the tool work with the Learning Management System (such as Blackboard or Course Compass)? Is the tool accessible for students with disabilities? Does the tool protect students’ privacy?

Instructors must also consider the complexity of the tool to be used and how much time it will take to teach the tool itself. Students who are experienced with technology will access new tools with greater ease than students who are timid with technology. In face-to-face classes, instructors can demonstrate how to use the tools and be present to help students troubleshoot any problems that arise. In distance learning courses, this process may be more cumbersome. Instructors can make screen shot videos to show students the step-by-step procedures, but some students have a low tolerance for troubleshooting problems on their own.

There is also a danger of over-using these tools. Even the most novel and engaging tool can become passé if it is assigned too often or used unnecessarily. Web 2.0 tools have a better chance of sustaining student engagement if they are used judiciously and purposefully.

Essentially, today’s college-aged students have been digital consumers since they were young children. They grew up playing and learning with technology on their gaming systems, computers, and ever-present digital devices. For them, the worlds of entertainment and education are blended. As teenagers they are spending more hours engaged with their digital devices than they are sleeping (Common Sense Media, 2016). A recent study highlights that they are also using digital devices in their personal lives, some are using it in their college coursework, and most desire to use them more in their college coursework (Pearson, 2015).

While learning in much of their P-12 learning experience has evolved to incorporate technology into learning and assessment, much of their university learning has failed to do so. One reason is because university-based education faces the challenge of conveying large amounts of information in a relatively short amount of time (traditionally about 45 clock hours over one semester). Traditional lecturing can be one effective means of accomplishing this. Yet, students’ previous educational worlds and students’ subsequent professional worlds have shifted to a paradigm of using technology in everyday experiences.

So, how can university professors bridge this gap? One answer lies in using everyday technology with which students are familiar (their phones or digital devices) in targeted ways that enhance, not deduce, the amount of time and quality interaction with content material. An outcome is a classroom that is rich in learning experiences designed for students (Niess, 2011).

It is important to note that one should only use technology when it enhances learning. The goal is not to keep students busy for the sake of doing something (Lux, Banger, & Whittier, 2011). Only when technology enhances learning can it be considered an asset to students and instructors. Therefore, instructors should ask themselves, “How is technology helping students learn better than a method not using technology.” If there is no answer then there is no need to use technology. Yet, if one can devise an experience that favorably answers the question then there are benefits to its use. Only two examples include an increased time spent on material outside of class and increased self-efficacy.

When technology is used with outside class readings that requires students to post responses, additional information related to the reading, interpretations of reading, etc. student arrive better prepared to study and analyze the material. The instructor also has a more focused idea of where the students are, or wish to go, in their learning. Learning with technology can also increase self-efficacy with the learning process because they spend more time with material. Studies have shown that self efficacy influences long term success even if it doesn’t translate to short term success academic achievement measured by test scores (Abbitt, 2011; Chai, Koh, & Tsai, 2010; Jamieson-Proctor, Finger, & Albion, 2010; Sadaf, Newby, & Ertmer, 2012).

Fortunately, there is a lesson design model to help us with this. It is the TPACK model and the most widely used model in designing lessons with technology. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is a framework that connects how instructors should integrate pedagogy (strategies of teaching), content (the material to be taught and learned), and technology (what content or skills are needed to work with the content. The TPACK model is shown in Figure 1. Mishra and Koehler (2006) are credited with finalizing the TPACK the model by evolving Shulman’s Pedagogy and Content (PCK) only model (Shulman, 1986; Shulman, 1987). While some lesson might incorporate all three knowledge bases, it isn’t a requirement (Pumak, 2011).

The model implies that each knowledge bases impacts learning while they interact with one another (Abbitt, 2011; Chai, Koh, & Tsai, 2010; Jamieson-Proctor, Finger, & Albion, 2010). These interactions can be helpful or harmful. It can be helpful when instructors align specific pedagogical strategies based on the content to be learned (see the CASE Mnemonic Devices for Instruction module). It can be harmful when instructors incorporate an overly complicated technology exercise that results in students struggling with the technology at the expense of a focus on content. This is an example of how the inappropriate choice of one knowledge base comes at the expense of a second base.

Research into TPACK reveals that as instructors develop deeper understanding of one knowledge base they can with effort be much better at understanding the interaction with the remaining bases. And, as expected, the opposite is also true (Harris & Hofer, 2011; Pamuk, 2012). University professors with their deep content knowledge are ideal candidates to build lessons incorporating technology and pedagogical strategies to help students learn content. Teaching strategies (both with or without technology) need to be aligned to certain content. Instructors with deep content knowledge possess an ability to determine if, or how, specific Web tools can elicit learning in the concepts they are teaching. We conclude, by reminding the reader of the Focus Question,” How is technology helping students learn better than a method not using technology.” Relatively easy to implement Web 2.0 increases the chance at successful alignment, content learning, student engagement, and self-efficacy with material and the learning process.

Abbitt, J. T. (2011). An investigation of the relationship between self-efficacy beliefs about technology integration and technological pedagogical content knowledge (tpack) among preservice teachers. Journal Of Digital Learning In Teacher Education, 27(4), 134-143.

Chai, C., Koh, J., & Tsai, C. (2010). Facilitating preservice teachers’ development of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK), Educational Technology & Society, 13(4), 63-73.

Common Sense Media (2015). THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-tweens-and-teens (last accessed March 8, 2017).

Graham, C. R. (2011). Theoretical considerations for understanding technological pedagogical content knowledge (tpack). Computers & Education, 57(3), 1953-1960.

Harris, J. B., & Hofer, M. J. (2011). Technological pedagogical content knowledge (tpack) in action: A descriptive study of secondary teachers’ curriculum-based, technology-related instructional planning. Journal Of Research On Technology In Education, 43(3), 211-229.

Jamieson-Proctor, R., Finger, G., & Albion, P. (2010). Auditing the tk and tpackconfidence of pre-service teachers: Are they ready for the profession?. Australian Educational Computing, 25(1), 8-17.

Lux, N. J., Bangert, A. W., & Whittier, D. B. (2011). The development of an instrument to assess preservice teacher’s technological pedagogical content knowledge, Journal Of Educational Computing Research, 45(4), 415-431.

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054.

Morrison, G. R., & Lowther, D. (2005). Integrating computer technology into the classroom. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Niess, M. L. (2011). Investigating tpack: Knowledge growth in teaching with technology. Journal Of Educational Computing Research, 44(3), 299-317.

Pamuk, S. S. (2012). Understanding preservice teachers’ technology use through tpack framework. Journal Of Computer Assisted Learning, 28(5), 425-439.

Pearson Education (2015). Student mobile device survey 2015 national report: College students. Boston MA: Pearson Education.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6. Retrieved January 18, 2015, from http://marcprensky.com/articles-in-publications/

Sadaf, A., Newby, T. J., & Ertmer, P. A. (2012). Exploring pre-service teachers’ beliefs about using Web 2.0 technologies in K-12 classroom. Computers & Education, 59(3), 937-945.

Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4–14.

Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1-22.

About the Author

Joyce Gulley, Professor of Teacher Education, works with prospective and practicing teachers to identify high quality children’s literature to promote literacy and student engagement with text using technology. Her enthusiasm and student-centered teaching have led to numerous teaching awards and serving as a faculty teaching consultant across her campus.

Jeff Thomas, Professor of Teacher Education, works with prospective and practicing elementary teachers to promote integration of inquiry-based science, children’s literature, and technology. His teaching focuses on providing learners experiences that use technology to organize, and make their own meaning, from material being explored.

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50 Web 2.0 Sites for Schools

Web 2.0 sites are built for interactivity and collaboration—two features essential to education.

Web 2.0 sites are built for interactivity and collaboration—two features essential to education. Web 2.0 sites are also ideal for teaching almost any subject, as a wide array of tools are available to create and manage learning materials. Students can actively and enthusiastically approach any subject, from creative writing to STEM explorations, on these sites. Moreover, Web 2.0 sites support robust teaching and learning—even when students and teachers are at home instead of the classroom. 

In alphabetical order, the following list includes established, tried-and-true sites, as well as the latest cutting-edge Web 2.0 sites for education.

• ACMI Generator - From Australia’s national museum of film, TV, video games, digital culture and art, this terrific free site lets students explore digital storytelling, video game building, the art of filmmaking, animation, and much more.
• Anchor - An all-in-one platform that allows users to create and distribute their own podcasts easily. Great possibilities here for creative classroom assignments.   
• Animaker - A versatile site that allows teachers and students to create presentations, posters, animations, and infographics. Offers free account for up to two teachers and 25 students as well as affordable premium accounts. 
• Animoto - Create impressive-looking slideshows that include video, images, music, and more. Free accounts allow users to create unlimited videos.
• Baamboozle - An easy-to-use site that allows teachers to create learning games with text, images animation, and more—or browse the thousands of existing games to find one that fits. Can be shared and played remotely. 
• Boom Writer - An engaging creative writing website on which students can write original stories, individually or within a group. Integrates with all curriculum and offers real-time chat between teacher and student. 
• Chart It - Free, simple yet elegant site lets users create and save charts and graphs online, and explore graphs made by others. 
• Citizen DJ (beta) -  A free beta site from the Library of Congress that provides opportunities for users to create music from wide-ranging audio and video resources. Explore and remix sounds right in the browser. 
• Cloud Stop Motion - This stylish stop-motion animation site offers free school account with unlimited student users. Make movies with soundtracks on any desktop, smartphone, tablet, or Chromebook. 
• Creatability - Features a series of experiments exploring how to make creative tech tools more accessible. Free to browse and try. Encourage your students to build their own! 
• Diigo - This social bookmarking site offers free teacher and student accounts. Users can save, tag, annotate, organize, and share online resources. 
• Diagrams.net - Completely free online software to create mind-maps, flow charts, network diagrams, and more. Drag and drop pre-existing shapes, arrows, tables, and symbols, or draw each one yourself on the canvas. With no cost, no account needed, and sharing capability, it’s a great tool to use in any classroom.   
• Edmodo - A free communication/collaboration platform with LMS capabilities, Edmodo can be used in person, online, or with hybrid learning. Teachers can create classes and then share assignments and quizzes. 
• Edublog - Designed to make it easy for teachers and students to create and maintain their own websites, Edublog is also a great platform for collaboration. Free and modestly priced pro accounts are available.   
• Educandy - A free and easy-to-use site in which teachers make learning fun by creating “flavours” of activities: words, pairs, and quizzes. No student account required. 
• Educaplay - An excellent free way to gamify learning with interactive multimedia educational activities. Premium accounts also available, offering additional features and removing advertisements. 
• Flipgrid - A fully free and simple-to-use video discussion site. Educators choose a topic and students respond to the challenge creatively by recording and uploading video. Includes a library of more than 25,000 topics to browse.
• Floop - A web app dedicated to helping teachers provide faster and more meaningful feedback to students. Students submit assignments online, where instructors can quickly and efficiently add commentary that guides students to improve their work. 
• Glogster - Kids combine images, colors, text, audio, and more to create collaborative, interactive posters in this safe environment. Multiple affordable pricing options available. 
• Goosechase - A K-12 focused version of a hybrid scavenger hunt. Teachers create their own games, or use one posted by others. Math, vocabulary, and geology are just a few of the many possible subjects of these engaging hunts. 
• G Suite for Education - A comprehensive set of free education tools, including for communication, collaboration, organization, classroom management, and data security. Free and enterprise accounts available. 
• Gnowledge - A free platform to create collaborative online quizzes, share resources, view others’ quizzes, and more. Excellent tech support and tutorial videos as well.
• Infogram - A site that allows users to create charts, maps, and infographics. Free basic account includes a nice variety of professional templates, up to 10 projects, object animations and more.  
• Little Bird Tales - A wonderful site for digital storytelling that allows kids to upload artwork, then record and narrate a story. Affordable rates for teachers and schools.
• Live Binders - An virtual binder site that allows teachers to create their own classroom textbooks, digital portfolios, and more. Students can use Live Binders to showcase their academic work, while administrators can create online guides for teachers and staff, and make easy updates.
• Musicshake - Legal, copyright, free music for every student in your school - created by students, right from a browser. Students mix and match genres, instruments, and tempo and the software does the rest. No musical talent required!
• Parlay - An innovative tool for class discussion, Parlay offers a library of discussion prompts, blended learning, and live online discussions. Teachers start with a discussion prompt, then students review learning resources and respond with their own ideas.
• Pixton - This engaging comic creator will motivate students to dream up their own digital stories. For K-12 and secondary education. 
• Playmeo - Hundreds of fun interactive games for groups, with a library of core activities for math, science, health, and language arts. Searchable by theme, exertion level, duration, or group size.   
• Playposit - Interactive video instruction site that engages kids in self-paced learning, and allows teachers to track their progress.  
• PresentationTube - Create, upload, and share video tutorials using PowerPoint and the website’s free software. An affordable premium version is available. Browse uploaded videos to get ideas for your own.    
• Prezi - Prezi allows users to create slideshows and presentations, and works with multiple popular apps such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and YouTube. Free basic plans, plus very affordable paid options for educators.
• SchoolTube -  Free K-12 video hosting site is COPPA and ADA compliant. Features include unlimited videos, personalized channels, playlists video apps, analytics, single sign on, and more. 
• SpellingCity - A user-friendly and engaging site for teaching and learning spelling and vocabulary. Extensive teaching resources include word lists, lessons, standards- and grade-based vocabulary lists for literature titles, and STEM vocabulary lists. 
• Stop Motion Studio - Students can use images, artwork, or virtually any prop to create stop-motion movies to illustrate what they’ve learned—or what they want to teach others. Enables direct export to YouTube.
• Storillo - Helps students learn how to collaborate on projects and practice critical  executive functioning skills. Teachers can easily monitor progress of group members—and see who does what. 
• Storybird - A site that inspires students to read and write through the use of digital visual storytelling, from poetry to longform writing to flash fiction and comics. Education plans available. 
• StoryJumper - A free site for digital storytelling in which students can incorporate their own art, publish online, share with others, or order a print copy of their own work. Integrates with Google Classroom and offers many examples to browse. 
• SymbalooEDU - Lets teachers and students save, organize, and share links to websites, videos, web documents, and other learning resources. Free and pro accounts available. 
• Thinglink - Imaginative site for combining images, video, 360° images, and 360° videos to create interactive visual presentations, learning materials, or student projects.  Available as a mobile app also. 
• Toonclip -  Lets users create animations with simple English language text and drag-and-drop images. Free account allows 20 animations per month. 
• Triptico - A great free tool for teachers to create, share, and edit interactive lessons. Engaging features include word magnets, drag-and-drop templates, and gamified activities.
• VoiceThread - Ed.VoiceThread is a safe and secure platform to help students develop critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity skills via multimedia presentations. Ongoing training workshops include advanced skills and integration with Moodle, Blackboard, and other learning management systems. 
• Weebly - Offers a drag-and-drop website editor to create a free class website with multimedia capability and expanded blogging features. Bonus-free accounts do not include advertising!
• Whiteboard.f i - Awesome free online whiteboard tool offers instant access without registration. Create and name a class online, share the URL with students, and start annotating your whiteboard. 
• WordCloud Generator by MonkeyLearn - A clever site that is very simple to use--just paste or upload your text and the AI generates a word cloud showing the most frequently used words. Great free tool for exploring and analyzing literature, advertising, and more. 
• Wolfram Alpha - An educational portal for Wolfram's computational search engine. Students and teachers can explore topics from step-by-step solutions for calculus problems to comparing the Flintstones versus the Simpsons. 
• Yacapaca - This all-in-one solution for creating quizzes, surveys, and assessments offers free introductory access to browse subjects, syllabuses, quizzes, and more. Resources are rated for popularity and quality, and may be individually reviewed as well. 
• Yo Teach! - A free-to-use backchannel/chatroom with drawing and annotating functionality. Considered by many a replacement for the well-liked and defunct TodaysMeet, Yo Teach includes functions such as Raising Hands, Simple Polling, Mute Students, Participation Stats, and Transcript Download. 
• Zoho Wiki - Educators can create virtual classrooms for interactive content or online instruction, manage assignments, monitor student progress, and more.

David Kapuler is an educational consultant with more than 10 years of experience working in the K-12 environment. For more information about his work, contact him at [email protected] and read his blog at  cyber-kap.blogspot.com .

Diana Restifo is a  techlearning.com  editor.

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Free Web 2.0 Tools

Make classrooms engaging, interactive, relevant and fun, what are web 2.0 tools.

Web 2.0 tools are easy to use websites designed to encourage creativity, team work, and higher order thinking skills in your classroom. Choose two or three sites that will strengthen your curriculum and make students dig deeper and design innovative solutions to problems. Most of these sites are intuitive and do not require spending much time "teaching the technology." Websites and technology come and go. The important thing is to teach students to think critically with whatever tools they have in front of them.

A Few Tools to Help You Get Started A Few Tools to Help You Get Started

Click on the links to explore the following sites:.

Prezi : a non-linear presentation tool that allows students to zoom in and out of photos and build visual stories. This site is popular in both the education and business world.

Smore : easy-to-build online flyers

Animoto : make music videos with photos and short video clips. Apply for an educators account in order to produce free full length videos for you and your students.

Glogster : virtual posters

Wordle : makes word pictures to help students understand themes and important concepts visually.

Tagxedo : another word cloud site that combines words with visual concepts.

PhotoPeach : online photo slideshows. Basic account is free.

BigHugeLabs : make posters, mosaics, puzzles, and magazine covers with your photos.

Fotobabble : make still photos speak with your voice.

Vuvox : Mix photos, video and music to tell visual stories through collages.

Toondoo: create cartoon strips.

Timeglider : Make online timelines with options to add photos and written information. Basic account is free.

Bubbl.us : a mind-mapping and brain-storming tool

Edublogs : a safe blog site where students can journal and teachers can moderate the content, comments, and privacy of their class.

Voki.com : make avatars and record your voice. This site is a fun way to introduce topics and allow characters to do the talking. You can record up to a 60 second msg. for free.

Museumbox : a space to build virtual museums about a historical event or present evidence about an argument. Sites, videos, and photos can be uploaded and presented in cubes.

TodaysMeet.com : a backchannel meeting place or education chat room where even your shyest students can express themselves live, written conversations.

Dropbox : a cloud-based storage site. Access your documents from any wi-fi device.

Evernote : a virtual notebook. Access your notes, web clips, and documents from anywhere.

Socrative : a virtual classroom and response system. This website works with computers, cell phones and tablets and is great for quizzes, polls, games and assessing understand instantly.

Newseum : a collection of newspapers, current events and videos from all over the world. Especially great for journalism, history, government, and English classes.

Jing : screencasting tool to capture your computer screen and make tutorial videos for your students. You can make videos up to 5 minutes long for free.

QR Code Generator : create QR codes for your students to scan with the cell phones and tablets. Great way to share information quickly.

Quizlet : online flash cards and study games to learn vocabulary.

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Search Kids Discover

Using web 2.0 tools in the classroom.

March 5, 2012 by Lisa Dabbs

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As educators, the use of Web 2.0 tools is transforming our work, and more specifically the way we support students in the classroom. As schools bring more technology into their classrooms, teachers will in turn strive to put more technology in their students’ hands. That is, if they are prepared to do so.

Web 2.0 Tools are online software programs that allow users to do a number of different things. They can be used to teach curriculum content, store data, create/edit video, edit photos, collaborate and so much more. These programs are often free and are used by teachers, students, and sometimes parents, both in and out of the classroom, on a pretty regular basis.

The question then becomes, are educators prepared to use these tools? How can educators best plan to incorporate Web 2.0 Tools into their classroom? How can they best plan to ensure effective tech integration? How can they be sure that the tool remains a support piece to their instructional practice, rather than a replacement?

These are important questions that we need to be able to answer for our own work, but more importantly so that we can continuously strive to be a 21st century educator for our very important clients: our students. The use of Web 2.0 Tools to support instruction is vital. How we use these tools is going to make a critical difference in how we measure our students success and how they are supported to meet 21st century skill sets.

If you are new to this concept, don’t feel bad. Embracing the use of tech integration in our daily work beyond word processing and power point presentations is still new to many educators. However, it’s important that we accept the fact that Web 2.0 tools are here to stay. The sooner we learn to harness their wonderful power, and how they can bring learning alive in the classroom, the better.

As we talk about Web 2.0 tools, one point I want to stress is that we need to remember that it’s not about the specific tools themselves that we use with students, but why, and when the tool is needed. Ideally there also needs to be a culture within the school that values technology use in the classroom. As a former school principal, I can guarantee you that the leadership in the school must also be modeling the use of technology, providing professional development in this area, and seek to build a school community that enables and values the effective use of technology for teaching and learning.

In the spirit of technology for teaching, I want to offer you 8 great Web 2.0 educational tools that I encourage you to seek out, practice with, and learn to incorporate into your work in the classroom. Will it take time to learn to use these tools? Yes. Are the benefits worth the time? Absolutely!

8 Great Web 2.0 tools to support you in the classroom:

Glogster  is a great creativity site whose tag line is “poster yourself”.  A ‘glog’ is basically an online poster web page.  Students can combine text, pictures, graphics, video, and audio to create an interactive online poster. They can click and drag items out of Glogster’s resources, choose their own backgrounds, pictures, text boxes, videos, web links, and more!   Glogster  has a very simple-to-use interface. The final glog can be hosted by  Glogster  or you can embed it into a wiki, blog, or class web site. ( click here   to watch a 2 minute EdTech Talk about Glogster.)

This site was designed specifically for elementary and middle school teachers who want to provide each of their students with their own, unique blog. Kidblog’s simple, powerful tools allow students to publish posts and participate in discussions within a secure classroom blogging community. Teachers maintain complete control over student blogs.

Linoit is a great service that provides its registered users with virtual “stickies” that can be placed on a canvas or bulletin board area. Both lino users and non-registered guests can post stickies on the canvas. The great thing about linoit is that you can use it at three levels: public, limited access and private.( Click here for a sample of one of my recent canvases.)

LiveBinders

Livebinders were created so that anyone, but especially educators, could do with digital information what we do with the papers on our desk – organize it into nice containers – like 3-ring binders on a shelf. With these online-binders, you can also upload your documents and easily combine them with your links in a neat and organized way. (Here’s one of my livebinders .)

This web tool is an easy solution for teachers to open up their classroom and their students to a world way beyond their campus. With Skype, students can learn from other students, connect with other cultures, and expand their knowledge in amazing ways by communicating through their computer with a webcam.

This is a fun and easy-to-use tool for creating short, visual stories. Students can select artwork, drag and organize photos, and add their own text. These creations can then be published on the web with adjustable privacy settings. There is also the option to allow comments, which is perfect for teachers to encourage student collaboration. (Here’s one of my Storybirds .)

VoiceThread

VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slideshow that allows students to comment on images, documents, and video through text, video, and audio files. Teachers can set up groups and classes as well as moderate comments, embed to blogs, and export to audio files.   It is an easy way to differentiate instruction while providing engaging choices to “show” learning, engage in conversation, and think openly and critically about content. ( Click here to see “What’s a voice thread anyway?”)

Teachers and students can generate word clouds that show prominent words in any body of text. Just enter text you have gathered from students, or even a URL, to see a summary of what the text is about. Wordle also allows you to change the appearance of your word cloud by the shape, font, color, and organization. ( Click here to see a short video on how to use Wordle in the classroom.)

Wetoku is a web service or Web 2.0 tool out of Korea that provides a simple platform for interviewing someone via the Internet. Collaborating globally is a must for our students and connecting can be a challenge. Wetoku makes doing an interview as easy as filling out some basic information, creating an interview session and then sending the creative interview session’s URL to the interviewee. Once the recording is done, the interviewer can embed the copy of the URL into a blog or website. You will need a web-cam to use this tool. ( Click here for a video on how to use wetoku.)

Okay, what do you think? Still not sure where all these Web 2.0 tools fit into your school or district standards? Well for those who are still skeptical, ISTE has developed a great set of educational technology standards for teachers. These standards, called ISTE NETS , seek to move beyond the tool and address the bigger picture of technology in the classroom and in the professional practice. You can take a look at them here .

I hope you’ve enjoyed taking a look at these 8 amazing tools!

Lisa Dabbs is an educational consultant and former principal who lives in California. She is a Core Blogger at Edutopia.org, founder of New Teacher Chat #ntchat on Twitter and blogs about supporting new teachers at Teaching With Soul .

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WEB 2.0 TOOLS

When becoming a teacher you want to be able to have your students attention no matter what. If you teach face-to-face there's a possibility that getting that required attention is a lot easier. When you are teaching online, self-pace, or even hybrid is the tricky part for attention grabbers. 

Having many different Web based tools is key to a successful learning environment and for teachers to teach in that successful learning environment. 

What are Web 2.0 tools you may ask? They are tools that are and can be used for instructional and educational learning and/or teaching. Tools consist of sources like Animoto, Wix, Google Sites, Prezi, and many more.

As educators it is out job to make teaching and learning enjoyable. Students wanting to understand the work should be educators priority and Web tools is the way to go for that.

Students will have the ability to understand the root cause of many American History topics using Web 2.0 tools. 

They will create and have the ability to learn from presentations. 

Have the ability to make short movies using Animoto, or a podcast on literally any platform that offers it. 

MAIN TASK: Create a very creative presentation of your choice of an event we learned this year in American History. For example: Discovering the colonies, important documentation (Declaration of Independence, Emancipation Proclamation), different battles and wars. If it is a podcast or short film time length will have to be 10 minutes or more. If you are using a presentation form like Prezi you will need at least 10 or more slides. No matter the presentation music and appropriate pictures must be displayed.

Steps students should take to be successful in this presentation:

1. Get following topic approved and have a proper thesis. *Write a short two-paged, double-spaced, essay after the topic is approved. 

2. Pick which Web based tool will work best for you and your presentation.

3. Create presentation.

At the end of this assignment students will know and understand that learning with web based tools is not as intimidating as it may seem. As an educator I am more than willing to help provide feedback before submission date.

Animoto,  https://animoto.com/business/education

Google Sites,  https://sites.google.com/u/0/new?pli=1&authuser=0

Prezi,  https://prezi.com

Google Podcast,  https://podcasts.google.com/

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Selecting a Web 2.0 Presentation Tool

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Gideon Williams

Teacher and Learning technologist, often with greying beard. EdTech Likes: VLEs (Canvas since 2015), Web2 tools, ePortfolios, Digital Badges and Interactive resources. Life Likes: Woolly hats. Dogs. Cycling. Cooking. Watching all sports. Inspired to teach by Peter Billinghurst. @gideonwilliams for Twitter (X) conversations - Now working in the APAC region - but heart always in Scotland

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Tech Transformation

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

10 web 2.0 tools for recording learning.

8 comments:

Maggie, I'm not sure whether you're looking for combination tools, but for recording and editing sound files, there's Audacity . In my first hour of fiddling with it, I was able to record a voice track and a separate music track, then experiment by having the music come in, fade out, and so on.

Thanks Dave, I was really looking for Web 2.0 tools so that the students' work could be stored in the cloud and accessed by any of the teachers anytime and anyplace. I was discussing this with some homeroom teachers last week at a planning meeting and they love the idea that they can view (and assess) the students' work from home, for example, rather than being limited to what the students store in their network files.

Maybe you more generally refer to mobile devices that have the capability to capture audio, images and video while students are on the go...perhaps on a quest of some form where they are relations their learning to the real world? Some of the tools you mention provide easy upload from phones.

I agree that a mobile phone or iPad would be an excellent way for teachers to record learning. However I am presenting to primary teachers and most of our primary students do not have their own phones in school. Therefore I'm really looking for tools that students and teachers can use from the sets of laptops that we have available.

Many tools like Evernote allow you to EMBED media, e.g. Audio.

VOKI!!! My students love to record their voices with the animated avatars! Free accounts and students can do it from home as well.

As a French teacher, can I just say Danke for the recognition of the incredible applicability of thes Web 2.0 tools for language teachers! I use almost all of these. For Go animate, I prefer to have the students record their own voices to go with the animation, primarily because this is one of the times I see students truly (and independently) reflecting on and assessing their own learning. They really do listen to their own voices and refine their recordings (for language use, vocabulary choice and/or pronunciation). I'll be excited to try WeVideo. Another tool I use is no longer free (unfortunately), but it is the one and only tool I pay for because it is so powerful in terms of its ability to impact students' listening comprehension and speaking ability: Lingt (http://lingtlanguage.com). There is a free version I would recommend anyone try first, but it is quite limited compared to the full version--so much so that if you do like the way the site works and you want to keep using it with your students you'll have to pay something.

For language or word choice activities, try todaysmeet.com for sharing words/phrases, etc. in a live web session. Students can be given anonymous login names (no registration required) or use their names if they wish. A session is set up and ready to go in 30 seconds. I also use wallwisher for variety and similiar goals. There are many other of these types of live panel sites as well. Enjoy! teachers.saschina.org/aolivas

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