As hybrid and virtual classroom options continue to grow for 21st century learners and public education, it is important for teachers to consider the impact and value of web 2.0 technologies in their teaching craft. Web 2.0 technologies can be broadly defined as technology tools that allow for everyday creating and sharing of student generated projects that enable engagement and interaction between students and teachers (Gulley, n.d.). Web 2.0 tools can increase engagement by enhancing the visual format of student work and expanding how that work can be interacted with by a teacher or classmate. Web 2.0 tools are also essential to teaching in a hybrid or virtual environment where content, materials, and supplies can not be physically provided. The table below contains 5 examples of web 2.0 tools that foster creation, collaboration, presentation, or reflection. It should be noted that none of the examples fall within the category of social media. While social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram do provide opportunities for content creation and collaboration, there are additional considerations such as privacy and cyberbullying that would need to be mitigated (Hunter & Furness, 2020, p. 158) The following web 2.0 tools were created specifically for educational and/or business purposes that largely avoid issues associated with social media. The table also identifies the highest level of learning that could be addressed in relation to Bloom’s Taxonomy.
One of the tools of particular interest and diverse functionality is VoiceThread. Voice Thread is a collaboration and presentation tool that provides unique recording features for students and teachers to work together around a variety of types of media. The platform allows students to upload static pictures, videos, or other visuals into a collaborative forum. They can then record audio descriptions or videos of themselves analyzing or describing their content. Students and teachers can comment or even draw on uploaded visuals for collaboration or reflection purposes. An example of a classroom activity that utilizes VoiceThread features might be a history prompt where students upload primary sources such as a painting or news headline. Students could then write or record audio of themselves analyzing the meaning of the primary source or how it is useful within a broader research project. In a Geography classroom, students could use VoiceThread to demonstrate their understanding about the difference between maps of different scale sizes or other map tools. By simply uploading several maps of one location, students could be prompted to identify the largest scale map and smallest scale map in addition to discussing how a map might be useful for world travelers, resource developers or even scientists. Another digital tool with many worthwhile applications is Blogger. Blogs are generally considered online forms of personal journals. Blogs can use written text, visuals, graphs, or videos. Blogs are interactive in purpose in that followers of blogs can leave comments on content. Individual blogs or classroom Blogs can be a great way for students to collaborate with other students on projects or reflect on their own progress for an individual project or task. “Blogs are found to be useful in terms of documenting the learned information, sharing experiences and knowledge with the peers far away (Ergul and Cakir, 2021).” Furthermore, studies have shown blogs to be useful in improving reading and writing skills particularly for students learning a foreign language (Ergul and Cakir, 2021) Some classrooms use a class blog to document activities and projects for the benefit of outside audiences like parents. Other individual blogs can be used for a student to document their thinking and progress on a long term project. For example National History Day is a nation wide history research project and competition for secondary education students. Students research a person, event, or other historical period related to a chosen theme and develop a thesis statement to explain how their topic relates to the national theme. An example of a theme is Leadership and Legacy. Students would choose a historical figure that impacted history and left a particular legacy for future generations. One of the final steps of the project is for students to write a process paper that includes a description of the steps and sources that students used throughout their research. A blog would be an excellent way to keep track of historical sources, outline the evidence examples that would support the thesis statement which would serve the student well when they write their final process paper about their project. Blogger.com is an easy to use blog creation website that works similar to website creation sites. Blogger.com has many features that allow students to creatively document progress, reflect on their learning, and show their understanding within a project, unit, or even an entire class. Posts in Blogger are organized chronologically to show incremental steps and reflections over time.