Welcome to Expanding Your Web

We now are in the next era of using Web 2.0 and social learning. The ideas that will be investigated in this blog is best captured in a graphic.

Situations & Scenarios examines how web 2.0 and social learning are used in any of the four IB programmes for both personal productivity and creativity as well as collaboration and sharing. Those involved may include teachers using online tools to plan learning activities, students in geographically dispersed classrooms collaborating in a learning activity or a teacher with their students working on a class project. 

Online Services & Apps/Hardware & Networks refer to the vast range of online tools that are available and the many ways of using desktop systems and mobile technologies to access them. Anytime anywhere access is now a reality – especially with 3G, 4G an wireless systems. This is changing the face of education.

(Click on image or  http://www.go2web20.net/   Note NEXT button to continue to the next page.)

However, Social & Ethical Considerations – implications, impacts and issues are major factors in using web 2.0 tools. The list in the diagram is not exhaustive, but merely a starting point. There is an important balance between considering the exciting changes that are taking place in teaching & learning and the negative factors that can emerge. Digital citizenship needs to be taught and practiced from even the earliest ages.

Roles are changing – are we teachers or facilitators? Who is the teacher and who is the learner in the classroom? Where and how is learning taking place? What are the benefits of using web 2.0 technologies and collaborative learning over traditional approaches?

Both Kathy Epps and myself are looking forward to hearing from you. This space is more than a blog. It is a space for you to get involve and say how you are ‘expanding your web’. Tell us about your experiments in transforming your classroom. What challenges to you and your students face? What are your observations in the classroom?

 Investigate

Cool Tools for 21st Century Learning by Susan Oxnevad

This is not only quality content to start the school year in window panes on the Homepage, but it demonstrates how a wiki can be used to in creative ways to make content available. Advert-free wikis are available from Wikispaces.