I'm thinking about creating a Web 2.0 Apps class as a semester long elective for high school students. I'm wondering if anyone is already doing this and would be willing to share materials/ideas.

I'm also interested in getting ideas for how to structure the class (it runs about 17 weeks). I'm thinking of starting with blogging and having students blog their reflections about each tool they learn. I'm also thinking about having them create screencasts to teach others how to use each tool. I'm a little stuck on a final assessment. One idea would be to have them invent their own ideal Web 2.0 app (as a concept - not the programming part).

Please share your materials, experiences and ideas. Even if you have never done it.

Tags: assessment, curriculum, lessonplans, web2.0

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Hi Liz,
I too have worked on getting web 2.0 aps in the hands of students and have found it very useful and beneficial to all involved. I have become an avid supporter of web20 in the classroom and have spend much time developing my web20 wiki. Feel free to use any resourcer here. http://web20guru.us I hope this helps.
C
Cheryl,
Thanks for sharing. This is a wonderful resource.
-Liz
Hi everyone,
I've tweaked my course description. I think this is the final version. Thanks everyone for all of your ideas and suggestions. I haven't been on Classroom 2.0 in a while, but y'all never let me down.
-Liz

This course asks the questions, "What can the Web do for us? What can we do for the Web?" Designed to introduce students to emerging 21st century digital technologies, students will learn to navigate and use the Read/Write Web to its fullest potential as both consumers and producers of information. Students will explore, analyze and reflect upon applications for Online bookmarking, blogging, podcasting, vodcasting, collaborating, organizing, and sharing. In addition we will consider the birth of the computer and the Internet, programs such as One Laptop Per Child, the open source movement, issues of digital citizenship and information fluency and their effect on the new knowledge economy.
You may be interested in the film series, Adina's Deck ( www.adinasdeck.com ) which is perfect for the increasingly more tech-savvy middle school students. The films are short, entertaining and extremely "watchable" and are educational for kids, teachers and parents. Episode 1, the cyber bully pilot episode, won best student film at the International Family Film Festival. Episode 2 is the Case of the Online Crush, and touches on the dangers of online predators. Episode 3 in the Case of the Plagiarized Paper the deals with the consequences of cheating. The writers, directors, and lead cast members participate in live discussions when they have attended dozens school assemblies and film festivals. They are booked to appear at many more locations this school year. Like in Episode 1, the story-lines of Episodes 2 and 3 create a lot of "who-done-it" suspense, with plot twists that are sure to promote a lot of discussion on these real, timely topics.
The students really get into the discussion topics, and want to know what the characters will do next. Adina's Deck is a valuable and socially important tool.
Liz,
Thanks for the great info you have shared. I had been thinking about something similar, along the lines of advanced internet use .... a couple of my fav's for web applications are: http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/
and 57 Useful Google Tools http://www.collegeathome.com/blog/2008/06/18/57-useful-google-tools...

Again, thanks for the program outline, it's great.
Marie
Great Resources! Thanks so much for sharing them.
Using Moodle to design a course ?
Start your own Ning community for the course ?

I think a great final assessment would be to have each student choose a web 2.0 app and create a tutorial on how to use it in screencast - you would have a great library of web tutorials. The parameters
or outline for how to's may be difficult. Another idea may be to use some standard tools ( garageband or iMovie) to create media and add it too a web 2.0 site. In other words how web 2.0 apps can be combined to create added value - these can be simple like digg additions to Facebook accounts.

These are just some ideas of the top of my head .. sounds like a fun course

you have gotten a lot of responses :)

Hope it helps
...a thought just flew in my head. I will not let my students do "research" and "reports" on a topic where information is readily available in books and on the Web, I tell them "it's been done". The days of "panda" reports are over in my classroom. We strive (and not always successfully) to do authentic research answering "big questions".

What kinds of projects can kids of all ages do that will not clutter the internet with more stuff? Is every high schooler in the US going to do a wiki about Web 2.0 tools or videos explaining a chemistry experiment, for example? I think we should all think of how to teach or reinforce skills with outcomes that are real, rich in content, and relevant. I saw Dan Meyer's decontruct an activity/lesson he did last year in his hs math classroom. Even though he says the activity/lesson wasn't 100% successful it seemed like a great high level activity/lesson that gave real meaning to working with datasets, graphs and charts. Oh well...the ramblings of a teacher nearing retirement.
Great blog to tag, Nancy- what other blogs do you read? Also, I appreciate your point of view on research topics. Aiming high : )
Do you know of Jamie McKenzie? He doesn't blog but for 10+ years has been discussing this whole issue of authenitc work. His latest newsletter's lead article is call No More Cut and Paste
Ellen, I have 100 blogs in my reader which include classroom teachers, ed tech people, tech only, primary sources, literature and controversial, but I actually enjoy ning more---easier to follow. I do glance at Darren Draper and Gary Stager everyday or so. I like bloggers who say "Hey, wait a minute!" or "What were they thinking?" I'm kinda tired of people touting Web 2.0 with no mention of teaching or learning or thinking. I read a couple of classroom teachers who write well and have great anecdotes about kids---but most of the blogs on my list get a cursory glance.

If I think of others I'll pass them on.
Nancy, I wish your message would go out to every administrator: "The days of 'panda' reports are over" (state reports, country reports, etc.).

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