March 16, 2010
by Paul Hamilton
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On Twitter yesterday afternoon, I learned that Terry Freedman had just released his free eBook entitled ‘The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book‘. I checked it out immediately because it seemed just the resource I’d been looking for. Apparently I was not alone. Terry reports today that there have been over 1700 downloads in less than a day! Any teacher with an interest in effectively reaching every learner in his or her classroom–with meaningful, accessible, and engaging learning activities–would do well to take a look.
Terry surveyed the teachers who submitted activities for his book on “the benefits of using Web 2.0 in education”. Not surprisingly, motivation and ownership were rated highly; and participation was seen as the greatest benefit of all. Teachers also valued the ability of Web 2.0 for offering learners “a variety of means of expression”. It is clear that Web 2.0 applications can be used to facilitate UDL (Universal Design for Learning)
[You can click HERE to download a copy of the book, or you can get it at Terry's site.]
The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book is a collection of 87 projects that have used Web 2.0 tools to facilitate learning in classrooms around the world. The book offers concrete examples of some highly effective ways that teachers are using blogs, microblogs, wikis, podcasts, video conferencing (Skype), Animoto, VoiceThread, Voki, Google Maps, Google Docs, and numerous other Web 2.0 resources.
All of the projects presented are actual activities that have been completed or that are under way. Projects were submitted by educators in response to an online “call” by Terry. Many, but not all, of the activities are collaborative in nature and involve learners from multiple classrooms from different parts of the world.
The book is well organized, with activities categorized according to the general age range of the learners involved. Each “project” is presented in the same format with the following headings:
- Broad Age Range & (actual) Age Range
- Applications Used
- Description
- Project URL or Screenshot
- What challenges had to be overcome?
- What would you recommend to others?
- Reactions and outcomes
The ‘Reactions and outcomes’ section was telling. In many instances, these took the form of comments by learners who had been involved in the activities: Here are a few examples:
- “When I have ideas at home, I can put it on the blog, not just at school” (6 year old)
- “It makes me feel funny knowing that people all over the world are looking at my work. It makes me want to take more care with my work knowing that all those people are looking at it.”
- “My grandparents who live a long way away have been able to see my work on their computer.”
- “This activity made learning fun. I enjoy researching on my own and this gave me the chance to learn at my own pace. (4th grader)
- I love making Wordles! It is a fun way to review what we have studied. (2nd grader)
- I love anything to do with the computer. I enjoyed reading about the different kinds of bats and making a movie. (2nd grader)
- I think it was gr8 to have people online to talk to at nights and help, it made revision easier and more interesting, thank u to everyone who helped me!
