Chapter 2: Introduction to Web 2.0

I am hoping to release a new chapter by Sunday of every week. Splitting free time between writing the book and working on TeachMeet Nashville planning resulted in almost not getting this week’s chapter finished in time.

This week I am releasing the second chapter. If you have not read the introduction, you may want to start here. If you have not read the first chapter, you may want to start here.

Chapter 2 is an introduction to the what, how, and why of Web 2.0 tools. If I am being honest, I am least satisfied with this chapter compared to the previous two weeks releases. It will probably be the shortest chapter in the book. It attempts to explain what Web 2.0 tools are, why teachers and students could benefit from using them, and provide some examples. I chose Glogster, Wordle, and Wallwisher because of their simplicity and their versatility to be used in many different situations and content areas. If your favorite tool was not presented, it will most likely be presented in a later chapter; feel free to suggest one in the comments, though, in case I have overlooked it or have not discovered it yet.

I think the reason that I am not completely happy with this chapter is because it is the only chapter that does not have a clear vision and focus. The chapter before and the intro have a clearly delineated vision of what needs to be accomplished; the chapters following will all have a specific focus, like tools for collaboration for example.

I am really hoping for some constructive feedback. If you have any ideas please leave them in the comments. I am very transparent about my work and am open to criticism, so don’t worry about hurting my feelings if you find something that needs to be changed. Hopefully, our collaboration will result in a work that will help teachers. Also, if you want to be included in the From the Teachers section of the book, please put a narrative of a time that you used Glogster, Wordle, and/or Wallwisher. See some great examples from Debra Gottseleben and Bryan Jackson in the previous chapter.

Thank you to Aaron Eyler, Scott Synder, Matt Guthrie, Bill Chamberlain, Tom Barrett, Cindy Lane, and Danny Maas, for their contributions and help this week.

Also, the manuscript says that the tutorials are done. I was just writing optimistically and I will make the tutorials on Monday when I am back in my office.

Without further ado, here is the Word document and the pdf file. The chapter is also embedded below with Scribd.
Chapter 2