MY ENVISION USING THE WEB 2.0; EXPERIENCES AND IDEAS FOR USE

Dear Alison and Michelle,

In my opinion, using the online software as a teaching tool should be an objective for the teachers. There are four important facts that teachers could realize: first, Web 2.0 is dynamic, participative and collaborative; second, the young students and learners have been born within the Internet era, so they are familiarized with technology. Third, the Internet access is easy and affordable. Fourth, technology is part of our daily life. As a result, learners are used to the Internet, used to the visualizing way of learning and they will know how to adapt to technology and usually, they will understand in a better way.

I have learned to use Web 2.0 as the instrument that will help me to transform passive learners into active ones. Actives learners are going to be able to create contents and share them in chat room, blogs or wikis. Doing so, learners are interacting with the content, with the teacher, with their partners and even with the creators of the information.

Teaching materials created with this online software can be attractive, colorful, and desirable learning materials for the learners. For instance, I will begin a class by introducing a topic with an eye-catching vidcast or a fascinating podcast is going to call the learners attention. Then as a class, I will ask for a brainstorming period that we can create through bubbl.us. Next, I will present the information about the topic. To do so, and depending on the topic, I will use my teaching materials that I created by searching in the Internet through the different searching machines, probably Kartoo. I could use some visual representations using Slideshare, or PowerPoint; some maps from Google Earth or some statistical visualization from Gapminder. Later, I will have the learners work in groups to create their own answers and to do some research. Finally, I will have the learners present their own materials through video, or through blogs, where they can present all the files and multimedia or even I will create a wiki page where the class will begin a discussion.
As a class I could teach my students about Diigo.com . A web page where students can create web-page favorites about class topics that will help them in their research and even interact among them.

Susana