This document provides an introduction to using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. It discusses how these tools can be used to build digital literacy, encourage collaboration, support communication, and provide engaging learning opportunities. Specific Web 2.0 tools are then described, including collaborative tools like wikis, Padlet, and Voicethread. Other sections explain how tools like word clouds, avatars, and multimedia creators can be utilized. Challenges of implementing Web 2.0 tools and some potential classroom applications are also outlined.

1. An introduction to Web 2.0 tools
for the classroom

2. How can we support 21st Century learners?
• Build digital literacy:
▫ Information literacy
▫ Media literacy
▫ ICT literacy
• Use tools to encourage collaboration,
teamwork, networking
• Support effective communication
• Provide learning opportunities that are:
▫ ubiquitous
 whenever, wherever & beyond the classroom
▫ authentic
▫ engaging and contextual.
• Find out about Partnership 21 a U.S. national organisation
that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student.
http://www.p21.org

3. ENABLE children to experience
or achieve outcomes that would
otherwise not be possible.
ENRICH subject learning
ENHANCE children’s work
Rationale and justification
Did the use of ICT:

4. COLLABORATIVE TOOLS

5. Collaboration
• Padlet – a virtual post it wall - real time
collaboration! http://padlet.com/
• Wikis – a wiki about wikis!
http://teachweb2.wikispaces.com/What+about+Wikis
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and
editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a
web browser. Wikis are typically powered by wiki
software and are often used collaboratively by
multiple users. http://simple.wikipedia.org
• Example class wiki: http://thedowns.wikispaces.com/

6. Collaborate & Communicate
Blogging is the posting of journal-like
pages to a website:
http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/06/ultimate-guide-to-use-of-
blogs-in.html
Winners of the latest Education Blog
Awards: http://edublogawards.com/
Voicethread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show
that holds images, documents, and videos and allows
people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways -
using voice (with a mic or phone), text, audio file, or video
(via a webcam). http://voicethread.com

7. is an online notice board maker.
useful for keeping notes, making
announcements or discussing topics.
• like a real notice board - drag, drop and re-arrange posts.
• add images, music, video and page attachments.
• Padlet: http://padlet.com/
Example: http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/PrimarysevenA
• Registration is required if you wish
to build your own wall but pupils do
not have to sign up in order to post
a sticky note.

8. Padlet - Ideas for the classroom
• Brainstorming
• Collect ideas for exploration
▫ e.g. ‘what do we need to learn about..’
• What do you think about?
• Feedback/self reflection
▫ e.g. How could we/I improve….
• Share resources/links
• Create a plenary wall
• Give out tasks/homework
▫ Parents can see online
• Book reviews

9. More Padlet ideas
• Make personal commitments
▫ e.g. PSHE, Citizenship
• Where were you born
▫ add images/links to Google maps
• Create a wall of images for children to research/identify
• International messages
▫ Parents can add greetings/messages in their own language
• Thank you, special messages or ‘people mention’ wall
▫ e.g. special people, local community links
• Suggestion wall
▫ e.g. school council, library books, class trips etc.
• Personal targets/ambitions
• Research summaries – can you do it with one image and two sentences?!
• Colleagues and pupils can share and collaborate.

10. Word Clouds
How could you use a word cloud in your classroom?
wordle.net
tagxedo.com
tagul.com
www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm

11. Create a word cloud
• Go to tagxedo.com
• Try one of the shapes if you need inspiration.
• Remember you can copy & paste text.
• You have 5 minutes!
Stuck for ideas?
• Google ‘types of mammal’ or ‘list of UK birds’
• List of fruits or vegetables
• Create a quick spelling list here:
▫ http://www.brendenisteaching.com/gen/wordlist

12. Ideas for word clouds
• Introduce a new topic
• Consolidation of topic/unit of work
▫ pupils can create their own clouds
or they can be given them to use
• Guess the story/book
▫ is it fiction or non-fiction
▫ what is it going to be about
▫ what genre
• Character word cloud
• Spelling lists
▫ Children can create their own clouds of spelling lists with
preferred colours, orientation, fonts etc.
• New/challenging vocabulary
▫ look at words in the cloud with a dictionary

13. More ideas for
word clouds
• Examine a famous speech
Who’s is this??
• Turn pupils writing into a poster
• Compare and contrast tool
▫ e.g looking at bias - compare the same news story from different newspapers
(online) newspapers - how do the words used differ?
• Self-reflection on work
▫ Word clouds make words larger the more frequently they are used, pupils will be
able to see at a glance which words or phrases they are over-using.
Are they using the word Nice or Good too often?
• Encouraging creative writing from a selection of key words from a
word cloud
• Class survey - a different way of data handling!
I’m sure you can think of many more…!

14. Avatars
www.faceyourmanga.com
(free account needed to save)
https://mybluerobot.com/create-your-own-avatar/
http://www.baseplate.com/toys/minifig/
http://www.doppelme.com/create/
https://sites.google.com/site/webtoolsbox/avatars
How could you make use of Avatars in the classroom?
Don’t forget you can always screen grab or the snipper tool)
to save your avatar instead of signing up.

15. Ideas for using Avatars in the classroom
• To represent users in virtual spaces
• PSHE & citizenship – to de-personalise issues
• Animated avatars useful for practising languages & teacher instructions
• Make own avatar and use in a personal profile listing hobbies, interests and goals.
• Make own avatar with background and accessories which represent their interests.
• Print out avatars with the pupil’s name underneath and use for classroom displays.
• Make avatars of characters from a book, film or play the class is looking at.
• Make avatars and write a story about them.
• Design an avatar and convert the image into an
artwork. It could be used in a screen printing
activity, painting or drawing.
• Use as a character in a game or animation such
as flash or scratch.
• Print out the avatar and pin the joints to make
it movable. This could be used as a puppet or
could be brought to life in a stop motion
animation.
• Make a 3-D interpretation of your avatar in
clay or construction materials.
http://www.bubole.pl/#/en/create_new_bubol/

16. Multimedia presenting
• Animoto - a tool that allows users to easily incorporate images, text,
and music into web based videos.
http://animoto.com
• Prezi - is zooming sketches on a digital napkin.
It's visualisation and storytelling without slides.
http://prezi.com
• Glogster – an online multimedia poster creation tool
http://edu.glogster.com
• Voki - a free service that allows you to create speaking avatars.
MFL Example Voki (scroll down the page)
http://www.voki.com
• Blabberize – a blabber is a talking picture!
http://blabberize.com
Examples: http://kditzlerteacherresourcepage.wikispaces.com/Blabberize

17. Story Creation
• Storybird is a fun collaborative tool for creating
online books. amazing art work for children to
use to tell a story is provided.
http://storybird.com
• Mixbook - upload your own digital photos and create a story
with them. How about a class year book or class (Tudor) recipe
book?
http://www.mixbook.com
• Smile Box is a fun way to make a scrapbook or real book
for your classroom. Work online or offline.
http://media.smilebox.com/teachers/welcome

18. Images & graphics
• www.tuxpi.com
• http://pixlr.com
• www.befunky.com
• http://www.teacherfiles.com/free_word_art.htm
• http://www.glassgiant.com/make_pictures.php
• http://www.photofacefun.com/?section_id=20
• https://www.picmonkey.com/blog/teaching-kids-photo-
editing

19. Other ideas
• Timetoast – create a multimedia timeline
http://www.timetoast.com/
▫ Historical/important events, toys, an authors works, comics,
personal reading log (over the summer holidays?), diaries, a story’s events etc.
• Popplet – ideas, mind maps
http://popplet.com
• Tube Chop - save bits of YouTube videos
http://www.tubechop.com
• AnswerGarden – minimal tool/maximum feedback
http://answergarden.ch
• Don’t forget about podcasting, Google Maps & Google Earth, Skype & Twitter!
• History Pin – compare what your local area looked like in the
past to the present day and discuss how life was different.
http://www.historypin.com/
• Just for fun: www.personalizemedia.com/garys-social-media-count

20. Web 2.0 classroom
challenges
• Digital citizenship
• E-Safety issues
• Pupil conduct online
• Public accountability
• Traditional ethos of school
• Assessment issues
• ICT skills of staff
• ICT skills of pupils
• Infrastructure
• Technical & other support

21. Useful resources/links
• Blog about digital resources and online apps: http://digitaltoolsforteachers.blogspot.com
• Web 2.0 tools ideas & starter sheets http://misdtechstars.wikispaces.com/Tools+-+All+PDF's
• Teachers tech guides: http://www.edudemic.com/guides/
• Useful sites: http://www.timrylands.com/somepastlinks/
• ICT Magic: http://ukedchat.com/ictmagic/
• http://www.schrockguide.net/online-tools.html
• http://www.educatorstechnology.com/p/site-map.html
• http://edjudo.com/web-2-0-teaching-tools-links
• Technology tools: http://misdtechstars.wikispaces.com/Technology+Tools
• Collaborative tools: http://www.educatorstechnology.com/search/label/collaborative%20tools
• A-Z of tried and tested internet resources for education: http://www.boxoftricks.net/internet-resouces-
for-education/
• Free tech for Teachers YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/user/rbyrnetech/playlists
• Resources in Shared Area V302
• Just for fun & on the theme of technology……….

22. Tips for using YouTube in the classroom
Five of the more popular video tips from http://www.freetech4teachers.com
1. Remove distractions by using ViewPure or Watchkin.
ViewPure and Watchkin are services that allow you to watch and project YouTube
videos without seeing the related sidebar content typically seen on YouTube.com. They
also offer a free browser bookmarklet that you can use to clear the sidebar content while
viewing a video on YouTube.
You can search for YouTube videos through the ViewPure or Watchkin websites. When
searching for videos you don't see sidebar content, you only see videos.
http://viewpure.com/
https://watchkin.com/
To be clear, ViewPure or Watchkin are not a filter work-around if your school blocks
YouTube and it is not a tool for downloading YouTube videos. (Downloading YouTube
videos is a violation of the YouTube terms of service).
2. Show just a portion of a video by using TubeChop.
TubeChop gives you the ability to clip a section from any YouTube video and share it
with others via a link or via an embed code added to your own blog or website.
TubeChop lets you select a start time and an end time for a video that you share.
http://tubechop.com/

23. Tips for using YouTube in the classroom
3. Create a playlist of videos.
Save yourself some classroom downtime by having a playlist of videos ready to go when
you need them. You can create playlists directly in your YouTube account. A video on
how to do this can be found here: https://youtu.be/jwDsxuoicWg
4. Alternatives to YouTube
Some excellent educational content can be found on YouTube. However, many teachers
cannot access YouTube in their classrooms. Therefore, I compiled a list of other places
to find educational videos that don't rely on YouTube.
www.freetech4teachers.com/p/alternatives-to-youtube.html
5. Creating video resources
Create a video slideshow with audio on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3-IiGnrjZ1o
Create your own ‘choose your own adventure story’ videos:
- Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp18wujtt48&feature=youtu.be
- How to add a hyperlink to a YouTube video tutorial: https://youtu.be/kdxFmmX-Zz4

24. Self assessment questions
• Which collaborative tools could you use to facilitate
a piece of writing about a famous composer?
• What are the potential benefits of using Web 2.0
technologies in the classroom?
• What are the main characteristics that enable digital
text to be altered and adapted for different purposes
and audiences?
• How might you use ICT to support children’s
learning at school and at home?