KEEP CALM & CARRY ON with Web 2.0!

Web 2.0 Online Course Final Reflection

By Vector conversion by Mononomic (United Kingdom Government) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I have really enjoyed the course despite having a 6 week break in the middle when I took long service leave. My main purpose in enrolling was not only to revisit Web 2.0 but also to reflect on the nature & demands of e-learning by putting myself in the role of a participant. The course being self paced provided considerable flexibility in terms of pace, emphasis and application to the diverse prior learning experiences of the cohort . However I did suffer some course fatigue with the 10 modules. This was possibly due to timing and personal difficulty in maintaining focus due to personal distractions of two family wedding and hosting overseas visitors for six weeks. I did enjoy browsing and commenting on several including Kate Brandon, Felicity Wallace and Ross Cutts. For myself I think I would have liked the opportunity for some "live" online interaction - perhaps 3-4 weeks in, to help keep motivated. It would perhaps have supported some of those who fell by the wayside for whatever reasons.

Previously I have used very many of the web 2.0 tools in the classroom with students or with teachers to engage them in their professional learning. Initially most of these Web 2.0 tools were free but in recent years very many of them have sought to develop a business model and have introduced a range of cost structures. As with software many online service providers offer discounted plans for Education. The adoption of Google Apps (GAFE) in our various educational jurisdictions has meant a lot of the functionality is now available for schools eg Google Docs, Drive, Youtube, Google+, Blogger and Sites. Still other social networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest remain free for users over 13 because they are ad sponsored

When choosing to use Web 2.0 tools & processes teachers need to build awareness of the benefits of utilising contemporary technologies as a way to mirror those used in the wider community. Pedagogical Frameworks such as Bloom’s Taxonomy and the SAMR Framework provide guidance for teachers when they are planning learning experiences for their students, to ensure quality learning occurs in terms of the level of cognitive engagement and the transformative learning potential of the tasks.

Finally I would like to thank the course designers and coordinators in each Diocese - especially Lisa Nash. The course provides a great model for self paced elearning. Indeed the Web 2.0 course itself provided a wonderful model of Web 2.0 tools and processes in action in presenting the module content & the use of individual blogs by the participants as a way of reflecting on their learning for each module.  A great course. 

WEB 2.0 WOW! : Collaborative Knowledge Creation in Online Networked Communities

With the advent of Web 2.0 a number of different authoring formats have evolved which support the development of learning communities in classrooms and to support professional networking for educators. These include Blogs, Wikis, Nings and Google Apps  including Google Sites. They are examples of applications developed for the READ WRITE WEB -which are social, dynamic and highly interactive tools and foster joint knowledge creation and sharing. In contrast to Web 1.0 the READ ONLY web, which required highly skilled web designers, these Web 2.0 tools are generally are essentially template driven and hosted online. Consequently they have a relatively low technology skills threshold. They allow each one of us to be online authors able to communicate & create online relatively easily.

BLOGS are online journals and mainly reflective in nature. They are linear in nature with entries appearing in reverse chronological order. Although they can be used by small teams they are often authored by an individual and conversations are restricted to comments. Blogs I have constructed include Beebots Downunder, Flat Stanley visits the Spraingers

SITES is one of the Google Suite of Tools for creating a website It is primarily a READ ONLY format. It is similar to other Web 2.0 tools, in that user creation is template driven and is generally authored by one person or possibly a small team.  Interactivity is limited to the ability for readers to comment at the end of each page. Most recently I have assisted a colleague in creating the iLearn website to support a 1-1 iPad project.

WIKIS, however, are more democratic and a prime online tool for team collaboration. A wiki site is a hyperlinked collection of pages.Thus they are non linear and more flexible in design - they look much like a website.  Any user can add to or edit information, often anonymously.  They are particularly useful in the classroom when working on a project in which different students or groups of students are collaborating on a project. Conversations are mainly limited to commenting on individual pages. Wiki platforms  commonly used in the classroom include Wikispaces and PBWorks. Below is an example from a classroom where my students were studying a Science Topic. Teacher developed information and assignments were included as well as Science Journals for each student team to record their science investigations.

SCIENCE WIKI (classroom example)

NINGS are much more sophisticated knowledge communities. A Ning is essentially a social networking tool established usually for the specific purpose of joint knowledge creation and knowledge sharing. Like Facebook, each user has their own profile page and can connect with individuals (friends) within the network or join interest groups. Features include  Forums/Discussion Boards; Photo & Video Libraries; Events Calendars; Comments Wall and Blogs. Users can join Interest Groups so knowledge can be developed and shared for specific purposes. I have been heavily involved with the creation and management of a Ning for several years. The Ning, Mindful Learning Mindful Teaching has over 1900 members, primarily K-12 teachers. Within the community there are 78 subgroups - supporting particular Diocesan professional learning courses, school communities, as well as teacher interest groups. It must be said that such a community requires a lot of work to maintain content and keep users engaged and involved. However it has also created a rich content repository and Literacy educators  community, and is regularly used by teachers.

PROFESSIONAL NING for Literacy Teachers (Example)

Together these tools provide a powerful set of tools for individual and group collaboration and authoring. Knowledge creation has become very social indeed . As educators

Twiddly-diddly-dee, Twiddly-diddly-dee, Tweet-Tweet!

OR ..Just how many social networks can a girl manage?

The advent of Social media technologies has seen fundamental changes in the ways we communicate. This  rapid  transformation is characterised by immediacy and the vastly increased range of individuals and organisations with whom we communicate - facilitating the increased democratisation and ease of sharing ideas with others wherever they may be.

Educators have been quick to capitalise on these advances to build professional networks to facilitate professional dialogue and sharing of resources. Following close on the heels of blogs, educators have embraced social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. Many have also embraced LinkedIn to enable them to explore employment opportunities. Getting started can be a challenge but George Couros has been a real inspiration to many teachers and school leaders. He suggests 

Great leaders (and teachers) have always created networks, but now this is not limited to face-to-face interactions. It is also not as limited for those who live in rural areas. Anyone willing to connect is now able to connect. It is simply a choice. We can no longer be limited to the ideas in our own school. We need to connect with others outside and choose what works for our organization and remix it to be applicable.

Many teachers have also capitalised on the power of Twitter to enable their students to authentically communicate with parents or with other students around the world. In a recent, delightful article Connect, Collaborate and Create with Twitter in the Classroom, Kristen Wideen describes a wide variety of collaborative experiences in which teachers are using Twitter to extend learning beyond their classroom walls.

For myself I reserve Facebook for personal networking with family and friends. I then use Twitter as my tool of choice for professional networking. I particularly enjoy using Twitter when I am listening to a Keynote speaker. Using the relevant hashtags allows me to capture key ideas and reflections and share them with others - I love to see the conversations fly around the room or to extend the conversations.

For our students and also for some of our teachers we need to ensure that while we encourage them to use these networks for learning they need to be aware of their digital footprint and to ensure that they operate safely, respectfully and responsibly when using online networks.

A great resource which I have shared with teachers provides a user friendly set of simple guidelines /netiquette for using Twitter which is guaranteed to also raise a smile or two.

A Dr. Seuss-Inspired Guide to Twitter from Hootsuite

Read, Read Gotta Keep Reading!

In this module we are looking at RSS Feeds.  As I previously discussed in my last post keeping up with online reading the latest research and best practice in my areas of interest is a challenge. In the past I have used used RSS feeds such as Google Reader and also Bloglines. However I must admit that since becoming a regular user of Twitter and also Scoopit I find I don't always have time to to use all the tools. I also get frustrated when Web 2.0 tools are modified or removed altogether - especially if you have invested time in setting up accounts and populating them with your personal data and resources.


However, as part of this module I decided to revisit RSS. An RSS Feed is a simple way to manage the flow of information from your favourite websites, blogs and news sites. An RSS Reader is  a web 2.0 tool designed to host details of all the updates from theses sites in the one place. It receives "feeds"  allowing you to easily manage the flow of information. I did set up a Feedly account as part of this module and started to populate it as shown below.

Feedly is not only an aggregator Once you have identified a post you think is worthwhile you can read it within the Feedly interface. Some useful features are available as you read eg You can

• Bookmark useful articles; 
• Tag them so you can retrieve them by topic
• Share them with others via Twitter, Email or Facebook
• Save a copy of the article directly into Evernote. ( Premium Users only. Sub $45 per year)

From this experience I can see it is well worth persevering with an RSS Reader- although your reading list can look daunting. Guess the secret may be to be selective in what you really think is worthwhile reading and adding to your feed.  Similarly be ruthless in removing subscriptions which are no longer of interest or use.

Lost in Info Space: Now where is that fabulous website I once found?

Keeping Bookmarks up to date is always a challenge - especially between browsers and also on my various devices. Consequently it makes a lot of sense to use an online tool for keeping my bookmarks in one account which can be easily accessed and searched.  As such I have been a user of the Social Bookmarking online tool, Delicious, for a number of years now. Features I particularly like when creating Bookmarks in Delicious are:

ANNOTATIONS: the ability to add annotations to my links eg a brief summary of the content

TAGGING:  the use of tagging means that the organisation of my bookmarks is simplified and retrieval is also facilitated. Each Bookmark can have multiple tags which is a bonus!

BUNDLING:  It is also possible to bundle tags into a category which allows you to easily apply a search filter The example below shows a number of associated  tags which I have grouped into a Tag Bundle called DIGITAL STORYTELLING.

SMART SEARCHING : Means you can search by tag; keyword; user. In addition I can search my own link collection or that of the wider Delicious community

SOCIAL  NETWORKING - Delicious also allows you to access & share links with your  followers by setting up a ‘user’  tag. Delicious  Links can also be integrated with Twitter and Facebook. Truly social and truly a great way to share useful web content with others.

More recently I have also been using other online communities such as “Scoop it” as well as “Twitter” as a way of capturing and then sharing links to useful sites with colleagues. However, for personal use Delicious is a useful and versatile tool - and it’s free.

"A good snapshot stops a moment from running away"

“A good snapshot stops a moment from running away. ~Eudora Welty” (online - accessed 8Oct, 2014)

When working on this unit I reflected on the value of cameras as an invaluable  tool for capturing important events in your classroom and as a tool to support student learning. Recently my colleague Lisa described the many benefits of the cameras when students are using iPads. In the article, 
 Don't get anymore Apps until you have utilised the Camera App fully Lisa points out the ease of use of the iPad digital still and movie cameras and the powerful storage capacity of the Camera Roll app which has  inbuilt editing tools and slideshow options.
 In the case of Web 2.0, one of the biggest area where Web 2.0 tools have had a major impact, is in providing free or affordable applications for working with photos, which are device independent.There are online tools for storing photos online such as Dropbox, Box.net and iCloud and facilitating access from multiple devices. 
There are also a huge range of Photo manipulation & editing tools. These tools allow students /individuals improve their photos by :  cropping & rotating images; adding interesting effects using a wide variety or filters; and present photos in interesting ways such as  making collages and 

Online photo sharing is perhaps one of the most engaging communication activities we all love to participate in. Using Google Picasa Web Albums. Just for fun I have created a small Picasa web album which I have shared in my Google+ and also embedded a copy below. The photos have been created using the Brushes App for outlining and shading the original photo of a pink rose. I then used the Megaphoto App and an app called Mirrored to get the symmetrical designs. Finally I tried a soft filter using Photoshop Elements - just for fun.

View all

Get your own

Finally when working with students we need to teach students relevant ethical practices about:
privacy when publishing photos online;  and sharing, creative commons licensing and attribution 

Making thinking visible with Mindmapping tools

Mindmaps - What are they?

Mind mapping is a tool used for creating, thinking, organizing, note taking and brainstorming. It helps provide a visual representation of a set of associated ideas and various ways of organising those ideas to support understanding and make thinking visible.

Mindmapping usually starts as divergent thinking process in which ideas are generated (brainstorming) to generate numerous ideas & associations. Those ideas are then organised in ways that illustrate logical relationships such as by categories or classifications; parent/child relationships; cause and effect; comparisons.

What form do mindmaps take?

The resulting mindmap or graphic organiser is a visual representation of complex information and involves a unique combination of text, imagery, colour and visual-spatial arrangement" (Tony Buzan) to assist comprehension, critical thinking or planning.

Mindmaps often take the form of a web with branches and sub branches radiating outwards from a central concept, theme or idea. Ideas are generally illustrated with simple shapes containing key words and phrases. Some mindmaps also incorporate images to illustrate concepts.In addition to the common "web" layout, mindmaps may be reorganised as Cloud Diagrams; Tree Diagrams; Flowcharts; Timelines or Venn Diagrams to name just a few.

Why use mindmaps?

The uses of mindmapping can essentially be described in terms of the General Capabilities required for 21st century learners including:

Communicating: Mindmaps are a useful for visual notetaking and can even be utilised as a presentation tool. I was a little surprised by this idea as although I have commonly used mindmapping I had not thought of its potential as a visual presentation tool. Now I think why not? They could be an engaging alternative to Powerpoint/Keynote. Indeed my impression of PREZI is that it is a little like zooming in and zooming out of key ideas.

Creative Thinking : Because initially idea generation is prioritised over structuring, mindmapping facilitates the free flow of ideas and allows for divergent and creative thinking.

Critical Thinking : Organising your mindmap and imposing a structure also fosters critical thinking and reflection. Discerning relationships in a mindmap and the ease of reorganising the Planning Organisational Tool


Collaborating: One of the key features of Web 2.0 online versions of mindmapping software is the ability to share with others and collaborate on a mutual/team project. This is a feature of tools such as Bubbl.us , Webspiration and Mindomo.

Authoring: In addition, students find mindmaps are particularly helpful for creating visuals which summarise key ideas of a topic. These visuals are then useful for recalling information or to assist as an outlining tool for planning writing tasks such as essays. I have used them also when planning a site map for websites.

Mindmapping on the iPad

On the iPad all the online versions are available using the Safari browser. In addition there are numerous apps of your favourite tools such as Bubbl.us;  Inspiration and Prezi as well as Popplet the one used by students in our project.

Below is a sample mindmap I have created on the topic Web 2.0 - It sums up very many ideas/concepts associated with Web 2.0. Its visual structure makes it an economical and very accessible way to provide access to a large amount of information at a glance and 'makes my thinking visible' 

Web2.0 - A Mindmap created with Bubbl.us