Web 2.0 for Educators

Course Information

This course is titled Web 2.0 for Educators. The goals of this course are to familiarize teachers with the ideas and tools involved with Web 2.0 and how they can be integrated into the classroom. Most importantly, this course is designed to get teachers to think about how we can teach our students 21st century skills. The world is changing and we need to change as well in order to prepare our students for the world that awaits them.

Day One

Introduction to Web 2.0:

References

And Now....A Word From Our Sponsors: Pay Attention![7:41]

RSS

    1. Video: RSS in Plain English [3:43]

    2. Activity: Setting up an RSS Aggregator [Netvibes.com]

    3. Discussion: How can we use RSS in our classrooms?

RSS Resources

RSS Compendium - a description of many RSS aggregators

RSS: A Quick Start Guide for Educators - a guide for using RSS and Bloglines by Will Richardson

Another Sign O' The Times: A Vision of Students Today

Blogs

Blog Resources (Educational Technology)

Blog Resources (Subject Specific)

A Musical Interlude: 180 Days?

Wikis

    1. Video: Wikis in Plain English [3:52]

    2. Assignment: Read and Discuss A False Wikipedia 'Biography' and What Wikipedia Is Not

    3. Video: Wikipedia Credibility [0:46]

    4. Activity: Search Wikipedia for a topic about which you are knowledgeable. How does the content stack up against traditional sources? Search Wikipedia for a current topic, issue, of person in the new. How does that content stack up against traditional sources? Search Wikipedia for any topic. Click the History tab at the top. What do you notice, and what implication does this have? Register for a Wikipedia account (top right corner of main page). Edit a page of your choice on Wikipedia, adding at least a sentence of your own content. After making and saving your edit check the History tab. Reflect on the process in your blog. Comment on wiki safety, authenticity, and the power of the wiki community.

    5. Screencast: Heavy Metal Umlauts [8:29]

    6. Activity: Create a personal Wiki on Wikispaces

Wiki Resources

References

Day Two

Social Bookmarking

    1. Video: Social Bookmarking in Plain English [3:25]

    2. Screencast: Either Social Bookmarking and Tagging [13:14] or Using del.icio.us [8:19]

    3. Activity: Take a look here to get a better idea about tagging. Follow the directions of the screencast and sign up for del.icio.us. You can look at my del.icio.us account which can be found at http://del.icio.us/jtl18. After you have signed up you can start bookmarking. Make sure you do the following: a) Bookmark at least three educational type sites and share your del.icio.us account with the rest of us. b) Add at least one other person in our class to "your network". c) Add a specific delicious rss feed to your Netvibes page. To do this I put in the url del.icio.us/tag/web2.0+school. I then went to the bottom of the del.icio.us page found the rss chicklet got the url for my feed and put it in my netvibes. You can do the same but change out the web2.0+school to whatever you want to be notified about.

    4. Activity: In your blog, create an entry and reflect on the following questions: What are your thoughts about social bookmarking? Could it be effective as a tool for students? Can they be used to further your professional development in an efficient manner?

An Important Message: Did You Know 2.0 [8:19]

Podcasts

Podcasting Resources

Another Important Message: What If? [6:17]

What are Irvington students up to?:

Social Networking

Flickr

Second Life: Winner of the "Not Web 2.0 But Still Interesting for Educators" Award

In Conclusion

Assignment: Read and Discuss Back to school with the Class of Web 2.0 from SolutionWatch

Video: One final video for the road.

Thanks! I hope you found this class fun and educational. If you have any questions on how you can integrate these technologies into your classroom, please let me know and I would be more than happy to help you. Make sure you fill out your course evaluation forms before leaving.