Blog Post #5

There are several Web 2.0 technologies available today. From Youtube, Twitter, Wikis, and many more, I feel a majority of them are a very useful tool in the classroom. In our class alone use two Web 2.0 tool, Twitter and blogs, and I believe they are very helpful. Twitter allows for the students in class to connect constantly and express themselves greatly. Twitter has created a type of unity inside of the classroom and has given students the opportunity to get their opinions across promptly and easily. Like Twitter, the blogs have been an excellent Web 2.0 tool inside the classroom. I believe the blogs are great for students, but more beneficial for teachers. The blog allows for teachers to see how students are understanding and communicating their ideas and gives an opportunity for teachers to give feedback easily.

As a teacher, a very interesting tool to use would be Prezi (https://prezi.com/). Prezi is a website that allows for individuals to create informational slides, but in a visually appealing way. Prezi can be used for any topic a teacher is teaching and, in my opinion, keeps students engaged better than a PowerPoint. Powerpoint's are a great teaching source, but do not have a look that is engaging as Prezi. Prezi's main idea is to map-out information by using its "story-telling" type of interface keeps students interested more than just a slideshow. I have used Prezi's to study in the past and they have helped me greatly because it is students and teachers that are creating the presentation.

In chapter 12, the authors write about augmented reality and I believe it could be a major source in the future of education. In my environmental class, we do our labs online in what I consider "augmented reality-lite." I consider the labs a lite version because we are not actually doing all the movements ourselves, just controlling an avatar. However, in the future augmented reality could give students and educators the ability to do experiments without actually being face-to-face with everything they need. Augmented reality could give students a first-hand experience of a world they cannot get near. Teachers in history classes could allow students to see different parts of the world, or science classes could have students get a better understanding of an experiment by doing it through augmented reality. I feel that augmented reality could enhance how students learn drastically if used properly and accordingly