Web 2.0 - The tools to learn and collaborate

Group E Ashlee Addair Amanda Robinson Katie Powell

DaJuana Hammonds

Table of ContentsPage 1: IntroductionPage 2: Table of ContentsPages 3-7: Ashlee Addair - www.storybird.com   Pages 8-12: Amanda Robinson - www.voicethread.com Pages 13-18: Katie Powell - http://www.grammarly.com/

 Pages 19-23: DaJuana Hammonds-http://www.noteflight.com/login

 Page 24: Summary of Web 2.0 Tools 

StoryBirdCollaborative Storytelling

• StoryBird promotes online, collaborative storytelling through the creation of stories.

•  Their goal is to make storytelling social, fun, and easy

•  The team members of Storybird hope to bring people together by sharing stories, values, & turning objects into permenant ideas.

      www.storybird.com     • Storybird's mission is to be an advocate for the imagination.

  Benefits of Storybird • Being a narrative artist has never been more fun, innovative, creative, and connective.

•  Creating stories that reflect thoughts, themes, and feelings are positivley expressed in a way that supports the online community.

•  Teachers can create a free account where they can add classes and manage assignments.  By adding classes, they invite students to participate in the creation of stories that use authentic art, their own thoughts/ideas & themes.

  

  How to Set up an Account • Log onto: www.storybird.com and click on "Create an account" in the upper right hand corner; or log in if returning

• Needed: any email account, secure password, and acceptance of terms and policies

• Extras: uploading a personal avatar; can be a picture or symbol

• Make it functional: use often to view newly written stories and get ideas from them, upload classes & assignments

In the Classroom...

For the classroom, storybird gives teachers and students the opportunity to write stories based on a theme, or other topic of interest.   As an educator, using StoryBird will hopefully be a way to engage my students technologically, creatively, and by writing through producing. • The way the creators of storybird say it...Assignments are thematic lessons you assign to your students. Their output is pooled together in a library of stories that you can make private or public.   

Final Thoughts

UPSIDE• free and easy• everyone can join• Creativity is endless• abilities to connect• expression of self• productivity• tool for teachers and students

DOWNSIDE• Work doesn't have to be proofread before publishing

• are unable to use own illustrations or art

 

Overall, StoryBird could be a highly effective classroom tool! 

Voicethread• Voicethread is a collaborative,

multimedia slideshow that allows creators and users to comment on a shared project in a variety of ways, including video, text, telephone, audio file, and drawing.

• Once a comment has been made, it becomes part of the presentation, and is seen in real time by all subsequent viewers.         Here is a screenshot of a  

voicethread that I am working on... notice my video comment?

Voicethread account set-up information• The most basic voicethread account is free.  All that

is required is a yahoo account and a password.  • Log onto www.voicethread.com • Fill out the basic information - email account,

password, name.• Agree to the Terms of Use.• Begin creating voicethreads!

Classroom benefits of voicethread

• Students can work on group projects together without being together.

• With voicethread, what the students think about a video or an image is at least as important as the media itself, so the thinking process of the student and his / her ability to interpret information can be assessed. 

Potential Uses: • Research• Media Literacy• Student / Class portfolios• Group Presentation tool

Potential Downfalls

• When multiple users are commenting on a single slideshow, there can be a lack of continuity.  For example, if multiple users add video comments from different places, there may be a difference in background noise, the speed and tone of the comments may be different.  These things can be distracting and take away from the finished product. 

Voicethread final thoughts...

• As a collaborative tool, voicethread really exemplifies what a Web 2.0 tool can do; it can join different types of media and presentation software into a single slide show, and can be accessed by multiple users.  Voicethread can cater to many of the emerging curriculum requirements for students, such as presentation collaboration, media literacy, and technology use. I think this is an exciting addition to the myriad tools out there that educators can use to make the classroom more engaging while still being academically challenging.

• Grammarly is an automated proofreader that checks grammar, spelling and citation quickly and easily.

• Gives students a proofreading tool that not only catches plagiarism, grammar and style mistakes, but also offers instructional direction.

Account Set-Up• Go to http://www.grammarly.com/• Simply sign-up for a 7-day free trial - you can always

cancel before you are charged• Create an account in under 3 minutes• Take a tour of the site!• Start using Grammarly! 

Getting Started• Copy and paste your text that you need to check• Choose which type of text you are wanting to be

checked by Grammarly - academic, business, formal, etc

•  Click "Start Review" and watch Grammarly start checking for everything from vocabulary to spelling to sentence structure!

•  Grammarly will show you how many errors you have in the text, and will walk you through each - offer a short or long explanation

  

Classroom benefits of Grammarly

• Students can see their mistakes INSTANTLY!• Errors are highlighted and addressed individually,

which suggestions for ways to correct the error or make the text strong, i.e. vocabulary.

• Students can use this tool when going through the editing process of everything from research papers to minor writing assignments.  

  

A potential barrier in the classroom• While very user-friendly, Grammarly would be hard

to let individual students use all at one time. For whole group instruction it would be ideal, but since there is only one account it would be impossible to have more than one or two students working on the site.

  

Grammarly final thoughts...

• This is a simple, highly effective tool to aid in the editing process!

• This is an exciting tool that we can add to our toolbox as educators to get our kids involved and ahead!

• I plan on using this in both my graduate and post-graduate classes, as well as teaching my 8th graders!

 

What is Noteflight?A music notation program that allows you to create and score songs, instrumental and vocal. You can listen to your compositions and print them!

"Noteflight was founded with the vision of making it simple for everyone to create and share musical ideas online. We started by building a place on the web where individuals could create, view, hear and print their own music. Our users began to share, collaborate, teach and learn with Noteflight. We are constantly finding new opportunities in partnering with others, and as we continue to learn about what people see in Noteflight, we build new features. There's something for everyone at Noteflight!"

How can I set up my account?

1. Go to http://www.noteflight.com/login

2. Click on Sign up now(You can select the free account or the account that costs $49.00/year)3. Enter your email information4. Noteflight will send you a link to your email address. The link will take you to the site for login.

5. Login and then read the directions on the homepage. They are very clear and the site is user friendly. You can do the following:• Create a new score• See other Noteflight users

scores/share your scores with other users

• Mark other scores as favorites/Post comments on the scores

Benefits of using Noteflight in the classroom

 Music Education K-12 and Higher Education

• Students have an online program that allows them to view other scores, including scores that have been created by the professor

• Students can compose scores and play back their piece as well as print

• Very cost efficient compared to other music notation programs such as FINALE. (Free or $49.00/year

• Work is accessible on any computer

Teacher uses• Create/print scores for

classroom use (including performance pieces)

• Program can be used tool to differentiate instruction

• Professional Development (Share scores with other teachers and other music professionals)

Frustrations/Barriers with using Noteflight in the classroom

• No frustrations if using program as a teacher tool

• Music classrooms generally do not have computers

• Scores are automatically set up in piano modeo If student wanted to compose a guitar piece, this

would be difficult• Headphones would be required for playbacks

o Poses a possible hygiene issue since ALL students in the school take music.

Final thoughts about Noteflight

This program is wonderful! I have begun using it to create recorder karate songs for my students. Check

out my first piece with Noteflight!    http://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/b29f4a09653a9

614591b58d660a80df5a2b1fe81   

Web 2.0 Summary

It is truly amazing how many Web 2.0 applications are out there, and how many of them are useful, fun, easy to use!  Since Web 2.0 is "the internet, collaboratively," it is a way for people to interact with each other and with the web.   From programs that allow students to create music or edit assignments, to programs that allow students to create stories and presentations together, the applications in this slide show represent what we as educators have come to appreciate through this class - the varied ways that we can help students use the internet not only to learn, but to create knowledge.