Many new, FREE web tools are emerging that allow for new approaches to fostering interpersonal interaction in the online learning environment. While many of these new Web 2.0 tools are designed for integration within blogs or other social networking applications, they may also be embedded within Blackboard to extend its existing collaborative capabilities. This session will explore various free Web 2.0 tools and discuss how these new free tools can be integrated within or utilized in conjunction with Blackboard.
Session Rationale
- LMS Limitations
- Web 2.0 Applications
- Comfort with Status Quo
- Essentials of Contemporary Distance Learning
- Rise of Social Learning
- Convergence
- Ubiquitous Connectivity
- Networked Learning
- Personal Learning Environments
- Formal vs. Informal Learning
- Groups, Networks, Collective
- Interaction vs. Enagagement
- Limited Resources
What is Web 2.0?
- Definition and history of Web 2.0
- Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us
- Tim O'Reilly's definition
- Highly technical definition - Andi Gutmans
- Abstract concepts : new ways of being free, made for you by you; structured web offering visibility; flow of media; societal change; collective knowledge; always changing
What is RSS?
Introductions to Web 2.0 Technologies
- Blogs: What is a blog?
- Podcasts: What is a podcast?
- Wikis / Collaborative Authorship: Wikis in Plain English
- Google Documents: Google Docs in Plain English
- Social Bookmarks: Social bookmarks in Plain English
- Social Networks: Social networking in Plain English
Web 2.0 Technology Concept Diagrams
Web 2.0 Tools
All examples provided below are FREE tools that can either be embedded within a Blackboard or used in conjunction with Blackboard.
Blogging
- Blogger
free blogging host/tool powered by Google - Edublogs
free blogs for educators - Tumblr
basic blogging tool; creates RSS feed of misc. items (text, photos, quotes, links, chat, video) | sample | - Uniblogs
free blogs for university and college students - ElggSpaces
hosted Elgg service for walled-garden blogging
Bookmarking
- del.icio.us
free, easy-to-use social bookmarking service - diigo
social annotation: seamless integration of social bookmarking, web highlighter, sticky-note & clipping - Listible!
social bookmarking / listing combined with ranking / voting of resources - Scholar
free social bookmarking tool from Blackboard - StumbleUpon
discover and bookmark sites, videos, pictures and more — all according to your interests
Collaborative Authorship / Wikis
- Google Docs, Spreadsheets, & Presentations
collaborative online creation & editing by Google - Listphile
create and share community-powered lists, databases, and atlases | education journals | educational psychology journals | educational technology journals | - Zoho
online office, word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and more - Zoho Writer
online word processor - write • share • collaborate
Concept Maps / Diagrams
- bubbl
free web application that lets you brainstorm online - Gliffy
draw and share / embed create diagrams
| examples | - MindMeister
online mind mapping tool supporting all the standard features of a classic mind mapping tools; allows unlimited simultaneous users - Mindomo
Web-based mind mapping tool, delivering the capabilities of desktop mind mapping software in a Web browser - with no complex software to install or maintain.
Maps
- Frappr!
visitor maps and other web social maps - Google Maps
create custom maps and directions share online or embed
| sample | "america's highway" sample
Mashups
- Yahoo! Pipes
powerful composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web.
News
- Google News
search and browse news sources; create custom news RSS feeds - Yahoo! News
aggregated news feeds from Yahoo!
Notes
- NoteMesh
free service that allows college students in the same classes to share notes with each other
Photos
- Flickr
upload photos to share online or embed; RSS feeds for photo collections - Picasa Web Albums
online photo sharing, hosted by Google
Presentations / Slidecasts
- SlideShare
upload PowerPoint slides, share with a link, embed in a blog, tag, & comment; ability to create slidecasts - VoiceThread
add voice narration and to a slide show composed of photos; asynchronous discussion and annotation centered around images or diagrams
| demo | art history sample | class introduction | conference wrap-up | conference presentation | - Zoho Show
create and share presentations online
Reference
- CiteULike
free online service to organize academic papers - Connotea
free online reference management for clinicians and scientists - EndNoteWeb
free web-based research tool - Zotero
free, easy-to-use Firefox extension for collecting, managing, and citing your research sources
RSS
- Feed2JS
free service for building javascript command for embedding the contents of an RSS feed in a website - WebRSS
free service for generating code to publish RSS feeds to your site
Search
- Google Blogsearch
find blogs and blog postings / current events by topic - Google Scholar
search of "academic" sources indexed by Google
Social Networks
- EduSpaces
social network for those interested in all aspects of education - Elgg
open source social networking platform allowing community and individual blogging in either a public or a walled garden environment
Video Conferencing
- ooVoo
free video conferencing with up to 6 people simultaneously - Skype
free VoIP calling and one-to-one video chatting
Videos
- Google Video
free online video viewing and sharing service; videos can be downloaded for viewing offline - TeacherTube
online video sharing and viewing service oriented toward education - Ustream
platform that provides live interactive video for everyone; anyone with a camera and an Internet connection can use Ustream to broadcast to a global audience. - Viddler
upload, enhance, and share video - YouTube
free online video viewing and sharing service