Introducing Web 2.0 Tools in the Classrooms

Introducing Web 2.0 Tools in the Classrooms

What are Web 2.0 tools? Web 2.0refers to a perceived second generation of web development and design, that facilitates communication, secure information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities, hosted services, and applications; such as social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies.

Using Blogs • What is it? • A blog (a contraction of the term weblog) is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. • Usage/Suggestions • Generally speaking (although there are exceptions), blogs tend to have a few things in common: • A main content area with articles listed chronologically, newest on top. Often, the articles are organized into categories. • An archive of older articles. • A way for people to leave comments about the articles. • A list of links to other related sites, sometimes called a "blogroll". • One or more "feeds" like RSS, Atom or RDF files. • Library Usage • Starting a new blog is difficult and this can put many people off, there are then other people who have blogs with no comments or visits. You want to stand out from this crowd of millions of bloggers, you want to be one of the few hundred thousand blogs that are actually visited. So here are some simple tips to help you on your way to blogging mastery: • Post regularly, but don't post if you have nothing worth posting about. • Stick with only a few specific genres to talk about. • Don't put 'subscribe' and 'vote me' links all over the front page until you have people that like your blog enough to ignore them (they're usually just in the way). • Use a clean and simple theme if at all possible. • Enjoy, blog for fun, comment on other peoples' blogs (as they normally visit back • Links: • http://codex.wordpress.org/Introduction_to_Blogging

Using Wikis • What is it? • A wiki is a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content (excluding blocked users), using a simplified markup language.[1][2] Wikis are often used to create collaborativewebsites and to power community websites. The collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis.[2] Wikis are used in business to provide intranet and knowledge management systems. Ward Cunningham, the developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work".[3] • Usage/Suggestions • Provide a space for free writing • Debate course topics, including assigned readings • Share resources such as annotated bibliographies, websites, effective writing samples, conferences, calls for manuscripts • Maintain a journal of work performed on group projects • Require students to collaborate on documents, such as an essay written by the entire class • Discuss curricular and instructional innovations • Library Usage • Documentation may help to ensure efficiency, continuity and consistency in library operations. Library technical staff might consider the use of collaborative publishing software for documenting their internal processes and procedures. Wiki software for collaborative web publishing has emerged as one of the viable and inexpensive options to consider for maintaining group documentation. There are many inexpensive or free Wiki packages at our disposal and while they may not necessarily bend to meet our every requirement, with a little work can serve many of our needs.

Using Podcasts • What is it? • Podcasting is quickly becoming a buzz word among the techie crowd. So what is podcasting, anyway? Podcasting is online audio content that is delivered via an RSS feed. Many people liken podcasting to radio on demand. However, in reality, podcasting gives far more options in terms of content and programming than radio does. In addition, with Podcasting, listeners can determine the time and the place, meaning they decide what programming they want to receive and when they want to listen to it. • Usage/Suggestions: • Podcasts can be used for a number of different things, and as the industry evolves I'm sure broadcasters and webmasters will find additional ways to use podcasts in the future. • 1.) Talk Shows2.) Music Shows3.) Interviews4.) Story Telling5.) Tutorials6.) Directions7.) Commentaries8.) Sportscasts • Creating podcasts has many educational benefits. Students are able to create a product to share with a potentially world-wide audience. Their podcast can be listed in iTunes, right along with podcasts fromThe Discovery Channel, Disney, andNPR. Knowing that there is a real-world audience gives students purpose and motivation to create a spectacular product. The process of putting together an audio recording is extremely valuable and is certainly a cross-curricular experience. • There are three kinds of podcasts. Audio podcasts are usually an MP3 file and are the most common types of podcasts. Enhanced podcasts can have images to go along with the audio. They can also have chapter markers, making it easier to skip to different portions of an episode. Enhanced podcasts are an AAC file and are not supported by all devices. Video podcasts are movies, complete with sound. Video podcasts can be in a variety of formats, but MPEG-4 is the most popular.

Using Digital Storytelling • What is it? • Digital Storytelling" is an emerging term, one that arises from agrassrootsmovement that uses new digital tools to help ordinary people tell their own 'true stories' in a compelling and emotionally engaging form. These stories usually take the form of a relatively short story (less than 8 minutes) and can involve interactivity. • Usage/Suggestions: Digital Storytelling is the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories. As with traditional storytelling, most digital stories focus on a specific topic and contain a particular point of view. However, as the name implies, digital stories usually contain some mixture of computer-based images, text, recorded audio narration, video clips and/or music. Digital stories can vary in length, but most of the stories used in education typically last between two and ten minutes. And the topics that are used in Digital Storytelling range from personal tales to the recounting of historical events, from exploring life in one's own community to the search for life in other corners of the universe, and literally, everything in between. A great way to begin learning about Digital Storytelling is by watching the following video introduction to Digital Storytelling.

Using Handheld Computers • What is it? • Portable computerthat is small enough to be held in one's hand. Although extremely convenient to carry, handheldcomputershave not replacednotebook computersbecause of their smallkeyboardsand screens. The most popular hand-held computers are those that are specifically designed to providePIM (personal information manager)functions, such as acalendarand address book. • Very small, lightweightdevice(such as the PalmPilot) which provides functionality approaching that of a laptopcomputer.Featuresof modern handhelds includecalendarand diaryorganizing, wordprocessing,data management,remote accessto firm'snetwork,internetaccess, wireless access,messaging, etc. Also called personal digital assistant (PDA). • Usage/Suggestions: • Keep your schedule • Track student progress on specific skills • Conduct authentic assessment • Use a calculator • Make a database of key content and concepts for student use • Take attendance • Instantly access student information, such as schedules, demographics, or parent contacts • Organize your reading lists • Take notes at a meeting or in a class • Record and tabulate grades • Track computer hardware and software inventory • Enhance school safety with bar code IDs and an emergency management system

Using Virtual Worlds • What is a virtual world? • A virtual world is acomputer-based simulated environmentintended for itsusersto inhabit and interact viaavatars. These avatars are usually depicted as textual, two-dimensional, orthree-dimensional graphicalrepresentations, although other forms are possible[1] (auditory[2] and touch sensations for example). • Usage/Suggestions • Even though Virtual Worlds are often seen as 3D Games, there are many different kinds: forums, blogs, wikis and chatrooms where communities are born. Places which have their own world, their own rules, topics, jokes, members, etc... Each person who belongs to these kinds of communities can find like-minded people to talk to, whether this be a passion, the wish to share information about or just to meet new people and experience new things. Some users develop a double personality depending on which world they are interacting with. Depending on whether that person is in the real or virtual world can impact on the way they think and act. It is not all about video games and communities, virtual world also plays a part in the social as it can allow people to speak or share knowledge with each other. Best examples are instant messaging and visio-conferences which allow people to create their own virtual world.

Using Catalog 2.0 • What is Web 2.0? • The term "Web 2.0" refers to a perceived secondgenerationofweb developmentanddesign, that aims to facilitatecommunication, secureinformation sharing,interoperability, andcollaborationon theWorld Wide Web. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities,hosted services, andapplications; such associal-networking sites,video-sharing sites,wikis,blogs, andfolksonomies. • Usage/Suggestions • In addition to free social networking websites, schools have contracted with companies that provide many of the same services as MySpace and Facebook, but can integrate with their existing database. Companies such as Harris Connect, iModules, and Publishing Concepts have developed alumni online community software packages that provide schools with a way to communicate to their alumni and allow alumni to communicate with each other in a safe, secure environment. • These Web 2.0 ideas of bringing the power of people into the Internet wouldn't be possible without the technology to support it. For the collective knowledge of people to be harnessed, websites must be easy enough to use that they don't stand in the way of people using the Internet to share their knowledge.

Using Mashups • What is it? • Inweb development, a mashup is aWeb applicationthat combines data from one or more sources into a single integrated tool. The term Mashup implies easy, fast integration, frequently done by access to openAPIsand data sources to produce results that were not the original reason for producing the raw source data. An example of a mashup is the use of cartographic data fromGoogle Mapsto add location information toreal estatedata, thereby creating a new and distinct Web service that was not originally provided by either source. • Usage/Suggestions • There are many types of mashups, such as consumer mashups, data mashups, and Business Mashups. The most common mashup is the consumer mashup, which are aimed at the general public. Examples include Google Maps, iGuide, and RadioClouds. • Data mashups combine similar types of media and information from multiple sources into a single representation. An example is the Havaria Information Services' AlertMap, which combines data from over 200 sources related to severe weather conditions, biohazard threats, and seismic information, and displays them on a map of the world. • Business mashups focus data into a single presentation and allow for collaborative action among businesses and developers.

Using Folksonomies • What is it? • Folksonomy (also known as collaborative tagging, social classification, social indexing, and social tagging) is the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorizecontent. Folksonomy describes the bottom-up classification systems that emerge from social tagging.[1] In contrast to traditional subject indexing, metadata is generated not only by experts but also by creators and consumers of the content. Usually, freely chosen keywords are used instead of a controlled vocabulary.[2]Folksonomy (from folk + taxonomy) is a user-generated taxonomy. • Usage/Suggestions • Folksonomies, a new user-driven approach to organizing information, may help alleviate some of the challenges of taxonomies. Sites with folksonomies include two basic capabilities: they let users add “tags” to information and they create navigational links out of those tags to help users find and organize that information later. • An important aspect of a folksonomy is that is comprised of terms in a flat namespace: that is, there is no hierarchy, and no directly specified parent-‍child or sibling relationships between these terms. There are, however, automatically generated “related” tags, which cluster tags based on common URLs. This is unlike formal taxonomies and classification schemes where there are multiple kind of explicit relationships between terms. These relationships include things like broader, narrower, as well as related terms. These folksonomies are simply the set of terms that a group of users tagged content with, they are not a predetermined set of classification terms or labels.

Using Online Social Networking • What is it? • A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services. • Social networking has created new ways to communicate and share information. Social networking websites are being used regularly by millions of people, and it now seems that social networking will be an enduring part of everyday life. • Usage/Suggestions • Social networking often involves grouping specific individuals or organizations together. While there are a number of social networking websites that focus on particular interests, there are others that do not. The websites without a main focus are often referred to as "traditional" social networking websites and usually have open memberships. This means that anyone can become a member, no matter what their hobbies, beliefs, or views are. However, once you are inside this online community, you can begin to create your own network of friends and eliminate members that do not share common interests or goals. • Library Usage • A public library works with its Teen Advisory Group to set up an online del.icio.us account where teens can collect and share web sites of interest as well as web sites to assist with completing homework assignments. Teens hone reading, web searching and critical thinking skills as they evaluate which sites to include on their del.icio.us account. See http://del.icio.us/homrteens.

Using Tagging • What is it? • A tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information (such as an internet bookmark, digital image, or computer file). This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching. Tags are chosen informally and personally by the item's creator or by its viewer, depending on the system. On a website in which many users tag many items, this collection of tags becomes a folksonomy. • Tagging was popularized by websites associated with Web 2.0 and is an important feature of many Web 2.0 services. It is now also part of some desktop software. • Usages/Suggestions • LibraryThing is an application of tagging to personal book collections. It can pull bibliographic information from the Library of Congress or amazon.com, saving users the time of entering this information manually. A free account allows a user to tag and manage up to 200 books. The site also features disambiguation mechanisms whereby users can tell the system that two books represent the same work, or two authors represent the same person. Perhaps LibraryThing’s most important and innovative feature is providing recommendations for new books to read based on the tags a user has applied to his collection. • Libraries are familiar with various forms of terminology control, including controlled vocabularies, thesauri, classification, and ontologies. Some of the goals of each of these technologies, and tagging, are the same, although there are some important differences in scope and implementation. Which is appropriate in any given situation depends on many factors, and the decision between them should be made carefully based on a full understanding of each of the options. There is also no inherent reason any given system has to use only one of these and not the others. A library catalog could contain cataloger-supplied subject headings from an appropriate controlled vocabulary, and also allow user tagging of materials. Smart systems could use the two together to provide better retrieval for users. Embracing the benefits of tagging does not automatically or necessarily signal a rejection of traditional subject authority control.

Introducing Web 2.0 Tools in the Classrooms