Exploring Web 2.0

Exploring Web 2.0
Facilitator: Michael Krauss

Daily Assignments Week 2
Day 1|Day 2|Day 3|Day 4|Day 5

means that the task is not required for overseas teachers and others enrolled for professional development hours.
is a link to a tutorial. Click the arrow if you would like to see the tutorial.

WEEK 2
Web 2.0 Tools and Content Integration

DAY 3
Jigsawing Articles and Collaborating on Games with a Wiki

TASK 1: Jigsaw Summaries - You should now be prepared to summarize (100 words) your section of the Becta Report "Web 2.0 Technologies for Learning:The current landscape - opportunities, challenges and tensions (May 2008)." You should also be ready to write up your thoughts on how the information in your chosen section will impact either your classroom teaching or your professional collaborations. (150 words). Go to Our Wiki and click on the link "Jigsaw the Becta Report." Follow the instructions your find there.

TASK 2: Visit Our Wiki. Complete at least 2 of the following assignments. You can do more if you like!

Click on the "Teaching Ideas" link for Group 1,2,3,4. Describe a teaching idea (using traditional and/or digital tools) inspired by either the Miniature Earth video or one of the resources you added to Delicious in yesterday's task. Be sure to include a link to the resource you are discussing.

Click on the "Teacher Associations link." Share your ideas on how any of the tools we have looked at so far could be used to further the objectives of a T.A.

Click on the "ACCESS teachers (and all other teachers)" link. Share your ideas on how students, distant from each other, can collaborate and share their work, even if their classrooms have only one or a few Internet connected computers.

Jumble Puzzle - Click on the link, "Collaborate to Solve the Jumble." Would your students want to try some of these jumbles, working together in groups? See more jumbles at http://www.jumble.com/.

Click on the link, "Hawaii Packing List." Generate the world's best packing list for a two-week trip to Hawaii. Only 25 items allowed!

Click on the link, "Characteristics of a great ESL/EFL teacher." Generate a list of the 7 most important characteristics of a great ESL/EFL teacher.

TASK 3: Impressions of Wikis - Go to Our Ning. Click on the "My Page" tab. Click on "My Blog." Click on "Add Blog Post." Write approximately 150 words answering the following questions:

1) Which of the assignments in Task 2 above was most interesting for your personally?

2) Which would your students most enjoy/benefit from and why?

Experiment with the formatting tools provided in Our Ning blog. You can also experiment with adding a photo or a link to your blog (check the toolbar on your Blog page for those features). Add appropriate tags and click "Preview." When you are ready, click "Publish" and you're done! Look for "Blog Posts" in the left column of Our Ning to read your classmates' blogs. Feel free to add comments to others' blog postings.

Additional Information/Resources:

The Jigsaw Technique (Education World) - Site provides the theoretical underpinnings of the jigsaw technique as well as links to numerous practical examples of jigsaw lessons in the classroom.

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WEEK 2
Web 2.0 and Content Integration

DAY 4
Really Simple Syndication (RSS), Google Reader and the Role of RSS in the Classroom

TASK 1: Watch the Common Craft video, "RSS in Plain English."

TASK 2: Watch the Common Craft video, "Google Reader in Plain English." This is good for a basic beginning.

TASK 3: Watch this 10 minute video, "Google Reader: Getting Started." This goes beyond what you need to know as a novice Google Reader user, but is a high quality, very comprehensive resource.

TASK 4: Go to Google Reader (you'll sign in to your Google account when you get there). Click on the "Take a tour" link. At the end of the short tour, click on "Try it out." You should sign up for Google Reader.

TASK 5: Subscribe to a feed and add it to Google Reader by following these steps:

Go to Nik Peachey's Learning technology teacher development blog. (designed for autonomous ESL/EFL learners).

Click on the RSS feed icon in the right column of the blog. Click on the "Google" icon. Click on "Google Reader." You have now subscribed to this blog and will receive updates on all content in your Google Reader.

NOTE: I think you will really find Peachey's blogs very useful. Don't miss Nik's Quick Shout blog which gives his ideas on all things Web 2.0 as relates to ESL/EFL. His posts often introduce new Web 2.0 tools and give very practical uses with ESL/EFL students in the classroom. Here is an example that includes a talk Nik gave on Web 2.0 tool and an excellent handout that describes how to use some of the top tools, along with specific examples of use with ESL/EFL students. Great stuff and RSS will deliver this content to you regularly!

Go to the Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day" This is a very active blog. You will be impressed with the wealth of information available for use in the ESL/EFL classroom. In a tab on the right top you will see "Subscribe." Click the . Select Google to read your RSS. Click "Add to Google Reader." You have now subscribed to this blog and will receive updates on all content in your Google Reader.

NOTE: In most newer browsers, if the site has an RSS feed available, the RSS icon will appear at the right side of the browser's address box (where you see the http:www. . .). You can just click the icon and you won't have to search the page for the RSS link.

Now you know how to subscribe to sites using RSS. You can begin to add sites that you want to keep track of. When new content is posted to any of those sites, this information will be automatically noted in your Google Reader.

TASK 6: At Our Ning, click on the "Forums" tab. Click on "Michael's Discussion Assignments." Click on "Uses for RSS and Google Reader." In the "Reply" box, answer my questions. Click "Add Reply" when you are done. That's it!

TASK 7: Read "The Technology of Reading and Writing in the Digital Space: Why RSS is crucial for a Blogging Classroom." (Parry)

Additional Information/Resources:

Papyrus News - Mark Warschauer joins his colleagues at the Digital Learning Lab at UCI in a blog to discuss "the intersection of new digital media with language, literacy, learning, culture, and social development. " Just click on the RSS feed at the blog to add it your Google Reader.

Here is a resource that outlines some of the benefits of using RSS in education and also has several video tutorials on RSS readers and how they work. The tutorials focus on Bloglines, a popular feed reader, but the concepts are the same, regardless of which feed reader you choose to use.

Return to top.

WEEK 2
Web 2.0 and Content Integration

DAY 5
iGoogle and Technology Training Videos for ELT

TASK 1: Watch a very short, animated, iGoogle mini product video. Read this short blurb on using iGoogle with students. iGoogle makes it easy to create a personalized home page with a choice of resources, gadgets and RSS feeds. This holds strong potential for student-created "portals." For example, students could create an iGoogle page tab for a particular city. Might include links to weather, slide show of photos, links to additional Web resources, RSS feeds to blogs, etc. Or students could create a tab with resources on a current event and follow its progress over time. Or students can be creative and make a tab with any resources they like. They could then give a presentation on why they chose to highlight particular content in that iGoogle tab. Many possibilities!

TASK 2: Read the blog posting: "The Savvy Teacher's Digital Toolbox: iGoogle Homepage" (Peshette). Be sure to look at the links she lists to educators' ideas for using iGoogle in the classroom.

TASK 3: Watch my tutorial for creating an iGoogle Home Page by clicking on the colored arrow at the beginning of this task description. After that, go to Google and create an iGoogle home page. (You will log into your Google account first). Note: It is easy to switch between the standard Google search page and an iGoogle home page. There will be a link at the top right of your Google search page and you can toggle between "iGoogle" and "Classic Home."

TASK 4: Watch my tutorial for adding content of your choice to your iGoogle home page by clicking on the colored arrow at the beginning of this task description. Create one or more new iGoogle tabs if you like. Share a tab from your iGoogle home page with class participants. Click the down-arrow on the tab on your iGoogle page that want to share and choose "share." You can enter the individual email of anyone in the class or enter "ed648@lclark.edu" to send to everyone.

TASK 5: Teacher Training Videos by Russell Stannard, who is an ESL teacher!. The site is designed to show teachers how to use technology in the classroom. Also, there is a selection of ELT Training Videos. Using screencasts, Russell shows you how to use a number of free Internet sites as part of English language lessons. Click the tab at the top of Russell's page for "ELT/ESL Video" and also check out the "Web 2.0/ICT" tab. Both collections include screencasts that will be relevant to your teaching/professional development.

TASK 6: Week 2 Quiz and Status Check: Answer the quiz questions based on your readings and experience in Week 2. Also complete the Status Check question to let me know how you are doing and questions you might have.

TASK 7: Chart your progress for the week! Follow these steps:

Go to the Grading Grid 1 or Grading Grid 2. Check at the very bottom of the page to find "Edit this page (if you have permission)" Click the link. If you see the editing toolbar, you are already signed in and you can begin.

Find your name (or participant number if you are taking the course for academic credit) on the Grading Grid.

Click in the boxes under the appropriate tasks. Fill in "OK" for tasks completed. Fill in "O" for those not done. You can move from column to column with the "Tab" key. Press the Return or Enter key on your keyboard when you are done.

From the "File" menu, choose "Save and Close."

Note: The grid will not show the updated information for at least 5 minutes, so don't worry if you don't see your changes.

That's it! Thanks so much for recording your progress. Keep up the good work!

Additional Information/Resources:

Downloading videos

If you want to download YouTube videos so you can play them offline on your computer, use the Savevid Web site. To make it even more convenient, when you are at th Savevid Web site, look for the "Toolbox" on the right side of the page. You can drag the "Save Video" button to your browser toolbar and click it any time you want to download streaming video.

Even more powerful video downloading capability with Firefox: Some sites that display video are not accepted bySavevid. Video Download Helper Firefox extension enables your to download video from a very wide-ranging list of sites.

"Class Act Portals: An Introduction" by March. Do you see the potential for using iGoogle to create class portals with students? Blogs or Web pages (created with Google Sites) would be other possible platforms to use.

You've Got Some GALL: Google Assisted Language Learning" (Chinnery) for innovative ideas on Google use in the classroom.

Google has assembled a very impressive resource bank of classroom activities, authored by "Google Certified Teachers" that were created using a variety of free Google tools. I encourage you to check them out. Many of the lesson explanations include videos, podcasts, and downloadable lesson plans.

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Go to Daily Assignments - Week 3

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Created by:
Updated: 12/28/09

WEEK 2	Web 2.0 Tools and Content Integration
DAY 3	Jigsawing Articles and Collaborating on Games with a Wiki
	TASK 1: Jigsaw Summaries - You should now be prepared to summarize (100 words) your section of the Becta Report "Web 2.0 Technologies for Learning:The current landscape - opportunities, challenges and tensions (May 2008)." You should also be ready to write up your thoughts on how the information in your chosen section will impact either your classroom teaching or your professional collaborations. (150 words). Go to Our Wiki and click on the link "Jigsaw the Becta Report." Follow the instructions your find there. TASK 2: Visit Our Wiki. Complete at least 2 of the following assignments. You can do more if you like! Click on the "Teaching Ideas" link for Group 1,2,3,4. Describe a teaching idea (using traditional and/or digital tools) inspired by either the Miniature Earth video or one of the resources you added to Delicious in yesterday's task. Be sure to include a link to the resource you are discussing. Click on the "Teacher Associations link." Share your ideas on how any of the tools we have looked at so far could be used to further the objectives of a T.A. Click on the "ACCESS teachers (and all other teachers)" link. Share your ideas on how students, distant from each other, can collaborate and share their work, even if their classrooms have only one or a few Internet connected computers. Jumble Puzzle - Click on the link, "Collaborate to Solve the Jumble." Would your students want to try some of these jumbles, working together in groups? See more jumbles at http://www.jumble.com/. Click on the link, "Hawaii Packing List." Generate the world's best packing list for a two-week trip to Hawaii. Only 25 items allowed! Click on the link, "Characteristics of a great ESL/EFL teacher." Generate a list of the 7 most important characteristics of a great ESL/EFL teacher. TASK 3: Impressions of Wikis - Go to Our Ning. Click on the "My Page" tab. Click on "My Blog." Click on "Add Blog Post." Write approximately 150 words answering the following questions: 1) Which of the assignments in Task 2 above was most interesting for your personally? 2) Which would your students most enjoy/benefit from and why? Experiment with the formatting tools provided in Our Ning blog. You can also experiment with adding a photo or a link to your blog (check the toolbar on your Blog page for those features). Add appropriate tags and click "Preview." When you are ready, click "Publish" and you're done! Look for "Blog Posts" in the left column of Our Ning to read your classmates' blogs. Feel free to add comments to others' blog postings.
	Additional Information/Resources: The Jigsaw Technique (Education World) - Site provides the theoretical underpinnings of the jigsaw technique as well as links to numerous practical examples of jigsaw lessons in the classroom.

WEEK 2	Web 2.0 and Content Integration
DAY 4	Really Simple Syndication (RSS), Google Reader and the Role of RSS in the Classroom
	TASK 1: Watch the Common Craft video, "RSS in Plain English." TASK 2: Watch the Common Craft video, "Google Reader in Plain English." This is good for a basic beginning. TASK 3: Watch this 10 minute video, "Google Reader: Getting Started." This goes beyond what you need to know as a novice Google Reader user, but is a high quality, very comprehensive resource. TASK 4: Go to Google Reader (you'll sign in to your Google account when you get there). Click on the "Take a tour" link. At the end of the short tour, click on "Try it out." You should sign up for Google Reader. TASK 5: Subscribe to a feed and add it to Google Reader by following these steps: Go to Nik Peachey's Learning technology teacher development blog. (designed for autonomous ESL/EFL learners). Click on the RSS feed icon in the right column of the blog. Click on the "Google" icon. Click on "Google Reader." You have now subscribed to this blog and will receive updates on all content in your Google Reader. NOTE: I think you will really find Peachey's blogs very useful. Don't miss Nik's Quick Shout blog which gives his ideas on all things Web 2.0 as relates to ESL/EFL. His posts often introduce new Web 2.0 tools and give very practical uses with ESL/EFL students in the classroom. Here is an example that includes a talk Nik gave on Web 2.0 tool and an excellent handout that describes how to use some of the top tools, along with specific examples of use with ESL/EFL students. Great stuff and RSS will deliver this content to you regularly! Go to the Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day" This is a very active blog. You will be impressed with the wealth of information available for use in the ESL/EFL classroom. In a tab on the right top you will see "Subscribe." Click the . Select Google to read your RSS. Click "Add to Google Reader." You have now subscribed to this blog and will receive updates on all content in your Google Reader. NOTE: In most newer browsers, if the site has an RSS feed available, the RSS icon will appear at the right side of the browser's address box (where you see the http:www. . .). You can just click the icon and you won't have to search the page for the RSS link. Now you know how to subscribe to sites using RSS. You can begin to add sites that you want to keep track of. When new content is posted to any of those sites, this information will be automatically noted in your Google Reader. TASK 6: At Our Ning, click on the "Forums" tab. Click on "Michael's Discussion Assignments." Click on "Uses for RSS and Google Reader." In the "Reply" box, answer my questions. Click "Add Reply" when you are done. That's it! TASK 7: Read "The Technology of Reading and Writing in the Digital Space: Why RSS is crucial for a Blogging Classroom." (Parry)
	Additional Information/Resources: Papyrus News - Mark Warschauer joins his colleagues at the Digital Learning Lab at UCI in a blog to discuss "the intersection of new digital media with language, literacy, learning, culture, and social development. " Just click on the RSS feed at the blog to add it your Google Reader. Here is a resource that outlines some of the benefits of using RSS in education and also has several video tutorials on RSS readers and how they work. The tutorials focus on Bloglines, a popular feed reader, but the concepts are the same, regardless of which feed reader you choose to use.

WEEK 2	Web 2.0 and Content Integration
DAY 5	iGoogle and Technology Training Videos for ELT
	TASK 1: Watch a very short, animated, iGoogle mini product video. Read this short blurb on using iGoogle with students. iGoogle makes it easy to create a personalized home page with a choice of resources, gadgets and RSS feeds. This holds strong potential for student-created "portals." For example, students could create an iGoogle page tab for a particular city. Might include links to weather, slide show of photos, links to additional Web resources, RSS feeds to blogs, etc. Or students could create a tab with resources on a current event and follow its progress over time. Or students can be creative and make a tab with any resources they like. They could then give a presentation on why they chose to highlight particular content in that iGoogle tab. Many possibilities! TASK 2: Read the blog posting: "The Savvy Teacher's Digital Toolbox: iGoogle Homepage" (Peshette). Be sure to look at the links she lists to educators' ideas for using iGoogle in the classroom. TASK 3: Watch my tutorial for creating an iGoogle Home Page by clicking on the colored arrow at the beginning of this task description. After that, go to Google and create an iGoogle home page. (You will log into your Google account first). Note: It is easy to switch between the standard Google search page and an iGoogle home page. There will be a link at the top right of your Google search page and you can toggle between "iGoogle" and "Classic Home." TASK 4: Watch my tutorial for adding content of your choice to your iGoogle home page by clicking on the colored arrow at the beginning of this task description. Create one or more new iGoogle tabs if you like. Share a tab from your iGoogle home page with class participants. Click the down-arrow on the tab on your iGoogle page that want to share and choose "share." You can enter the individual email of anyone in the class or enter "ed648@lclark.edu" to send to everyone. TASK 5: Teacher Training Videos by Russell Stannard, who is an ESL teacher!. The site is designed to show teachers how to use technology in the classroom. Also, there is a selection of ELT Training Videos. Using screencasts, Russell shows you how to use a number of free Internet sites as part of English language lessons. Click the tab at the top of Russell's page for "ELT/ESL Video" and also check out the "Web 2.0/ICT" tab. Both collections include screencasts that will be relevant to your teaching/professional development. TASK 6: Week 2 Quiz and Status Check: Answer the quiz questions based on your readings and experience in Week 2. Also complete the Status Check question to let me know how you are doing and questions you might have. TASK 7: Chart your progress for the week! Follow these steps: Go to the Grading Grid 1 or Grading Grid 2. Check at the very bottom of the page to find "Edit this page (if you have permission)" Click the link. If you see the editing toolbar, you are already signed in and you can begin. Find your name (or participant number if you are taking the course for academic credit) on the Grading Grid. Click in the boxes under the appropriate tasks. Fill in "OK" for tasks completed. Fill in "O" for those not done. You can move from column to column with the "Tab" key. Press the Return or Enter key on your keyboard when you are done. From the "File" menu, choose "Save and Close." Note: The grid will not show the updated information for at least 5 minutes, so don't worry if you don't see your changes. That's it! Thanks so much for recording your progress. Keep up the good work!
	Additional Information/Resources: Downloading videos If you want to download YouTube videos so you can play them offline on your computer, use the Savevid Web site. To make it even more convenient, when you are at th Savevid Web site, look for the "Toolbox" on the right side of the page. You can drag the "Save Video" button to your browser toolbar and click it any time you want to download streaming video. Even more powerful video downloading capability with Firefox: Some sites that display video are not accepted bySavevid. Video Download Helper Firefox extension enables your to download video from a very wide-ranging list of sites. "Class Act Portals: An Introduction" by March. Do you see the potential for using iGoogle to create class portals with students? Blogs or Web pages (created with Google Sites) would be other possible platforms to use. You've Got Some GALL: Google Assisted Language Learning" (Chinnery) for innovative ideas on Google use in the classroom. Google has assembled a very impressive resource bank of classroom activities, authored by "Google Certified Teachers" that were created using a variety of free Google tools. I encourage you to check them out. Many of the lesson explanations include videos, podcasts, and downloadable lesson plans.