Week 4: Web 2.0 in the classroom

Introducing new technologies into a classroom is always going to be challenging and must be done correctly in order for the potential benefits to be fully explored (Merchant 2009). They must be presented in such a way that they are not seen as a new way to produce interesting and innovative bodies of work. Teachers can achieve this by using their knowledge and understanding to inspire children to use digital technologies to create these works. It is also important that teachers provide opportunities that allow children to decide why, when and what technologies they can use to produce work that has an outcome which is not just that of using the technology itself (Futurelab 2010).

The three web 2.0 programs that I have used to create the pieces of work in this blog, like all technology, can provide opportunities for children to achieve this. The programs are: Wordle – a word cloud generator; Tagxedo – a shaped word cloud generator; and Storybird – a book creating program. Of the three, Storybird offers the most opportunities for children to create an original piece of work through its easy to use interface and wide selection of artwork, also its ability to allow teachers to set up a group area in which children can work on assignments could allow children to take ownership of their learning. However, it only allows users to use artwork that is already included and not add their own and could limit the work that teachers can ask children to complete. This means that teachers may have to plan their literacy lessons around the artwork that they can access on the website.

Wordle and Tagxedo are also of limited productivity and I personally see them as presentation tools. The two programs are word cloud generators with Tagxedo offering more choices for customisation. Both are easy to use and produce good looking pieces of work but seem to lack in the creativity department as the user has minimal input in the way in which the words are arranged in the cloud. I can also see that the options it does offer could cause problems as children attempt to get the clouds looking perfect through choice of colour and layout.

In order for digital literacy practices to be effective teachers need to foster children's critical thinking through the creative process, otherwise they may just be seen as another way of reaching an outcome. One way in which this can be achieved is through the use of analysis and reflection in regards to the digital works that children produce. When teachers provide an environment in which children are continuously questioning the choices they are making critically it offers opportunities for children to develop their thinking skills.

This would be the way in which I would use web 2.0 technologies in the classroom, not just as a presentation tool but as a way to engage children in really considering the choices they make within the work that they author.

Futurelab (2010) Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum. Available online at http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf (accessed 10/04/2014).

Merchant, G. (2009) 'Literacy in Virtual Worlds' in Journal of Research in Reading, Vol 32, Issue 1, 2009, pp38-56.


Journal of Research in Reading,