Introduction
As an educator in the 21st century the students desire an education that is both meaningful and engaging. The big question is how can educators ensure that this happens? The answer may be to incorporate the use of technology or more specifically with the use of Web 2.0 tools. Web 2.0 has various strengths and benefits for promoting successful learning yet educators are not always aware of the various resources and tools available to them. This study will go in-depth to discover how Web 2.0 tools can be used for education, even in the early childhood years.
What is Web 2.0?
In order to begin discussing the use of Web 2.0 tools in education one must first learn what Web 2.0 is and why it can be very beneficial to education. According to Michael Simkins and Randy Schultz (2010), Web 2.0 refers to a variety of easy-to-use online resources that make everyday work and communication on the World Wide Web more practical for almost anyone. Some examples of Web 2.0 tools include blogs, wikis, networking sites, collaborative tagging sites as well as file sharing sites. Currently there are hundreds of thousands of Web 2.0 tools available on the Internet. Michele Knobel and DanaWilber (2009) point out that “Outside school, many students are accomplished authors, filmmakers, animators, and recording artists.” The use of Web 2.0 tools can make this possible beginning at an early childhood education level.
The benefits of Web 2.0 tools are being researched and validated more frequently as Web 2.0 tools are becoming common place in the schools. Collaboration is being seen as engaging for students as well as an important aspect of successful learning in education. With the use of Web 2.0 tools it takes collaboration to...
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...rators are working on means of providing technologies into the schools. Although this process may take time, educators need to take their learning into their own hands and find ways to engage students in a successful manner and learning about Web 2.0 resources is a great place to start.
Works Cited
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It is no more pertinent than today to acknowledge that students live in a technology driven world where information and communication technologies are integrated into everyday situations (QSA, 2007). Prensky, 2001 suggests that it is now clear that as a result of the abundant technological environment and students’ substantial level of interaction with it, that today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors. With this in mind, it is crucial that as a future educator, I bring to the classroom new and innovative ways of teaching and learning in order to motivate and interest these ‘digital natives’ (Halat, 2008).
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2007). The Leadership Challenge (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA:
Making use if the rich materials and input from the internet for learning activities, Dudenny, G & Hockly, N (2007) considers WebQuest as a mini-projects in which majority of the resources comes from the internet supply. So scholar studies, references for learning activities and learning courses are plentiful, rich and updated. When it comes to WebQuest concepts, Kundu & Bain (2006) concentrate on co-operation of learners in groups and contexts. They think that claim that a WebQuest is a micro-word in which learners explore an issue in a learning environment that is both cooperative and contextual. Showing the essential role of internet in learning school topics through WebQuest, Martonia Gaskill, Anastasia McNulty, & David W. Brooks (2006) say that Learning through WebQuest is an activity that students use Website resources to study school themes with the oriented instruction by teachers.
...arning process and social networking is the most effective way to incite involvement. In a technology driven society, the utilization of social media in the classroom has become the best way to prepare the latest generation of students for the outside world. The positive impact social media has on the way students communicate and comprehend learning material is being embraced progressively more as its benefits are finally being realized. While not all people see social networking as a positive source for learning, it is clear that its presence in the classroom has a direct impact on the increased productivity and cognition levels of student learning. Times are changing, as they always do. Implementation of social networking on an educational basis is inevitable and necessary for future generations learning and overall success in such a technologically driven world.
Caruso, C. (2008). Bringing Online Learning to Life. Educational Leadership, 65(8) 70. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
El presente trabajo fin de grado (TFG) es una propuesta para la elaboración de un blog de aula que incluya, por un lado la selección de los recursos digitales disponibles en la red que contribuyan a conseguir los objetivos propuestos en nuestras unidades didácticas y por otro, un medio para desarrollar actividades atractivas que impliquen de una manera más activa a nuestro alumnado del primer ciclo de Educación Primaria. Pero para que los alumnos puedan utilizar las herramientas que nos ofrece la Web 2.0, es necesario que posean un nivel de competencia digital. Por este motivo, esta propuesta se centra en el análisis de las competencias digitales que debe desarrollar el alumnado, la evaluación de la los recursos digitales, la utilización de diferentes herramientas para el desarrollo de actividades más dinámicas… y todo ello, integrado en la web 2.0, a través del desarrollo de un blog implicado en el proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje.
1) Web 2.0 is a collection of technologies that enable us to create and provide services to end users in innovative ways. It's not only about the technologies that are used, but about the new ways that it enables large numbers of people to come together to collaborate, share, and build. The term Web 2.0 was invented by Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media. According to Tim O'Reilly: http://radar.oreilly.com/2006/12/web-20-compact-definition-tryi.html, 2006. “Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.”
As educators, a partial grasp or half-hearted embrace of copyright and fair use laws is not enough. Now is the time to teach students how to creatively yet legally take advantage of the plethora of resources at their fingertips through the Internet. Web 2.0 tools are becoming increasingly popular in post-secondary education, and this generation of students is likely to “produce a significant amount of content” over the course of their educational career (Diaz, 2010, p61). These students must know what rights they have to this content they have created, as well as be confident that all the resources they have incorporated along the way have been incorporated ethically.
In total the Internet has not only increased the amount of learning possibilities in the classroom but it has created infinite amounts of learning opportunities for students and teachers.
The traditional education environment is starting to implement new ways to teach students with the rapid development of technology. One strategy is the use of the internet to communicate, listen, and share ideas among students and professors alike; specifically the use of the internet realm in wikis, blogs, and podcasts. Blogs are either a website in itself or a part of a website where something like an interactive journal is being used; a person can write about anything they wish, link or show images, and decide whether other people can comment on the blog entry. Wikis are websites or webpages dedicated to providing information about a topic and can be edited by either the members of that site. Podcasts are digital files in the form of audio, video, or both that can be downloaded online onto computers, MP3 players, certain phones, and many more devices. Wikis, blogs, and podcasts could positively alter the educational format of lectures for students.
their dorm room or apartment is sit down at their computer and go online. They proceed to either, read their e-mail, check their online courses for new assignments, or go on one of the many communication websites or programs that are available currently to this generation. None of this would be possible without the readily available Internet access that we often take for granted. The Internet has proven not only useful for entertainment purposes, but has also dramatically changed the educational approach, for both students and educators, and the way knowledge is being obtained.
Web 2.0 is branded by open source and freeware. It is used a lot in blogs, tags, wikis, RSS.