From the TCMS Media Center

The assignment for thing 13 gave me an opportunity to examine several Web 2.0 tools that could be of great benefit to my students and my teachers.  One of the best I visited was Quizlet.  I immediately thought about the ESOL classes here.  We have several students who have enrolled here who speak little or no English.  The ESOL teacher is always looking for ways to increase the English proficiency of these students.  I think the electronic flash cards would be great.  Also, having five different ways to practice and test your knowledge will go a long way to eliminate the boredom that comes from using certain tools repetitively.  While I was reviewing this site, I had a visit from a former physics teacher.  I went into the public content  of this site and saw a section on physics.  I clicked into a previously created set and found a set for physics formulas.  The former physics teacher and I went through a previously created set covering physics formulas.  She was very impressed by the technological advance of a very basic study aide that she typically suggested her students use when learning formulas.  If I saw any negative side to the site it would simply be the lack of portability.  I am in an area where many kids do not have personal laptops with wireless network capabilities nor Internet access on cell phones, so in the area of access alone, old style  flash cards still have a benefit.  However, the other four activities available get a thumbs up from me.

I also visited 30 Boxes. Reading the brief description of this tool piqued my interest as I can always use a bit more organization.  I liked all of the possibilities.  I thought it would be a great way for teachers to create an interactive calendar that students could check for change in assignment dates or to see other important dates.  For personal use, I think I will stick with my Palm.

Picnic was interesting to me.  In the absence of a purchased photo editing software, this would be a great resource for photo editing.  I also saw that there was a share function on this web site. The site was easy to navigate through and the editing of photos was very simple.  I can see this being utilized in various class projects.  Another great web site to pass along.

Letter Pop also got a visit from me.  I can certainly see this being used for many different types of school projects.  Many of our clubs here have historians who could utilize a way to create easy scrapbook pages.  The ease of use was key for this site.  I liked the email and publish functions.  Emailing a completed project to a teacher would facilitate grading (even if it did give the tech services dept. a stroke over the amount of storage required on the server for such!).  The publish function would be a great way to promote what is going on in classes/clubs around the school.  I think the key here is that very little teaching of the web site would be needed prior students being able to utilize it fully.

I enjoyed this task and found several Web 2.0 tools that I will share with my faculty.

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