Web+2.0

Web 2.0

=== //This artifact is an essay of what I think of Web 2.0 in education and how I plan to use some Web 2.0 tools in my Spanish classroom. This essay gives the reader a brief sample of some of the tools that exist on Web 2.0. When I'm a teacher, I can show this essay to my students to give them an idea of what kind of projects they might be doing in my class.// ===

Taking this class has been extremely interesting. I’ve always used technology in my life but I have not always understood how technology works. I have used the internet and knew that the internet is a wonderful invention, but I didn’t realize how it relates to the World Wide Web. After reading the information about what Web 2.0 is, I am amazed. I did not know that Web 1.0 was a “read-only” and did not allow any information or resources to be exchanged. Web 2.0’s ability of being able to read, write, share, create, exchange and modify creates so many opportunities for any user.

When I was growing up, I would go to the library and use books to complete my school research projects. Back then in the 1970s and 1980s, I could not do research by “going online”. Also, when learning a subject in school, we used traditional activities to help us learn. We used flash cards, board games, or paper products to create assignments. In Spanish class, we listened to audio tape cassettes or watched a VHS movie to practice our listening skills. When practicing writing we conjugated words on paper worksheets or in textbooks. Yet, now with Web 2.0 technology, the process of teaching, learning and doing educational assignments is so different than the process of the past. Now if a student needs to do research, he/she doesn’t even need to leave the home. He/she could just get on the computer and do research online, whether it’s watching a movie or finding an encyclopedia entry or an online book. Also, instead of using paper materials like flashcards, a student can practice what he/she learned by finding a website with online flashcards, questions or quizzes relating to the subject being studied. If a student has a presentation, he/she can create a power point instead of using posters.

When browsing some of the Web 2.0 tools, I found several that would work in a Spanish classroom. Blabberize is an audio tool that I have heard about before. This site allows one to upload a picture or photo and then record or upload audio, so that the picture will move in time to the sound or speech. This is a very fun way for language learners to practice speaking the vocabulary that they have learned. In my class, I would have my students use Blabberize as a conversation assignment. For example, if the topic was greetings and introductions, they would upload pictures of two people that are meeting each other for the first time. The mouths of the two people would move as they ask each other questions like: Hi!, How are you?, My name is ., I am a junior at Lakewood High School., How old are you?, et cetera. Instead of a puppet show, the students can use Blabberize.

For research, I found Knowitall.org to be a great site. This site is an educational site that has simulations, image collections, virtual field trips and streaming videos. I could use this site when introducing a new Spanish topic or even when reviewing a topic. For example, if my class was learning animal vocabulary, I would have them watch the video entitled “Visiting the Zoo”. While watching the video that is in Spanish, the students would write down all the animal words they heard or saw. Then after viewing the video, the students could tell me what animal words they heard, what sound the animal makes, and they could even describe the animal or the type of environment the animal lives in.

Pikistrips is a tool that I found to help with writing. It allows one to make a comic strip by choosing a layout, uploading photos and adding speech bubbles. Like Blabberize, this tool can be used for any topic in a language classroom. I would use this as an assignment to show the past tense of verbs. For example, the comic strip could be about what the student did on his/her summer vacation. The pictures could be of the student on his/her beach vacation. The speech bubble would have to be in the past tense – “I went to Hawaii”, “My parents and I swam with the dolphins”, “We ate a lot of fish”, et cetera. Each student would then present the comic strip to the class which would lead to a question and answer discussion. The comic strip from this site can even be printed out on a shirt, mug or even posted onto MySpace.

As an educator, I will need to assess my students. Using quiz and poll tolls would greatly enhance my teaching as well as save me time in regards to grading. Kabuu is one such Web 2.0 tool that will enable me to do this. With Kabuu I can create games, quizzes or crosswords and make them available to individuals or groups. I would also be able to view and analyze results of students’ work because Kabuu automatically calculates and stores them for me. In my Spanish classroom, I could use Kabuu to review irregular verb conjugations. I’d create a matching activity in which the students match the English verb translation with the correct Spanish conjugation. Then at the end, I would create a test for the students to take.

Jeopardy Labs is a Web 2.0 tool that I’m very excited about. It creates a customized jeopardy template without using PowerPoint. One can use a pre-made template or create his/her own. I will most likely use Jeopardy Labs at the end of a unit. This is a great, fun way for the kids to review what they have already learned. If the unit is “All About Me”, then the jeopardy categories would be: Numbers (relating to age), Family (names of family members), Attributes (Description words), Likes/Dislikes (students hobbies, etc.) Of course this would all be in Spanish. Jeopardy Labs would make the review much more fun.

In the end, these are just a few of the Web 2.0 tools that would effectively work in the classroom. To me, using tools like these makes teaching and learning much more fun!