Web 2.0 ( uncountable ) (Internet) The second generation of the World Wide Web , especially the movement away from static webpages to dynamic and shareable content and social networking . From wiktionary.org
There are HUNDREDS, if not thousands, of Internet tools that allow you to create web content. New ones come out everyday, and often people feel overwhelmed : how are we supposed to keep up with tools that are rapidly multiplying? You don’t have to keep up with them all! Start small. Find one that will enhance your students’ learning experience and practice with it until you feel comfortable.
But why should I even try to find one to get comfortable with? Don’t I already have too much on my plate with standards, testing, curriculum, staff development, lesson planning, grading, and CCC? Our educational plates are always going to be full. You’ve heard the adage’ “Work smarter, not harder.” Web 2.0 tools can help you do that. PLUS, students learn best when applying what they learn as shown in this Learning Pyramid. This pyramid represents research done by the National Training Laboratories in Bethel, Maine.
On Monday, I sent you a link to a survey created in Google Docs (I was working smarter, not harder!). Proof of how this survey saved me time and helped me focus in on what the respondents wanted? There were 34 responses. These are automatically added to a spreadsheet in my Google Docs. With one click, I can choose to get a visual representation of the results for each question as these slides show.
The first two questions were designed to give me some feedback about how comfortable you already felt with some Web 2.0 tools. This final one was designed to help me create a presentation that would be useful to you. The question was: “Which of the following tools would you most like to learn about?” The overwhelming winner was “wikis.” (Wonder if that had anything to do with that technology survey we had to take recently?) “ Google Docs” won second place. Because I value your time, I am going to focus on the majority’s first two choices today and leave the others for another day.
Google Docs offers several free programs that are comparable to Microsoft Office products. Word processing (like Word) Spreadsheets (like Excel) Presentations (like PowerPoint) Google Docs offers you and your students many advantages.
Google Docs will allow you to upload many of your existing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations and then organize them and store them online,. Google Docs allows you to collaborate in real time with others on a document or presentation. You can choose who can see and even edit your documents – or to keep them private.
MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files are supported by Google Docs. And once you upload them, you can edit them in Google Docs.
If you already have a Google account (such as a Gmail address), then just sign in to access your account. If you don’t have a Google account, then it’s easy to create one. I suggest creating a Gmail account (which you might use in conjunction with some other Web 2.0 tools to set up student email accounts) and then creating your own iGoogle page. Gmail is blocked at school, but you can sign into your iGoogle page which will let you access your Google Docs.