Web 2.0 tools are absolutely brilliant. This is the definite wave of the future. My favorite aspect of these tools is how it conforms to individuals. It is like differentiation for everyone. These tools come along pretty quickly, as a result, it is responsible for making other software much more affordable. A couple of sites that I have been tinkering with are Edmodo, Animoto, and Blogger. These tools provide some very good tools for little to no cost. Edmodo is a educational site that allows students to submit assignments, save assignments, and request help from me. It allows me to send links, documents, and presentations to my students whenever it is convenient for me. The best part of all, students are able to work from home or at school, with out owning a flash drive. Animoto is another software that allows students to make professional presentations with relative ease. This software is free for educators. This software makes a better product than Microsoft Power Point, and it is free. Finally, Blogger is a blogging website, that allows people to publish their ideas to the web. This is a great tool to use in the classroom, because it allows students to have a voice. It also is a great way to facilitate good classroom discussion. Solomon and Shrum say, “Blogs offer a number of advantages for student-centered and constructive teaching and learning, including giving students a vehicle for contributing to the content of the class; allowing students to comment on each other’s posts and link out to other resources; enabling students to make their voice heard and to develop a sense of voice” (2007) There are so many other collaborative tools out there, so there is no excuse for teachers not to incorporate these tools into the classroom.
Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New tools, New schools. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education, 108.
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