Blog #8 - Reflection on Blogging

• Looking at the various aspects of using Web 2.0 tools, I find that there are various positives as well as negatives. For use in the classroom it is a wonderful idea to work in lessons where students can do activities such as collaborate on a document online or create a website together. Some disadvantages can include not every student having access to a computer and the Internet to take advantage of such modern lessons. Another setback is that many schools do not have sufficient computers in order for every student to use a computer. If there are sufficient computers, such as at my school, they might lack the speed necessary to work productively in the given time of a class period. All and all, if computers are available for student use, making the effort will assist students in the long run by appealing to their technology-driven life styles.
• There are certain features of Web 2.0 that I think I would be more likely to use in my classroom. Creating simple websites and having students collaborate online are the easiest and most practical ways I can incorporate Web 2.0 into my Spanish classes. Since their Spanish capabilities are not yet fully developed in Spanish I and II, I would mainly use these tools to have students show their research of Spanish culture. Features of Web 2.0 that I do not have much interest in using in my classroom include blogging and Second Life/virtual worlds. Blogging in Spanish is something students would be ready to do in upper levels of Spanish, not levels I and II. For virtual worlds, such as Second Life, I feel that there would be many hurdles I would have to overcome before beginning lessons in Second Life where students could also participate in the virtual world while at school. Permission forms, justifying the lesson to parents and administration and much more would have to be done in order to accomplish this task. The does not even include the possibility of students viewing inappropriate content while at school using Second Life. It just seems like there are too many chances for something bad to happen, which I am not willing to take a chance on happening.
• One source presented disadvantages of using Web 2.0 that differ from my own. My 1st reference source asked, “Who owns the data?” I am sure this was a question that came directly from using tools such as YouTube and remixing.
• One new tool, my 2nd reference source, is a new tool I found. The amazing thing I find about Web 2.0 is that most of the tools that are involved are free tools. This tool falls into that category. It is a website that allows individuals to create newspapers, brochures, flyers and booklets. This site takes the need of a word processing application in order to create these forms of publishing. The only challenging part about this website is that there is not place to save your work online. Once an item is started it must be finished in one sitting. I would suggest this online tool for students who are fully done with the planning process of creating a newspaper, flyer, booklet or brochure.

Reference Source #1 - http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Web_2.0_and_Education_%28B%29_Su08#Educational_Challenges

Reference Source #2 - http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=110&title=