Blog Journal 5

        I believe that Web 2.0 technologies are very useful in today's classrooms. I think that Youtube and Blogs are the more useful. I have prior experiences with not only me using them, but my educators as well. Youtube is a website where you can find videos on almost absolutely anything a teacher could possibly teach. Adding a video clip to a lesson you're teaching definitely keeps students engaged and more interested in the lesson. I feel that visual learning, such as watching a video to learn is a lot more effective than just sitting through a lecture or reading a powerpoint. Blogs can also be useful in the classroom. Just as we use them in this class, they are accessible to almost every subject. Blogs make it easy for teacher-student contact, uploading assignments, giving feedback and engaging with other classmates and seeing that work they share. One technology I feel is not much help or useful in the classroom is Twitter. Although many educators use Twitter as a way to communicate to students, and assign students assignments, Twitter only allows you to do so much. For example, when sending a tweet the max character limit is 140. There is only so much one can say in 140 characters, and I feel that to get an opinion out there or a proper assignment done, that is not enough. Sure, Twitter is helpful for fast communication and sharing, but as far as actually teaching or learning, I do not think this tool is useful. 

          A Web 2.0 tool that I would definitely use, especially in elementary education, is Myths and Legends. This website is designed for storytelling in a safe environment with a lot of options for different characters, themes, and objects to choose from. This is a great tool for allowing the younger ones to stay engaged and interested about the topics they're learning. This would also be a good idea to assign a project through to see all the students different "takes" on the lesson. Website link: http://myths.e2bn.org/index.php

          I believe that gesture-based displays are a technological advancement that hold a big promise for education. This technology allows pictures to basically be "brought to life." This would be great to use in science classrooms for many different reasons. For example, it could be used in an experiment about cells. Although one could argue that there are microscopes to observe cells, this technology would allow for a clear 3D image and students could move the cell around, look at it from different sides and angles, etc. If I would have had  technology like this growing up, it definitely would have been extremely helpful. Visual learning is the most effective I have found, not only for me, but many other peers I have talked to. I believe visual learning is also most effective for younger students to keep them engaged because they tend to lose focus and get bored very quickly.