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Web 2.0 Tools in Education
Education is based on three pillars curriculum, activities, and assessment. These 3 pillars are interconnected; we cannot design learning activities in isolation and without taking into consideration the curriculum objectives and the assessment.
(See diagram below)
Upon designing the learning units teachers have to take into consideration the three pillars. However, to teach a unit successfully teachers have to state the curriculum objectives and the activities’ expectation clearly; teachers have to provide prompt feedback on daily activities and quizzes before the units’ tests. Here’s where communication emerges.
Communication
Stating the objectives clearly to students and parents is the teachers’ first step in teaching a learning unit. Making behavior expectations, assignments due dates, activities’ rubrics clear demand good communication skills. Communication includes providing prompt feedback to students on grades, inquiries about projects and assignments. Web 2.0 Tools are very helpful in delivering the learning expectations to parents and students as well as providing prompt feedback. Web 2.0 tools that help in communication are:
a. Scoop.it http://www.scoop.it/
b. LiveJournal http://www.livejournal.com
d. Wiggio http://wiggio.com/
Differentiation
“The Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka decision affected the developments in law, politics, social policy, and certainly education. The federal government under President John F. Kennedy determined that much greater involvement on its part was necessary to stimulate action and ensure the enforcement of law, the protection of civil rights for all Americans, and the fulfillment of the promise of public schooling”. The History of Inclusion in the United States, by Robert L. Osgood
In the age of inclusion, one of the major roles of teachers is to accommodate the needs of the students by differentiating instructions. As a result of differentiated instruction, the teacher’s role is more like a facilitator who mange students’ learning. Hence, the increasing need of web.2.0 tools and the likes emerge. The population that fit under inclusion can be grouped into three groups:
1. English as a second language
2. Special Education (ex. Autistic)
3. Learning and behavior disability
The Gifted and Talented is a group of students that have specific needs even though they do not belong under the inclusion policies. There are a variety of web 2.0 tools that are useful for each of the above listed groups. I listed below the tools useful for each group:
1. English as a second language
a. Vocabulary Grabber
b. Busuu
c. Ispeech
d. Quizlet
2. Special Education (ex. Autistic)
a. Smilebox
b. Ispeech
c. Cozi
d. MindMeister
e. Quizlet
f. Vocabulary Grabber
3. Learning and behavior disability
a. Wunderlist
b. MindMeister
c. Quizlet
4. Gifted and talented
a. Mendeley
b. Wunderlist
c. Quizlet
d. Wolfram Alpha
Collaboration
Among the qualifications that employers consider in future employees are problem solving skills, team players with good communication and listening skills. Education should provide the students with the experiences needed to enhance such skills. Web 2.0 collaboration tools are numerous among which are:
a. VoiceThread
b. Wiggio
c. SkyDrive
Whenever we adopt a new Web 2.0 tool in education, we need to remind ourselves that it is a tool not a goal. Our goal is to enhance students’ learning! Tools will change over time. The usefulness of a tool varies from one group of students to another.
A tool’s value is bound by the students’ performance. Also, students should spend time learning the content rather than trying to figure out how to use the tool.
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