Summary: In this article, Daniel Light and a colleague of his (Deborah Polin), traveled around the U.S. to interview educators across the country about how they used Web 2.0 activities within their classrooms. The teachers gave innovative examples of how they got their students involved with tools to enhance their learning. Light and Polin discovered that the most successful teachers were using on-line learning communities constantly through their classrooms through conversations that were always developing.
Overall, three elements were discovered to be critical in using Web 2.0 tools in a substantial way. The first one was daily practice which involves using the on-line activities more than just the occasional special project. The most common form of this was observed as classroom blogs. A second critical element found was that audience matters. Students are concerned with what they feel is okay to reveal to their intended audience. Although one may think a student would reveal more to their friends and peers on a site such as MySpace rather than an online blog, for pre-teen and teenagers, the opposite is actually true. Students can feel more comfortable talking about important issues like what they want to be when they get older on a classroom blog where that type of conversation is facilitated. The third element is appropriate behavior which implies that although classroom blogs may resemble social-networking, it is in fact an educational learning environment and should be treated as such.
Question 1: How could I use Web 2.0 tools in a math class?
A1: I hope to teach middle school math which involves 6th to 8th grade. In 6th grade, the students deal with topics such as percents, decimals, and interest. Some of the real life applications to these topics involve car or house loans and the interest accrued and also how to figure out what percent of the bill would be an appropriate tip when dinning out. Topics such as, “what you know about this issue?” could be a subject students could post their comments about on an classroom blog.
Question 2: How can students access technology if they do not have the access at home?
A1: As a future educator, it is imperative to realize that not all students have the same privileges as others. If I am assigning tasks that involve access to a computer, I must find alternatives other than the home for the students to use. Fortunately, some classrooms (even math classes) are equipped with laptops or computers but if my classroom did not have this privilege, I am almost positive the school would have a computer lab that the students could visit after school if needed in order to complete the assignments.
