Web2.0 & Education

The web has revolutionize the way we communicate. Web 2.0 now is revolutionizing education.

Education is no longer being delivered just in the classroom settings. It is multi-directional where the teachers and students and the public can all communicate through the power of "Cloud Computing." Instructors and learners are no longer required to be in the same classroom, same city, or even the same country. To a certain extend, they don't even have to be on the same planet! The instruction materials are now in multi-media/digital forms: text, images, video and audio clips, flash animations, comic strips, etc. The list goes on and on.

For a very long time, distant-learning has been just emails and postings between the instructors and students. Real-time interaction is really not an easy option. Look at where we are now! Instant messengers, online chatrooms, VoIP services, and web video conferencing are addded to the plain, old text-based communications. How exciting it is for the learners!

Modern day students grew up with media. They need that type of stimulation and to sustain their interest. We must recognize the characteristics of this generation and creating a rich learning experience for our students to faciliate their learning. We can not continue to think the way we learned should continue to work for our students. I am not advocating abandoning the traditional teaching methodology. I am simply saying that technology must be considered, incorporated, and utilized by both the learners and instructors to improve the quality of our education!

Interface Design Critique: ToonDoo.com

On Information Design

• Potential users:  
• people, specifically, children who want to create and share their creative work.
  
• people who like to read and comment on comics.
• Information chunk:  There's not too much text to read.  However, the front page is a bit overwhelming with all hte information available, even though a big chunk of the page is cartoon.
  
• Relevance: The site's front page is a bit busy, but the information does pull you in. 
  
• Labeling:  Clear labeling for the global navigation.  The secondary navigation labels are not as clear. There is also text rollover on the images.
  
• Consistency:  The navigation is very consistent with a global navigation bar on top using colors.
  
• Detail: The front page seems a bit information overload whereas the others are not as busy.
  
• Other comments: You can't see much without logging in.
  

On Interactivity:

• Orientation: It's pretty easy to navigate around.
• Navigation: The global and secondary are pretty easy to follow.
• Functionality: It works.
• Information access: You can get to the main functions from the global navigation or the little icons on the upper right corner.

On screen Design:

• Attractive:  It looked busy to me and not very "professional." However, it is a site geared towards kids.
• Color: Very colorful.
• Layout: Pretty easy to follow.
• Readability:  Text size is a bit small but does not interfere with my reading the site.

China Trip

Here's a quick video to share with you about my group's China Trip.

What can a HS teacher do with an ITEC degree?

As a high school teacher, what I learn in the ITEC program can help me improve my teaching experience.

Let's first hear what the students have to say:

With the education from ITEC, you can:

• Increase students learning interest level
• Make the class more fun
• Design multiple-intelligence projects
• Design lessons that are technology-fail-proof
• Utilize the students prior knowledge
• Make your teaching "Green"
• Be "hip" and on the same (tech) page with the students
• Show result of your and your students' hard work

Web 2.0 ToonDoo

Since I was out of the country when web 2.0 Conference was going on, I am including one example of the tools that I use in my curriculum: ToonDoo.com.

After finishing the lesson, I asked the students to work as a team to complete a project of Comic Strips:

1. They work as teams to create a dialogue.
   
2. They divide up the work to create a panel of comic strip each. They can send the panels individually or create a book.
   
3. Practice the dialogue and present to the class.

Here's an example of the Comic book:

chinese2mrsh	ordering/eating at the cafeteria § the restaurant

L12 - Dining by chinese2mrsh | Make Your Own At www.toondoo.com

Here's a sample of one strip with 3 panels:

by Nemsae | Create your own Cartoon at www.toondoo.com

In addition to sharing them with students, teachers, parents, and administrators, I also use them to review grammar and vocabulary words.  Since these are story-based, it makes a lot more sense to the students when I explain how to use certain things.

Enjoy and let me know how I can improve the use of this technology in my curriculum.