Web 2.0 Tools

(This was written as a handout to accompany the IWB Training Session I took part in, I’ve posted it here as I hope it is of use to others! It is by no means a comprehensive list, my aim was to give staff a few pointers as to where they could start looking to integrate the internet into their lessons.)
Some of these tools offer us great potential in the classroom. They have some key advantages:

• most are free,
• sharing work is easy,
• they grab pupils attentions as they are in a media which the pupils are used to and use every day.

Here are a list of web based tools that could be useful in the classroom. I haven’t used all of them myself, I haven’t used many at all in the classroom, yet. Have a play around with some of them, if you see potential for using them in the classroom then have a go and share your work/experiences with the rest of us!

1. Wikepedia: Probably the most famous example of the read/write web. A wonderful source of information. As anyone can submit info to it, you could get pupils to contribute on topics that interest them.
2. Youtube: Videos galore! Search for your subject, there is a surprising amount of good educational videos on there. You could also add you own of course…
3. Google Docs: A word processor and spreadsheet based online. It’s not quite Word & Excel, but it’s not far off and it’s free. You need a Google account to access it, why not sign up for gmail now that it’s available to all.
4. Flickr: A wonderful resource of photographs, much better at getting good pictures than google image search, you can also add your own photos to the collection.
5. Flickr Toys: Have fun with photos from Flickr.
6. Picnik: Edit photo’s online.
7. BubbleShare: Another place to share photos online.
8. Bubbl.us: Simple mind-mapping program.
9. Quickmaps: Doodle on a copy of the already great googlemaps and save and share your maps.
10. Gliffy: Create and share diagrams online.
11. Artpad: Draw a painting online!
12. SlideShare: Share your Powerpoint presentations online.
13. Gapminder: A fantastic visualisation of population data around the world, ideal for Maths, Geography and others!
14. Daylife: A news aggregator that collates articles about key news stories into one place.
15. Blogs: Last but not least are blogs. For the uninitiated, this is a blog that you are reading now. A simple, easy to manage website that anyone can start and anyone can leave comments on. The possibilities for these are beyond the scope of this INSET. There many variations of these but two main options I would recommend.:
    1. Edublogs: Where you are now!
    2. Blogger: Google’s free offering.

These really only scratch the surface of what’s available, if you find anything else that could be of use why not leave a reply to this post?