Blog #5

Web 2.0 tools are no longer an optional classroom element due to the ELA standards. Some Web 2.0 technologies that I think are useful in the classroom and help support teacher professional development are blogs, they allow students to think twice before posting their homework and written work because they are out there on the Internet for everyone to see. Even if the blog is private and only for classmates and the teacher to view it still stands the same, any one of them could read each others work at any given time. Also, podcasts are another useful technology because they allow students to hear someone else talk about a subject matter which they can access multiple times if they ever need to refresh their memory on a subject.A Web 2.0 technology that may not be as useful in the classroom is social media platforms, while they are nice to allow students to explore news and media and share it with each other it can also expose students to unwanted content. Social media is a Web 2.0 tool that should be monitored and used for only age appropriate students. One concern with using these tools in the classroom that the podcast talked about is using tools like YouTube and blogs which can be a passive approach in the way that students learn. There are other tools out there that allow students to interact with each other and make a more positive and direct approach to learning. To use these Web 2.0 tools effectively there must be a strong computer system made up of a strong hardware and random-access memory (RAM). The network storage should have storage space for each user that contains a cloud storage where each individual can login to a personal profile. This will all help students who use laptops and computers to have access to Web 2.0 tools.

A interesting Web 2.0 tool that I might use when teaching is https://kahoot.it/. Kahoot is a game-based learning website that allows teaching to create a "game" by typing in questions and multiple choice answers. Each question is timed as students pick an answer, the top five students are posted after the right answer is shown. The object of the game is to answer the question correctly and the fastest in order to get the most points.

While Kahoot is another great lesson reinforcer like iClicker, it does have a downside. Kahoot needs its users to have a mobile device or tablet which brings me back to the point that the Web 2.0 technologies are based on age appropriateness. Younger students may not have either one of these devices which means the teacher cannot use program. Also, you must make sure if your students are old enough that each of them has a device. But, it may cause problems because parents may take their children's devices away for punishment which will conflict with how the student performs in their classes who uses Kahoot.

While working on the last assignment, the Concept Mapping, I figured out that planning is very important. If your map starts to look chaotic then it will defeat the purpose of being an organized source of information for people to read easily. Also, if you want to change the layout of your map then you have to drag each piece of the map separately which takes time. I can improve next time by planning out which type of concept map would work better with the information I am trying to provide for students. But I did learn that study guides that are organized and well thought out can be of very good use for students which I will keep in mind for my future teaching career.