My Favourite Web 2.0 Tools

1. Web2.0 is any tool, program, or product that allows you to access your files where ever you are, when ever you need them by using the internet.

2. DropBox: This is a website that allows people to create a web-based folder in which to put important files, music, videos, pictures, etc that can then be accessed from any computer or internet connection (including phones). The folder is automatically synched when changes are made at any location - so if I, for example, I had one, and I put a new presentation into my folder on my laptop, I could open that presentation on any of the school computers. For me, that means I wouldn't need to carry my laptop around with my where ever I go, or if I forgot it one day, I could access my work using any computer. It also appears that you can share a DropBox folder with someone else, if you wish. That means that students could share their folders with me and would no longer need to email me attachments of their documents for feedback or even to turn them in. It would also mean that not every student is required to have a laptop - they can work from parents' home desktops, put their work into their DropBoxes, and then open up that work at school in the lab.

3. Voice Thread: This tool allows you to upload images and create a narration over them. You can use one slide and simply talk about that, or create a Powerpoint-like slide show and talk through the slides. It creates a web-based way to give presentations. So, if a student had a lasting illness, or had to be out of school for an extended period of time (or even just one day, really), he or she could create a Voice Thread presentation, post it to the web, and I could play it in class in lieu of a live presentation. It is also a good way of reporting on something that is not the usual way of creating a report, which may play to some students strengths in a more equitable way.