Web 2.0 is a network of internet programs that “…allows anyone to create and share online information or material they have created” (Thomson, n.d., p. 1).  Web 2.0 has many different applications, such as blogs, social networks, wikis, and podcasting.  It is important to teach children how to utilize these applications for various reasons.  One imperative reason is to connect students to the world around them so they start to understand different cultures and develop new ideas.  Web 2.0 is a powerful tool for student’s learning and teaching students how to think critically.  It is not a pricey software; it is not a subscription to a web-based program; it is a free tools that advances learning and understanding.  Web 2.0 tools engages student into the lesson because it is fun and stimulating.  Students are allowed to create and publish collaborative pieces by removing the barriers and promote supportive development (Dialogic, 2009).  To continue, students who are considered the “net generation” are bored of the traditional teaching approaches and many of these students process their thinking differently.  Administrators and teachers must “…consider the impact of the net generation characteristics such as preferences for digital literacy, experimental learning, interactivity and immediacy on all areas of course design and delivery” (Williams & Chinn, 2009, p. 165).  Web 2.0 allows student to access information and retrieve the answer immediately.  Google is the most used search engine followed by YouTube (Audet, 2010).  The use of Web 2.0 creates an environment that reflects multiple modalities and the use of multimedia creating equivalent or collective means of communication through diversity and multiplicity (Audet, 2010).  Students participate in the creation of multimedia equipment with the ease of mobile access.  Information can basically be accessed anytime and anywhere which designs a transportable and planetary network.  Information is instantaneous.  Openness is formed because of the world of sharing ideas, software, and content (Audet, 2010). 

The importance of Web 2.0 in the learning and teach process can have a critical impact on learning.  A new pedagogical approach to teaching emerges and deeper learning flourishes while students and teachers interact with technology instruments.  “Today the duality of conceptual (new models of education, advancement of social learning theory) and technological (e-learning mobile devices, learning networks) revolutions offers the perspective of transformative change in teaching and learning” (Audet, 2010, p. 20).  There are many reasons Web 2.0 can change the dynamics of the teaching and learning in the classroom.  One is collaborative production.  Collaborative production calls for teamwork, brainstorming, reflecting, and understanding others thinking.  Another reason to use Web 2.0 is the socialization that occurs during the development or planning stage.  Students find teammates with common interest while a collaborative process links critical thinking through social networks, media sharing, emails, forums, blogs, and other ways of communicating and sharing.  This approach places the learner at the forefront of the “…online activities and facilitate supposed new forms of creation, collaboration, and consumption” (Selwyn, n.d., p.1).   

There are multiple uses of Web 2.0 that engages students in learning.  We have over 100 Web 2.0 interments that, if implemented, can motivate students to learn content and other resources.  For example, Prezi is a tool that helps students organize their learning to teach other students about the topic they are presenting in a meaningful and interesting way.  Globster is another tool being used in students learning.  Students can use this visual tool to stimulate their audience by using enticing images to capture their thinking and the audience’s attention.  I have used many different types of Web 2.0 tools, and I have learned how to use many different aspects of Web 2.0 tools in my teaching, such as Blubbr, Glogster, Google Doc., and Prezi.  These tools are encouraging for the student to use as a response for reading, writing, math and other content areas.  The instrument highlights the student’s learning and thinking in a meaningful, attaining way

One technique to use Web 2.0 in the classroom is through reading and marking your thinking on an electronic text by using diigo.  This program allows student to highlight portions of the text and use sticky notes as a way of collection their ideas.  Other students can also comment on students thinking by critiquing and elaboration on written form of communications.  Teachers can also bookmark information for students to retrieve and read (Asselin & Moayeri, 2011).  “The act of socially bookmarking and tagging sites turns the passive and static act of searching into an active and dynamic one where the user is now participating in website rankings and contributing to the key terms that are being employed to describe websites” (Asselin & Moayeri, 2011, p. iii) .  Another practical way of using Web 2.0 in the classroom is by using Wiki to develop a writing piece which can be edited and revised by other students.  This collaboration of students can have a valuable impact on students learning because student must learn how to recognize other’s voices.  Student can also incorporate videos and pictures that will enhance the learning and the writing piece.  Students are able to exchange information with others and critique the thinking and information provided.

Reference

Asselin, M. & Moayeri, M. (June 2011).  Practical Strategies the participatory classroom: Web

            2.0 in the classroom. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years. 19(2) p. i-vii.

Audet, L. (May 31, 2010) Annual Conference of Claroline Users: Web 2.0 for learning. [Presentation slides]. Retrieved from http://www.claroline.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ACCU10Pres02AudetEN.pdf.

Dialogic Corporation. (2009). The Emergence and Empowerment of Web 2.0. [White Papers].  Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/162549189/The-Emergence-Empowerment-of-Web-2-0.

Thomson, H. (n.d) Wikis, Blogs, and Web 2.0 Tecnology.  Retrieved from University of Melbourne, Information Services website: http://www.unimelb.edu.au/copyright/information/guides/wikisblogsweb2blue.pdf.

Williams, J. & Chinn, S. J. (2009). Using Web 2.0 to support the active learning experience. Journal of Information Systems Education. 20(2), pp. 165-174