Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms

This book is written for educators of all levels and disciplines who want to understand the available Internet tools and learn how to use them effectively in the classroom. It gives real life examples from K-12 teachers around the world who are at the forefront of bringing these tools into their schools and to their students. It's filled with practical advice on how teachers and students can start using the Web to learn more, create more, and communicate better. This book will provide a valuable toolbox for educators as well as descriptions of specific teaching applications, both benefits and how-to steps for: Weblogs-Blogs are easily created, easily updateable Websites. Weblogs are the most widely adopted tool of the Read/Write Web so far. Wikis-a wiki is a collaborative Webspace where anyone can add content and anyone can edit content that has already been published. Rich Site Summary (RSS)-RSS is a technology that allows readers to subscribe to "feeds" of the content that is created on the Internet. In other words, content comes to the teacher instead of the teacher or student searching for the content. Aggregators-An aggregator collects and organizes the content generated via the RSS feed. Social Bookmarking-Bookmarking sites allow users to save and archive the entire web page, thus producing a form of searchable, "classroom Internet". Online Photo Galleries-Publishing digital photos to the Web means adding another dimension to what can be done with digital images in the classroom. Facebook/MySpace-A way for teachers and students to communicate with one another. Second Life-To look at how virtual worlds might be used in the classroom. The main strength of this book is for students and teachers to understand and be able to implement technology tools in their classrooms to enhance student learning and achievement as well as teacher curriculum development and communication.