Sharing,+Collaborating,+and+Communicating

When Web 2.0 arrived on the scene it revolutionized the web. Now anyone can put anything on the online. Knowledge is built collaboratively using tools like wikis (Wikipedia) and we can share our own creations so that others can use them (as long as copyright permits) and build innovative new products. For example, a picture can be shared on Flickr (licensed under the creative commons Attribution license) and someone else can edit it with a web app such as Picnik, SumoPaint, or Aviary and then post it back to Flickr to share and the creativity circle begins again! You could even create something completely new such as a video using Jaycut, a free online editing tool. If you click on the Tutorials link on the left you can view some of my tutorials for Web 2.0 technologies. toc

=Blogs=

Blogs are websites in which new information is shared in the form of a post. Posts appear in chronological order and can be tagged as belonging to a certain category or tag. Visitors to the site can comment on the posts. You can embed almost anything in a blog post. You can add audio, video, or even a slideshow. You can also embed widgets for calendars, interactive maps etc.

If you want to see the best blogs in education you should check out this year's Edublogs awards. A few other "must see" sites are 100 Blogs Every New Teacher Should Reador Will Richardson's List of Educational Blogs. There are many sites that let you create blogs for free. One of the most popular software applications for building a blog is called Wordpress. Sites such as Edublogs.org use Wordpress and host your sites for free. When using blogs in the classroom it may be difficult to create and manage student blogs if your students do not have email accounts. If you are using blogs in your classroom you might want to try the site Edublogs.org. You can actually use Edublogs if your students don't have email accounts by creating a master Gmail account so that all mail goes through this account (so you can monitor everything) and students can still set up individual blogs. (Click here to read more about this solution.) 21Classes is another site (besides Edublogs) that will let you create student blogs. For those of you creating personal blogs you might want to give Tumblr a chance.

You might have heard about Twitter. Twitter is considered a micro-blogging tool. You are limited to 140 characters. You can follow the tweets of other users on your home page or follow a topic (topics are preceded by the # ). To learn more about twitter in education you might want to check out this short handout from Educause. To learn more about Twitter check out these screencasts by David Free and David Lee (Part 1, Part 2).

=Wikis= Wikis are a great tool for creating a simple multiple page website. The easy to use WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editor lets anyone create a page without needing to know html. Like blogs you can embed just about anything by using the widget icon in the editor tool bar. One of the greatest benefits of a wiki is that it is a great tool for multiple users. Anyone who is a member of the wiki (permissions permitting ;-) ) can edit a page. Some other unique features of a wiki can be found by using the tabs at the top. Each page has a discussion forum. You can view and even revert to older versions of a wiki page by clicking on the history tab. If you are an educator using a wiki with your students you might want to be notified every time a change is made to the page. You can use the notify me tab to receive an email every time a change is made. There are a lot of wiki service out there. Wikispaces, Wet Paint, and PB wiki are some of the more popular wikis used in education.

If you are looking for examples of wikis in education you might want to check out the Edublogs awards for wikis, Wikis in Education from WetPaint or this site about educational wikis.

Because there are tons of wiki services out there, it is helpful to be able to compare them. Check out WikiMatrix to compare different wiki sites.

=Podcasting= In the past I have always used Evoca for recording audio online. It seems there are so many new tools for recording audio. If you are using Evoca for the first time you will want to try the 30 day trial version and if you like it you might want to try the paid version of Evoca for Educators. Another online podcasting site is Chirbit. Chirbit is free and you can download the audio file in an mp3 format and post it to your blog or wiki. If you want to be able to not only create an audio file but edit it and add multiple tracks then you might want to try Myna from Aviary. If you are looking for Educational Podcasts you might want to check out the Educational Podcast Network or go to iTunes and click on the Podcast menu at the top- then select Education from the drop down menu.

=Image Editing=

Web 2.0 provides access to almost all of the standard types of applications you used to have to purchase for your computer. Instead of buying an expensive word processing, spreadsheet, presentation software package you can now use Google Docs. Instead of purchasing an expensive image editing program you can use a free web-based app such as Picnik or Sumo Paint.

=Other Social Networking Tools=
 * Sumo Paint's YouTube Channel


 * Shelfari- share what you and your students are reading. Connect with others who are interested in the same books.

=Web 2.0 Glog from Joyce Valenza= media type="custom" key="5392623"