Web+2.0

In the following essay, I discuss the benefits of Web 2.0, as opposed to Web 1.0, and I identify the features of five Web 2.0 tools that I plan to utilize in my future teaching.

 In contrast to Web 1.0, Web 2.0 permits Internet users around the world to exchange information and resources with one another. For teachers, the potential uses of Web 2.0 are seemingly endless. Not only does Web 2.0 allow for the publication of user-generation content, which can then be accessed by other users, but it also facilitates interaction among users who may or may not be in the same physical location. Many university courses are now offered online, for example, enabling students from varied locations to connect with a professor, who is able both to provide course content and to receive student-generated work through one of several Web 2.0 applications.

 After a cursory investigation into various Web 2.0 tools, I have identified five applications that I feel would be extremely useful for my future work as an ESL and Spanish teacher. The first of these tools is the podcast, which enables users to deliver digital audio files via the web. Not only could I create individual podcasts of material in the target language, but I could involve students in creating their own podcasts in English or Spanish that they could make available to their peers and/or individuals in the larger community. Since students may spend only a few hours a day working with the target language in school, podcasts are a unique way to continue student involvement in lesson content outside of class. Most modern cell phones and any digital audio player can store the pre-recorded podcasts for listening at a time convenient for the student, whether on the bus, before bed or even in the bathroom! Creators of podcasts also have the option of setting up RSS feeds, to which individual users can subscribe. As soon as a new podcast has been published, users who have subscribed to the podcast will receive a notification through e-mail that a new audio file is available to download.

 The second Web 2.0 application I hope to use in my classroom is Google docs. Google docs is an excellent tool that allows individuals to collaborate on a paper or class project. Not only would I hope to work with other teachers through Google docs on designing activities and classroom materials, but students would be able to collaborate on a written assignment, using the application to edit or to comment on one another’s work. One of the fundamental considerations of Sociocultural Theory is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), originally defined by Vygotsky (1978) as “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (p. 86). However, Vygotsky’s original conceptualization of ZPD has been expanded in recent years to hypothesize that learning may also emerge as a result of learner—learner interaction (Chaiklin, 2003). In other words, two or more learners may interact in the target language without the assistance of a teacher or a more capable peer, and in turn, meaningfully contribute to one another’s progress in acquiring a second language. Google docs, along with a number of Web 2.0 tools, provide learners with a space in which student-student interaction, and hopefully language learning, can continue outside of classroom walls.

 A third Web 2.0 application that may enhance student learning is a tool called Webspiration ([|www.mywebspiration.com]). Webspiration provides students with a visual framework to brainstorm and organize ideas. The application includes diagrams, idea maps, and graphic organizers, and students can login anywhere they have Internet access. Learners can create a document from scratch, begin from a template, or work from an instructor-posted assignment. Webspiration can then transform diagrams into outlines with topics and subtopics, for example, thereby providing a framework for well-written essays. Furthermore, teachers and peers are able to offer feedback on individual or group work throughout the creative process. Many beginning language learners assume that they do not have the skills necessary to write a longer essay in the target language, however, depending on the topic, this fear can often be overcome by encouraging students to first expand their vocabulary surrounding the topic in question. Since a number of academic papers and newspapers use the present tense, learners need not be amply versed in grammatical structures of the target languages in order to express their opinion of or comment on prevailing views surrounding immigration, for example. A graphic organizer may help students with identifying the vocabulary they will need to discuss a given topic and Webspiration provides the opportunity for creative, focused brainstorming and student collaboration.

 Another application I hope to use in my classroom is a creative mapping tool called Map Skip ([|www.mapskip.com]). On this site, teachers and students can explore the world by reading stories, viewing pictures and listening to sounds that other users have uploaded to an interactive map. Students who are new to this country could use the material on the map to learn more about the United States or Denver, and they could also upload their own stories, pictures and sounds to the map. As part of a larger project, students may want to investigate whether anything has been written about their place of origin and then supplement information with their own stories or photographs. Or as part of an ongoing project, learners could contribute material after visiting a new place within the city. Not only would their peers be able to see what they wrote or posted to the map, but so too would users around the world, which could be a significant motivator.