Web 2.0 Education Application
What Web 2.o application should I review? Wkis, blogs and Twitter have been discussed, reviewed, and used. What does it say about us when these 2.0 applications have become part of the mainstream? So mainstream that e-mail is now viewed as “old school.”
To find an application, I googled “Web 2.0 education.” (Oh, no, Google is now a verb in the English language.) This search led me to http://hubpages.com/hub/Education20. Here I found a link to a blog, Web 2.0 Teaching Tools. This blog mentioned Classtools.net, so, why not.
Classtools was developed by Russel Tarr, a college professor in France. This “free” website houses almost 20 interactive templates for use by teachers. What follows in a quick review of a few of the templates.
Arcade Game Generator requires the teacher to write at least ten questions and answers. These questions and answers can be turned into a number of different “games.” One is a Concentration-like matching game called Matching Pairs. Another game is Manic Miner, in which arcade-like miners try to match questions and answers before they lose their time or lives.
Ever need a countdown timer? This site has one in which the teacher types in the time and the clock does it all. The time can be any time up to ninety-nine minutes and fifty nine seconds. A number of sounds can be added to make the countdown a little more exciting.
With “Post It,” students identify factors that help answer a specific question and write them on sticky notes. Then, collaboratively, more general categories about the question and factors are determined. The students then move the notes to the category in which they fit. This is a nice change of pace from using sticky notes on chart paper.
Venn Diagrams give the option of a two or three circle Venn diagram. Students would then fill in the diagram in the same way that they would fill ion paper diagrams.
Virtual Book allows students to create a four page book. The text is typed into the book, which can be saved as a web page, or embedded into a blog or web page. The length limits the use of Virtual Book but for younger students, this is another way that their work can be displayed.
Check out the other templates which include a fishbone diagrams, hamburger diagrams and a host of other web-based graphic organizers.
This site and the templates will not replace Twitter or Facebook in popularity, but it does offer a few cool tools for teachers to create and students to use.
This website is fabulous! I especially love the Randomized Student/Name Picker. You put your class list into the template and then you have a choice of either a typewriter typing out a random student's name or you get this casino slot machine that spins and a student's name is chosen. I could see the kids really getting into this. Or, pretend you have some vocabulary words that you want students to learn. You could conduct an impomptu test and use it to select which words you want to test on.
ReplyDeleteGreat find, Ed! I placed this in Diigo!
Mandy
Hey Ed!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great resource! I played around with the tools available. I'm very impressed with the ease of use and feel like students as young as second grades can easily be taught how to use it independently.
The interactive timeline was a simple way to type in events that happened between two dates. The type and drag functions are simple to use. I also really liked the games. I thought they were more exciting than I anticipated. The cheering sound effects were neat! Students really like to hear sound effects when they visit websites; it automatically gives the site the cool points that non-educational sites usually win.
Thanks again for sharing!
Classtools.net seems to be very student and teacher friendly. It has alot of features that I think will make a teacher very happy by keeping her students active and engaged. I like the part about students being able to create Virtual Books online. Some other great sites that allow students to created Virtual Books is Tikatok.com and Big Universe. Classtools.net has some of the old favorites such as the Venn Diagram maker and what a great way to entertain students with an Arcade Game maker centered around the topic they are studying in class. This Web2.0 seems to be very easy for teachers to incorporate into class.
ReplyDeleteHey Ed! I had no idea about this site. Good find, my friend! I loved your detailed description of some of the services. I found this to be a help in terms of not having to go to the actual site to check things out(because as you know this leads to a million more paths). I plan on adding this site to my Wednesday Web resource blog. Thanks!
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