There is enormous hype around Web 2.0, using it effectively, however, has been difficult for most of us. Teachers are usually much more excited than students when it comes to creating content on-line. One of the reasons for this is that students are 'web lazy', that means they do not wish to create new accounts for projects (face it, they already have e-mail, IMs, Orkut, Facebook and Twitter accounts to name a few).
The reality is that the Web is still used for passive information exchange by most users, who are open to receiving content but uncomfortable with creating it. With that in mind, here are two suggestions on how to use the Web with your groups without requiring students to create content.
First let me tell you about Glue: Glue is a cross browser tool that allows users to share likes and dislikes in one click. After the user has liked something and made a comment, it is categorised and displayed in a user friendly web page.
Go to the Glue website and install the tool bar. It will load when visiting websites such as imdb.com, wikipedia or amazon.com. This makes it easy and simple to make suggestions on books, movies, music and topics for students.
This came in surprisingly handy for Movie Talk; since students watch segments from many different movies I post them (and others who didn't make the cut) on my Glue profile and students can see the suggestions on my Glue profile without having to log in.
Second on the list is Twitter. If you have a twitter account you can use its hashtag and search functionality to let absent students know what happened in the class. This works naturally for teens and young adults who know how to use Twitter, but a quick guide on the first class is necessary when dealing with older students.
All you have to do is teach students how to perform a search on twitter for their group's code as a hashtag (our naming system helps by providing unique codes for every group).
I have a Thomas Flex 6 group on Saturday, so their tag is #TF6S (notice tags do not allow '-'). After the class I log on to twitter and post the tag, followed by the pages we covered and the homework assignment. This makes it possible for absent students to catch up and do the homework. Best part is that it takes less than a minute to post and you can do it from your mobile.
Hope you enjoy the suggestions.
Loved it, Kaouê!
ReplyDeleteDo you know simplybox? You can also share things with students without the need for them to login and they can even post comments there.
One that I just loved to find out and even blogged about was woices http://collablogatorium.blogspot.com/2010/04/woices-giving-choice-and-voice.html Takes 30 seconds to register and students can record their own views about a place.
Twitter nowadays is certainly one of my ways to keep up-to-date in our educational field, and I can see lots of potential to it in the classroom. One tool that you might want to check is twiducate http://twiducate.com/ It is a social networking space for students.
Keep sharing stuff with us!