Journal 5: "Collaboration in a Web 2.0 Environment" (NETS 1, 3 and 5)

Bull, Glen (April 2006). Collaboration in a Web 2.0 Environment. Learning and Leading with Technology, 7, Retrieved March 1, 2009, from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=April_No_7_&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&ContentFileID=2642

In this article, Glen Bull offers ideas for incorporating Web 2.0 applications in education and explains that in doing so we are encouraging students to bring skills they use outside of class into the classroom. The Web 2.0 environment is about the syndication of information and use of a RSS feed bringing directly to the user live information of interest. Bull says that the education possibilities are endless and he offers the following as as few ways for creating classroom collaboration using this technology; following multiple student blogs and postings, facilitate writing collaboration among peers, sharing of images related to a group project, and tracking news topics relevant to class subjects.

Question 1: As a teacher, how will you incorporate this web based technology in your classroom?

Answer: The opportunities are wonderful! I could ask each student to create their own class blog through which they can participate in class discussions, individual assignments, and group projects. RSS feed will be helpful to me in managing new postings because the updated information will come directly to me. The amount of time saved in doing this is a huge benefit to teachers. I will also encourage the use of googledocs for writing collaboration. This allows all students access to word processing and the application is free, user friendly, and makes collaboration simple and fun.

Question 2: What features do you currently use that are Web 2.0 based but you had no idea they were RSS feed based?

Answer 2: When we bought our new computer, I noticed there was a small menu along the side of my personal desktop. They are news feeds. You can click on them for a short synopsis and then click to open the web browser if you are interested in continuing. Until reading this article, I had no idea this type of technology was such a strong part of the online community today. I also created a gmail account and have organized my own personal igoogle page in our 422 class. It is amazing that you can personalize your search page and arrange for information to be sent to you live every minute of the day. What will be next?