What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 or social web is a term usually used to describe online-sharing networks that foster participation.

Web 2.0 has brought about changes in the

Production Storage and Distribution of information.

Concepts involved:

It involves users in a collective process that is characterized by aiming at socializing and participating and allowing everybody to be part of a globalized community.

Some Web 2.0 tools:

www.flickr.com: an image repository. www.youtube.com: media bank. www.43things.com: life goal collections. www.blinkbits.com: shared wisdom. www.yousendit.com: large file transfers. www.30boxes.com: shared desktops. www.pandora.com: music management. www.bloglines.com: For getting access to

needed information.

Characteristics:

Easy to use (no required technical knowledge to handle them).

They establish an informal channel of communication among people.

Individuals are able to experiment their own learning through these tools.

They enhance the construction of social knowledge.

Blogs:What is a Blog?

It is an ICT tool that encourages users to collaborate and communicate online.

It is a frequently updated website that resembles an online journal.

Types of Blogs:

According to (Campbell, 2003), there are 3 kinds of blogs:

The tutor blog (run by the teacher), with syllabus course info, homework assignments, and students writing their comments in it.

The class blog: (a shared space) by teachers and students alike. Used as a collaborative discussion space.

The learner blog: students write about what interests them.

Why blog?(G. Stanley, 2005)

To provide extra reading practice for students. To guide students to online resources. To increase the sense of community in a class. To encourage shy students to participate. To stimulate out-of-class participation. As an online portfolio of students’ written work. They create a unique opportunity for both teachers

and students to socialize in an informal way. Blogging becomes a constant participation to

conversation (Wrede 2003).

Pedagogical challenges for the WORLD WIDE WEB: (T. Fetherston)

1st challenge: To regard the use of the web as a potential learning and teaching tool but not to be used to make students feel that they are passive receivers of knowledge.

2nd challenge:Students have to be active participants in the construction of their knowledge by clasifying info from the web.

3rd challenge: Teachers have to help students to analize and search for the required info in reliable sources. They have to be trained to be critical of the things they come across with in the web.

4th challenge: As teachers we should allow our students to solve problems that resemble real-life situations so as to prepare them to give answers to the situations posed.

5th challenge: We should also allow our students to take risks, to raise their awareness of the things they still need to revise, letting them express themselves in the process.

6th challenge: Providing our students with good instructional design, taking into account their age, their cultural background and the social and political milieu in which they live.