Web 2.0 world

Web 2.0 is the collection of applications that allow user contribution to the web: wikis, social networking, blogs, video sharing and more. There is an explosive growth in these tools and this page aims to provide an overview of some of the most interesting examples that are relevant to education. For suggestions and feedback on this page contact John Travers.

Forums to discuss issues from this page: Web 2.0 Forum [first time users need to join edna Groups]
	Google Groups is a powerful and free forum site. Groups can by invitation only or public, and the service provides some large forums for discussion of software etc. For school use a private site can be created and it it keeps track of posts and provide good management tools that track everyone's contributions. Contributors can participate largely through email which makes is simple to use. see VoiceThread demonstration [JT Sept 07]	.
	Voicethread is a powerful way to share and talk about your images, video and documents. The tool is free and availabel to the public. Ed. Voicethread is a quarantined area for students and educators and has a small fee. An Ed.Voice.Thread uses images, documents and / or videos to allow students and educators to interact with the presentation through voice or text messages. The presentation becomes a collaborative effort between the author of the Ed.Voice.Thread and those who choose to interact with it. Ed.Voice.Thread is an easy to use program that promotes inquiry based learning, encouraging students to be actively engaged with their learning through participation and sharing of ideas	Check out our Ed.VoiceThread page
	LibraryThing is a large online bookclub with over 2 million separate titles. It is very easy to create one's own book collection (through access to large databases like Amazon) and for school use one would probably create a private Group where students share their lists and reviews of titles. Free and online. Books are tagged and this produces a tag cloud of one's own library which is a good introduction to the power and use of tags. Upper primary upwards. JT Sept 07 A VoiceThread about LibraryThing
	del.iciou.us is the biggest of the social bookmarking sites and allows for easy online storage and management of one's bookmarks, and with the use of tags, very simple sorting of them into groups. In addition, it provides for sharing: here's mine. A great benefit of social bookmarking is that one's collection can be accessed from any computer, so it provides an incentive to build up a comprehensive collection, and is another good introduction to useful tagging.
	Picasa is Google's image management software and this is its web album component. Albums can be private or public and being part of the Google empire, can be integrated with Google maps as in this view. A useful feature of all the Google tools (more below) is that they all use the same sign on. Whenever you add an image to Google's Blogger, the images are stored in Picasa, which means that every thing is integrated. JT Sept 07
	Thinkature is a shared online whiteboard, which includes a voice communication component. I have used it in conjunction with Skype and it is very flexible and easy for a small group to view common material and add text boxes and images and draw. Have a go here on this public workspace. They can also be private. Good for cooperative projects over distance. JT sept 07
	Story Creator 2 see Humpty Dumpty and the Fall of Colchester for a great example. Use this to make an animated story. PR
	Notebook is yet another online application that can be accessed with your Google login (for Gmail). Notebook is for clipping web material into your notebook. You can add notes and comments. Any number of Notebooks can be created and most valuable, they can be selectively shared with your friends who have full editing rights. With Firefox you can get a nice extension that means Notebook is an icon at the bottom of the screen and opens in a little window at the bottom of the screen and can be opened up as required. This is a great tool for anyone who work with a computer. Works well as a multi user collaboration tool.
	Google docs is a quite adequate word processor, spreadsheet and presentation application, all online and which export and import files to and from Microsoft Office. They are very good for cooperative work on documents. Old versions can be recovered and users can be added as required. Though plain and simple in appearance, this is a very polished tool. Great for people who work on material at home and work. A great system for students who can access their material from a variety of locations - school, library, home, friend's place. JT
	Google Maps allows you to add markers, descriptions, routes and photos to a Google Map. These maps can be used for tasks like providing directions and places of interest in a region. The maps can be saved and published, each having a unique URL. It requires a Google user account to use but us free. Example. PR
	WetPaint is a quite outstanding free wiki that is geared towards school use. I have been a heavy user of this wiki (editme) but I must agree that WetPaint has a wider set of tools. However it is a different purpose wiki. Editme is simple and clean wiki with powerful permissions and is good as a web site that allows multiple editors. WetPaint is set up with a strong focus on collaboration. It provides very detailed information on who has done what to a page and records of all the edits. Here is a Year 6 recycling project. The fact that it is in Spanish won't prevent you getting an idea of how it works. Of course most class projects will be private. JT
	Jotform allows teachers and students to create online forms and to be able to send the URL of the form to others. When they fill in the form, the data is stored at Jotform. The data can be downloaded in a variety of formats including spreadsheet file format. Some typical uses of the forms include surveys and contact forms. Users will need to create a free user account with Jotform. PR
	Gliffy is the tool to be using for diagrams, flowcharts and even plans. The diagrams can be saved and published by linking or embedding. They can be shared so that groups can be working on a product. This is an example of a group project. PR
	Wikispaces provides a free place for collaborative and/or individual publishing. Wikispaces can be advertisement free and closed (only invited participants - important for some student projects) for K-12 related projects. The spam control is effective. An example the K-12 use of wikispaces is the SASSIT wiki. PR
	Google Earth displays satellite images of varying resolution of the Earth's surface, allowing users to visually see things like houses and cars from a bird's eye view. Google Earth allows users to search for addresses for some countries, enter coordinates, or simply use the mouse to browse to a location. To download the latest version of Google Earth click here.	More about Google Earth By Peter, David and Lucas
	Survey monkey is an easy to use and flexible interface which allows individuals and companies to create online surveys. This Web 2.0 tool makes it easy for the non-technical person to create, export and collect required data with easy step-by-step instruction. For a demonstration on creating an account with Survey Monkey click here .	More about online surveys.
	Zoomerang is an online survey tool that gives users the opportunity to create and send surveys which can be then used to analyse data and results. Zoomerang provides users with the option of creating personalised surveys or using templates provided. For a demonstration on creating an account click here.	More about online surveys.
	Gcast is a free service that allows you to record messages using your phone and then converts them into a podcast. Gcast is also a host for storing and sharing your podcasts. A podcast is an audio broadcast, stored as a MP3 file. As a tool for learning, it allows students to access and record voice grabs and instructional messages whilst out in the field. See here for Gcast demonstration and to add comments.	More about GCast
	Squeak is a programming environment, using the SmallTalk language designed for students to play, explore, develop and construct interactive activities. Scratch is another learning/programming environment based on Squeak. It uses programmable blocks that snap together to create interactive activities. Etoys are a suite of Squeak activities ready to be used in the classroom. They form the basis for interactive learning activities on the OLPC (One Laptop per Child) project.	Belinda and Philip's Squeak, Scratch and eToys Flinders University Page
	edublogs.tv, TeacherTube and YouTube are all online hosts of user generated amateur and professional videos. Both edublogs.tv and TeacherTube are education related content, whereas YouTube contains both educational and entertainment related videos.	For more information about these resources and some associated tools, Click Here.
	Zoho is an online suite of computer software provided largely free of charge as an alternative to computer based software.	Come and find out more about Zoho...
	Jing is a free application that records either picture or video screenshots of a selected area of your computer screen. Jing provides two ways of viewing these screenshots and screen videos. The first is by simply saving the file to the hard drive of your computer and the second is by embedding the file into a secure website that can be viewed by all using the URL provided.	Dan's Flinders University Page
	Flickr is an interactive online photo management and sharing application that anyone can join for free. It provides its users with the ability to make photos available to the vast or chosen few and introduces them to new ways of organising pictures.	Christos' Flinders University Page
	EdNA Groups is based upon the Moodle open source learning management system. EdNA Groups provides free collaborative workspaces to support teaching, learning and research for all sectors of education and training.	For more Moodle view Gareth and Graeme's Webpage
	Diigo is a Social Bookmarking Tool which integrates with your firefox or IE browser. It is similar to del.icio.us in that it is a Web 2.0 Tool which organises your bookmarks are shares them with the Diigo community. Diigo differentiates itself from the sizable pack of similar tools by allowing for user annotations and highlights, this reminds the user of opening a book in the library to find someone's notes have been helpfully written on all the pages.	Click here for information about Diigo. Jack Egan Diigo for teachers to give feedback (YouTube 2m45s) John Travers
	BUBBL.US is a free flash-based mind-map creator. They can be shared, exported, printed and added to. Bubble.us is fantastic tool to incorporate within the classroom in all curriculum areas, allowing students and teachers to organise thoughts and information in a visual and interactive manner.	Amy Sampson & Angie Madison's Flinders University Page
	Voki is a free online tool used to create personalised, talking Avatars. With a range of characters, clothing and accents, students can create a range of avatars to express themselves. Voki also offers the option to embed your character on your personal home page or blog.	Click here for more information. By Cendall, Mark and Ben.
	Moshi Monsters is a free online social interaction site. It incorporates educational content through puzzles to develop vocabulary, arithmetic, logic and spatial skills.	Kristen Clayer's Flinders University webpage

ToonDoo is a very flexible cartoon creation site that provides a bank of characters and the ability to import images.

Comments:

From pthompson - 10/30/08 8:18 AM

Wikispaces is blocked in most schools so it may be worthwhile considering pbwiki which isn't.There is an option for an ad-free education space like wikispaces.

From SueU - 8/25/08 11:16 AM

Not to forget flickr and flickr toys

From pruwoldt - 11/6/07 7:39 PM

Still to add to the page

Animations

Kerpoof™ Home Make an animation online

Story Creator 2 see Humpty Dumpty and the Fall of Colchester for a great example

Mindmapping

Mindomo - Web-based mind mapping software

bubbl.us - brainstorming made simple

Comics
In addition to ToonDoo there is

Graphics

Vectormagic (details here)

Last Modified 11/10/08 3:21 PM