Reflection

These Web 2.0 tools are just the tip of the iceberg!
What fun to introduce students to a variety of tools that can help them in learning as well as encourage them to use their creativity. 
Be sure to check out the Voki!

Cite-U

Cite-U is a good resource for creating citations, and for creating a personal library of scholarly papers. I use it constantly, and recommend it especially for students in the upper grades. It is Web 2.0 since it can be shared, and can be accessed from any computer.

http://www.citeulike.org/

Storyjumper

This is nice to use with elementary school children, they get to self-publish, and share with their families, and each other.

http://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/2096834/4dab64c42c70e

delicious

I've been using delicious to bookmark all of my websites for years. It is fantastic to be able to tag the websites and group them into easily accessible resources for teaching my classes, or to send to the teachers for whom I very often do research as part of my job as a Librarian. I find the resource, bookmark it in my delicious account, and share it with a teacher, or teachers. It is very easy, and totally free. I encourage my students and colleagues to use it.

http://www.delicious.com/

Shelfari

Keep track of your personal library, join a community of readers similar to yourself. This might prove interesting to your students, they can read reviews of books by their peers, as well as create their own. Books can be categorized by tagging, which can lead to discussions about classification, and the plusses and minuses of this or other systems. Collaborative efforts in information organization is a part of the Shelfari experience.

http://www.shelfari.com/

Voki

Click on play to see what happens next.
(And no, that is not my voice.)

http://www.voki.com/

bubbl.us

This is a great way to make concept maps. I found this by browsing, and was so glad that I did. It made concept mapping a whole new experience.

https://bubbl.us/

Glogster

Glogster is a platform for creating online multimedia posters with text, photos, videos, graphics, sounds, drawings, and data attachments. I could see using this with varied age groups to create posters that 'speak' to the viewer. One can get very creative with the posters. I used a picture I had taken last summer at the New York Public Library main branch of the original Winnie the Pooh collection and drawings. Take a look....

http://bocaprep1.edu.glogster.com/teaching-information-literacy-1713/

Pixton Comics

I used Pixton Comics with my technology classes 2nd to 5th grade. They loved it, but unfortunately, it is free for a short time, and then the school has to pay for the service. I do think that the kids benefit from using the comics venue to show what they have learned in their particular topic. They get to share with each other, once the teacher okays what they have written, and then if they and the teacher agree, the comics can be shared with other school communities.

http://www.pixton.com/:sfsweqea

Animato

Ava - I used Animato to make a short video in memory of my friend's daughter.

Click on the word Ava above, to open the short video.

Animato is free, but only for short videos, there is a premiere version for longer videos. This web 2.0 tool is useful for students to express themselves freely or by assignment. They offer a bank of pictures and music, or one can choose from their own computer.

Podcasts

Apple invited some teachers from my school to participate in a workshop to create podcasts using a Macbook (I love my Macbook!) and an ipod touch, both of which they supplied for use. The workshop was very well run, they distributed headphones w/mic to each participant, and everyone got to keep theirs. We worked with a partner to create a podcast using "Garage band," a program that comes installed on the Macbook, (and now the ipad 2).

I went on to create another podcast for pre-k students, but I can really see how podcasting can be utilized with older students as well, to teach and/or reinforce information literacy. 


Important to note that iTunes (iTunesU) has a large bank of podcasts produced by the University of South Florida, as well as many other universities. Check out Lit2go by USF. There are many options to assist students, either finding a published podcast on iTunes (many of them are free!) or to create a podcast for a specific need. Podcasting is certainly a useful feature of the Web 2.0 family.

Teaching Info Literacy

As I come across the Web 2.0 tools that I want to use, I'll publish the links to interesting websites that might prove beneficial. This is one of them, and for those unfamiliar with Discovery, they have some great educational websites.


"Web 2.0 is about revolutionary new ways of creating, collaborating, editing and sharing user-generated content online. It's also about ease of use. There's no need to download, and teachers and students can master many of these tools in minutes. Technology has never been easier or more accessible to all."

http://web2011.discoveryeducation.com/web20tools.cfm