Web
2.0 tools are essential in today’s modern classroom. Not only do students desire to use them daily
in school, but they also afford the highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy:
evaluating and creating. Social media is
ever present not just daily, nor hourly, but is available to students every
second they are awake. Web 2.0 tools are
not something that will fade away; moreover, teachers must become aware of how
learning has changed and apply their content and pedagogical practices in such
a way as to reach this technology-based age group. These tools allow students
to apply their content and prove to the teacher the knowledge they have learned
through synthesis and application. Traditional methods of teaching can do the
same thing; however, they do not allow the learning to be student-centered and
inquiry-based, which is what a Web 2.0 tool offers as an advantage.
For
new Web 2.0 tools, I need to focus on the ease of use, the student’s privacy
and confidentiality, and the application of the tool. I found that the easier the tool was to use,
I used it more throughout the week than those I found hard to navigate. For example, I did not like the initial Twitter
platform because I do not follow politics, sports, or celebrities. However, when I began to use Tweet Deck, I
understand how others could use Twitter as their main source of
communication. It became easier for me
to follow specific hashtags and group my items together on the page. One of the pitfalls of these tools is that I
think students are just as “judgy” as I am; if they cannot figure a tool out in
a set number of minutes, they are apt to give up on it and use something that
is familiar to them. This is why you may
have students come up and ask to use a different tool than the recommended one
because they are so much more comfortable with it. I did find the lack of security and privacy a
problem when reviewing different tools. Most
of the tools are cloud based so that information can be stored and accessed
across multiple platforms and devices. Younger
students may not be able to use those platforms since privacy cannot be guaranteed
to a minor. I know that during this E-learning
time frame, several schools have had Zoom meetings go awry. It is difficult to monitor and keep 100%
confidentiality for students when it is going on the Web where it could potentially
be accessed by someone else. In the future,
I have found that although I like certain tools because they may design things
in a list (for example), others may find a similar tool that utilizes images
instead. I may put more effort into finding
tools that are more click-drop usage or have potential to easily move. I did enjoy creating a Protopage, but it is
important for me, as a teacher, to test out all components before suggesting it
for my class. While I found it easy to
add certain links, I ended up having a hard time with videos. If the main use for my class was to create a
Protopage over a novel and it must include a video, it needs to be easy enough
for students to figure out without having technical issues. They need to be graded on the content and application
of the novel and not worry about the technology they are using.
