Overview of Web 2.0 Learning Activities

Step into the future of learning technology!
Web 2.0 is made up of many interactive Internet technologies and Websites. We will explore parts of Web 2.0 that are valuable for teachers to use in their classes and for them to know about for background knowledge (and fun!). Below are the topics we will cover with links to the activity page for each one.

1. Blogs, Blogging and Blogger.com
   BLOG is the abbreviation of "Web log," and an individual blog is much like a journal you may choose to share with others and for others to comment on. In this activity you'll create your own blog and learn how to post messages on it. You will also learn how to comment on others' blogs. Thousands of teachers and millions of students use blogs every day to write, read, collaborate, criticize and think in a new way about communication.
   


2. Photos, Image Sharing and Flickr.com
   Visit the Flickr site, and search its millions of photos. I'll bet you can find some your class would not only enjoy but would learn from. A boon for studying about foreign places and ... well, just about everything!
   


3. Putting It All Together: part 1
   The real power of Web 2.0 technologies and websites lies in the creative ways that each site's capabilities can be combined with others. You'll love it (and so will your students)!
   


4. Image Generators (pure fun!)
   Put on your creativity hat and expose your funny bone ...
   


5. Tagging, Folksonomies and Social Bookmarking
   We'll visit the Del.icio.us site learn how tagging has changed the way information is organized and accessed. Warning: This activity comes with powerful ideas attached.
   


6. Wikis for Collaborative Web Publishing
   See the fastest way to create and collaborate on web pages that is as useful in your classroom as it is in global business and research.
   


7. Google Earth & Mashups
   Google Earth is facinating, but you also can add and link Web 2.0 content to make it a great way to spatially explore and organize knowledge. It's a lot of fun, too!
   


8. Web Application like Google Docs
   What if you or your students didn't own a computer, word processor or e-mail program? Web applications provide those services and more over any computer. It's one of the BEST ways to shuttle documents between home and school.
   


9. Audio and Video Web 2.0 Websites
   Sites like iTunes and YouTube are either so popular or are blocked by school filtering systems that you may want to skip this section. But you and you students should know that the power of posting and sharing text and images extends to sounds and videos. These are some of the most popular and culture-changing sites on the Web!
   


10. Digg and Crowdsourcing
    What if everyone rated the news stories and web posts they read? Through a process called crowdsourcing, top-ranked stories are posted on Digg so you and your students can see what others find interesting.


11. Concerns with Web 2.0 in School
    Parents, teachers, administrators and school boards may worry about what their children may be exposed to in Web 2.0 activities. On one hand, they want their children to have access to the best the Web has to offer. On the other hand, they fear the lack of centralized control over Web 2.0 sites to guarantee Internet safety.


12. Copyright Issues and Creative Commons
    Copyright was created for the express purpose of fostering the production of creative work. You and your students need to know about copyright issues that relate to Web 2.0 posting on the Web. You also should know about recent extensions of copyright that resolve many of the thorniest issues for class publishing.


13. Other Web 2.0 Applications and Ideas
    This is an optional segment that includes other Web 2.0 applications and ideas that may be of interest to educators. (RSS feeds, Connectivism, etc.)
    


14. Facilitator Notes
    These notes provide guidance for a facilitator to conduct a hands-on Web 2.0 workshop for teachers and other school stakeholders.