The Web 2.0 tool that I think is very useful in the classroom or to support teacher professional development would be having a class blog. I think this particular tool would be incredibly helpful for both the students and the teacher to maintain organization and keep everyone updated on classroom news. This is a great way for a teacher to post assignments from each day to keep students in the loop; this is also great for students who may have been absent that day due to sickness, or what have you, giving them the opportunity to keep up with the rest of class. This also gives students the chance to communicate with each other and the teacher, regarding any possible issues with homework or classwork. Communication is key in the classroom and it's important for the teacher to maintain consistent contact with their students. The podcast mentioned how students can have their own personal blogs, and I don't agree that this is the best use of a Web 2.0 tool. If blogs were to be used, I would rather it be a single class blog rather several individual blogs.
The interesting Web 2.0 tool that I used was LibraryThing. This website is great for the fellow bookworm to build a social network regarding their personal reading library. The website is very easy to navigate and allows the user to set up an account efficiently. You basically set up a personal catalog of "books you own, books you've read, books you'd like to read, books you've lent out ... whatever grouping you'd like". Much like the tool we used in class, Diigo, the user institutes tags and is able to share their catalog with other people via this website. Since it is all done online, everyone can contribute to book ratings, reviews and tags. I personally find this to be awesome because I enjoy reading very much and to be able to catalog my personal library makes my inner organizing self very satisfied. I ended up making an account for myself, and I am so excited to use this Web 2.0 Tool.
Chapter 12 discusses several different technology advancements in the classroom. The advancement that I believe that holds the biggest promise for education is "gamification". In Chapter 12 it states, "gamification adds game elements to instructional content to increase motivation and interactivity, encourage creativity, and deepen understanding of content" (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 288). I think educational games are a great tool for teachers to use in the classroom because using games will always get your students involved in the material and topics you are discussing in class. It makes the concepts a lot more interesting for the students and gets them all involved in your classroom! The advancement of the different types of games have come a long way, even from when I was a student in the classroom. Back in my day, we never did any educational games that involved technology, but rather did flashcard games and competitions. I believe this holds the biggest promise for education because the development of educational technology in the realm of educational games allows for even more games to be created and even more ways to teach different concepts; this is great for students to be taught in their comfort zone and to the best of their ability.
I've never heard of Librarything, but being an English Education major, I think it could be very helpful for providing resources for my students.
ReplyDeleteI agree, LibraryThing gets a gold star. That is such a good idea and they executed it so well.
ReplyDeleteWe use LibraryThing for professional books as well in my research group.
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