Web 2.0 Tools - Reflection

It's truly amazing to think of how I used computers to prepare documents, and how I use them now. I would use my Microsoft Word Processor to prepare an activity, handout, or quiz on my home computer, and save it to a USB stick. Then I could use the school computer to open up the document, make the necessary changes to the document, since my school would be using a different version of Word or Open Office, then print it off. Later on, as I got more "Tech Savy", I would email the document to myself, open it at school, make the necessary changes again, and print it off.

The school board has a lot of great programs licensed for teacher and student use on the school computers. I would would often use Appleworks to have the students type up documents, or use Comic Life to create stories, Smart Ideas to prepare graphic organizers, or programs like UltraKey to develop typing skills. These programs are great in terms of their usefulness and student engagement. The only draw back to them was that I could not access student progress and work at home, meaning I would have to spend extra time after school, accessing student work for assessment purposes. Plus, there was the added lessons at the beginning of the school year of teaching students to properly save their work in their UserData, so they could access their documents later on, and on a different computer. There were always students who forgot these steps, and lost all of their progress.

Web 2.0 tools have made accessing information and data so much easier and quicker. All of these tools are online, meaning a user can access them on any computer, both in and out of school. This allows for a more blended style of teaching, incorporating technology into teaching practice more, and also allows for the Flipped Classroom model of education. Students do not even need to work about saving their work, as all of these programs have Cloud abilities, automatically saving student progress. This is extremely beneficial, as students can explore these sites more freely, and have continued access outside of their one or two computer periods a week (At least at the Elementary level).

Web 2.0 tools have been beneficial for teachers and leaders, as the time and effort saved when learning and preparing documents and working with software has been greatly decreased. My board even offers teachers to the ability to print off documents from home, directly to their school's printers. When learning about new software and technology before using Web 2.0 tools, the time to work with it could only be spent at school, during P.D. sessions or during teacher time, during and after school. Now, technology can be explored at home, in school, or really anywhere according to the schedule of the teacher, and has become much easier for a user to learn and explore. Leaders can provide training not only during P.D. sessions, but also online, utilizing videos, slideshows, and various other online support methods. Furthermore, Web 2.0 tools have allowed for more collaborative efforts to be used for ideas for program content and software development. When new tools are introduced, both software creators and users likewise can have a say in how the tool is shaped, as more and more people use the software for their own purposes (just look at the use of Wikis - Wikispace).

Web 2.0 tools have opened the door to programs and software that is easier to use, quicker to use, easier to access, easier to learn about, and easier to collaborate on.