Web 2.0

Before I began this subject I had no idea what Web 2.0 was…I feel like I am learning so much. Here are some of my thoughts.

Blogs

Uses:

·      Great way to inform and share with students

·      Love the thought of replacing newsletter and letters that go home, however some parents may not look and would miss vital information

·      Facilitate discussion amongst students

·      Listing of useful websites for extension, support or interest

Wiki

Uses

·      Students, teachers and parents can contribute to the wiki.

·      Teachers (or students) can provide links to useful websites

·      Facilitate discussions amongst students

·      Parents can see what there child is learning about

Social Bookmarking

·      Love the idea of digital highlights and sticky notes on webpages you are using

Addition Reading

I really enjoyed watching Allanah King’s youTube video, (http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=1851).

·      I thought it provided some really simple but useful ideas for using Web 2.0 with primary students.

·      I Iove the name COW (computers on wheels)

·      Blogging monitors…great idea in younger classes

·      Podcast (through Garage Band)

·      What’s happening

·      Book reviews

·      Students work

·      Whole class podcasts

Searching

My thoughts on this weeks topic!

Beaucoup.com, a site that categorises search engines while also providing recommended sites.

Activity 1

First I tried iSeek Education

The first result was a great looking lesson plan but within the first 10 results were multiple to the ERIC Digest…no help for teachers.

I would be unlikely to use use this search engine.

I then tried Columbia Encyclopedia and the site directed me to Yahoo (which I had accidently chosen) and these results seemed much more user friendly and contained a mix of facts, lessons and internet based activities. I then went back to Columbia Encyclopedia and redid the search and was told my search did not match any results.

Activity 2 – Google Advance Search

·      The results are so much more relevant.  Id like to think it will change the way I search but old habits can be hard to break!

·      I’ve used google images before to find specific images and have found it useful

·      Google news is new to me!

·      I have used google books and google scholar before but found CSU’s Library searches results much better and relevant

Activity 3 –

“Not one search engine covers more than 30% of the entire Web, so often you have to use more that just one search engine to find what you are looking for.” (http://www.livebinders.com/play/play/77617 )

Coehn, L.B. (2012). Boolean searching on the Internet.

I found this explanation very clear and gave me a good understanding of Boolean language.

Boolean operators [video], University of Auckland.

This would be good to use with teachers and senior school students

Activity 4 Boswell's & The Seven Habits

Although these website offered many useful suggestions, I found the ads very distracting and at times confusing as to what was an ad and what was information.

After using a few different search engines for the final activity I found the yahoo website so much better. The results were more appropriate and no distracting ads.

Search activity table

Search engine	Keywords	How useful?	Comments
google	Teaching discovery of gold in queensland	First few sites were useful then they offered guitar lessons on Gold Coast	I tried the advance search but not overly helpful
ask	Teaching discovery of gold in queensland	First few sites were useful then they offered guitar lessons on Gold Coast	Lots of ads to distract the searcher!
iseek	Teaching discovery of gold in queensland		Being a US site only produced 3 links only 1 of these were appropriate!
yahoo	Teaching discovery of gold in queensland	Very useful, found lots of appropriate links. Very few silly ads to distract!

Carlson, C. (2002). Notes from the technology trenches - the seven commandments of highly effective Web searching. Retrieved July 4, 2012.

Found this webpage stated very sensible (logical) ideas to stop wasting time on fruitless searches …now to put these to use!

Website Evaluations

My thoughts on this module!

Three key aspects of website evaluation: educational, reliability and technical criteria (Herring, 2011, p. 39). There are many guide to evaluate a website available some are listed below.

Cyberguide Website (http://www.cyberbee.com/content.pdf )

·      Interesting that this guide is 10 years old…

·      I think that this tool is certainly useful but realistically few teachers (or teacher librarians) are going to fill this out for every website they use with their class. I guess it is a great starting place.

Ferguson, J. (2005). Why evaluate information found on the Web? 

 “While abundant websites provide reliable consumer information, many other sites contain untrustworthy, incorrect or misleading information. It's your responsibility to develop the skills necessary to critically evaluate the quality and trustworthiness of the information you find on the web.”

Porter, J. (2003). Testing the three click rule.

“When users find what they want they don't complain about number of clicks”…so true.

http://kathyschrock.net/abceval/5ws.pdf

What a simple but great idea for a poster for the classroom for primary students.

Schrock, 2002, p. 1. Citations: Websites that list these so users can further inform themselves  - great way to see reliability