Post 5

Web 2.0 is all the non-static educational and interactive tools the internet provides to students and teachers a like to connect them with new content. It is useful because it is easy to work, readily available for use, and breaks communication barriers between student and teachers. For example Diigo, a site mentioned specifically in the Podcast, for collective note taking and discussion boards right on the source makes sharing information with a class so much easier and interactive because they can ask and answer each others questions, or directly address the teacher. Web 2.0 builds community. However, to use these tools well, all students must have access to computers and internet. The internet issue is getting easier as WIFI becomes cheaper and more widely accessible, but the costs of computers are still a high price for schools to have to pay. 

Within Web 2.0 there are many amazing tools that can be utilized. In high school, I had a teacher who would use a website called PollEverywhere.com with the students of our class similarly to how college students use I-clickers. He would throw questions in to power points to keep us alert and monitor participation levels and he would use questions to evaluate on the spot how well we understood the lessons. I could see myself using that in class to make sure my class is understanding me in real time rather than encountering a large group of students who did not understand the content and were too afraid to approach me when I grade a batch of failed quizzes and tests. It would save me time and keep my class on their toes. 

Another Web 2.0 tool that helps integrate polls is photoPeach.com. This tool allows you to create slideshows and easily embed polls or quizzes. I think photo peach encourages more of a personal touch because it is designed so that it is user friendly for incorporating your own media such as audio and video as well. It creates really beautiful slideshows that are aesthetically pleasing, which also helps the class stay alert. Another great thing about it is that is it free. You can create lessons and not bother the school board about funding, which is good for low income schools. The presentations you make are easy to make accessible to the class for studying purposes, which is personally very important to me as instructor powerpoint have always been my main mode of studying.

In our most recent project, working with concept mapping, I loved getting to explore new parts of Microsoft Word that I'd never try out before. I was amazed by the variety of available templates they had to offer and was surprised with how easy to manipulate the shapes were. I got to mess around with different shapes and colors and really consider what type of map would best fit my needs. I ran into some confusion when faced with WWI material that was kinda all over the place in relation to itself, so I attempted to merge two types of maps together to get the most information formatted into its proper organization, so I started with a cause and effect map and then branched off of my effect with a bracket that included the important concepts within the event bubble that represented WWI. I am not sure if that would work in the future, but I felt like it was the best way to merge all of the information together. I think if I teach at a highs cool level, I will create concept maps at the end of powerpoint to link together all the ideas I have just taught on into a bigger picture because so ofter my struggle was figuring out where everything fit. 

Here is my completed concept map: