Netvibes is another Web 2.0 tool I investigated. After reading and investigating Netvibes, I immediately starting thinking about how this tool could be used when creating a Web Quest. Similar to Evernote, it can pull a variety of sources from the web and is a great tool for during research projects. Students can use Netvibes to create websites and student blogs. This is an awesome collaboration tool. It gives the students a global audience which increases the level of engaged learning for the students.
Educade is another Web 2.0 tool I investigated. This free site provides information about web tools for educators to review. (Solomon and Scrum, 2014) I was able to find a great app to use with my students. The StoryBots app allows teachers or students to add a photo and become the star of the show in an animated storybook. The books are age-appropriate and designed for emergent readers which is great for kindergarteners. Another great feature is that the book can be read offline after being downloaded.
These tools can enhance student learning by allowing the students to take responsibility for their own learning. They also support teaching because teachers are able to use them to monitor student’s work and provide immediate feedback. The students can use the tools to produce research papers, websites, and blogs giving them learning environment.
Tools like Evernote and Netvibes can be used to enhance the learning for students with disabilities because they allow the students to have visual learning aids. This is especially helpful for visual learners. Their also beneficial because they helps organize thoughts from the notes and other text retrieved from the web. This can help students with a learning disability because organizing and retrieving information can be very challenging.
I would allow my students to use the StoryBots app/website after they have completed their daily computer assignment. Every Friday, we go to the computer lab, this would also be a time my students could use this tool. In a blended learning environment, students could have more opportunities to explore these tools and enhance their learning.
The biggest challenge for is me using these tools is that most of these Web 2.0 tools are for the use of older students. My kindergarteners would have a hard time using some of the tools without one-on-one assistance. One way to overcome this challenge is to change grade levels but since I do not foresee that in the near future, I can look for ways to adapt the tools for my students or continue searching for more age-appropriate tools.
Formative Assessment
My school district recently purchased Illuminate and I am currently being trained so that I can train other teachers at my school to use this assessment tool.
Reference
Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2014). Web 2.0 how-to for educators (2nd ed.). Eugene, OR. ISTE