web+2.0


 * Web 2.0h!**

As I did research for this assignment I kept an eye out for applications that would help me teach social studies in a highly interactive way. I think that it is important to engage students with the subject of history and other social subjects by making personal and vivid what might otherwise seem abstract and distant. Web 2.0 is a visceral, interactive way to realize that goal. The five websites and applications that I have picked would help me stay focused and organized. They would also help my students connect with the material both visually and intellectually, in addition to enabling all of us to collaborate with each other outside the classroom. Together they highlight the performative aspects of teaching as well as the dynamic potential that social networking can have on learning about the wider world.

I could probably write a whole paper on this website alone. In addition to containing free lesson plans, motivational FAQs and sections on nearly every teaching subject it also has a bulletin board and several pages of links to other education-centered websites and applications. In fact, it’s so big that it is featured in multiple sections of the cooltoolsforschool wiki. I especially liked the PDF printables aimed at helping students in social studies classes evaluate alternative sources like films, photographs or audio. I can alos see myself using the section on Graphic Organizers with its printable charts for illustrating cause and effect and storyboarding. A lot of history is dialectic, with one event not only leading to another but also competing events and influences with extenuating influences on those events. Visual aids for explaining that are an exciting resource to have come across. They eve have charts for multiple causes/effects.
 * Education Oasis**

TimeMaps is an internet-based interactive world map and timeline with several other methods for searching/researching world history. Scrolling back or forward along the timeline causes the map to change, adding or removing areas of civilization and clickable pushpins that lead to more detailed information about the period and peoples that lived there at that point. There are multiple layers of pushpins that can go either to pages with more or less textual information and geographic detail. Other ways to explore the site include a search box at the top of the page and a tag cloud widget toward the bottom along with a section featuring historical events that occurred in other parts of the world at the same time. The online version is free and there are other software versions available via the website. I would use this application to help provide a visual context for whatever lesson I gave that day. Showing exactly where and when what I would be talking about took place would make the information seem less abstract, giving the student something solid to look back at when thinking about the lesson. I would also be able to illustrate the interconnectivity of world events and show how societies timelines are sometimes shared with others; like the timeline of the Greek, Egyptian and Roman civilizations. Playing History, like Education Oasis, is an interactive reference site. It mainly provides reviews and links to computer games that deal with teaching history, civics or other social topics. “Rail, Sail or Overland Mail” and “Do I Have the Right?” are a couple of the titles of the games on the database. You can also add games to be reviewed or comment on a game. This would be a good site to direct students to in their own free time, to set up extra credit assignments with or to help an individual student who is struggling to connect with a certain topic.
 * Time Maps**
 * Playing History**

Prezi is a dynamic take on the traditional slide presentation that uses a non-linear approach at revealing and illustrating information. A Prezi can include moving images, zooming in or out of a specific area, panning, layers of information and is put together with a storyline that moves across a large body of information instead of from frame to frame. Prezi would be a fantastic, fresh way to present lectures in the classroom. I especially like the idea of being able to create a storyline and being able to go (literally) deeper into each section to show the details or divergencies each topic might contain. I also like the option of embedding Prezis with or without audio into blogs or other websites; it would make helping a student who missed class to catch up as easy as giving them a web address.
 * Prezi**

Twiducate is a group of private teacher/student social networks, a way of extending and enriching the classroom environment out into the world and give students easier access to one-on-one contact with their teachers. Twiducate can be used to communicate directly, collaborate for group projects, help keep parents in the loop, ect. The network is web-based, but it also has a mobile site. I would use this to stay available to students and to be able to give parents feedback about projects, progress or issues. I would also use it to suggest outside reading or websites students could go to for more information.
 * Twiducate**