Journal 4

Storytelling in the Web 2.0 Era by Glen Bull
Learning & Leading with Technology - Feb 2008

This article discusses the four trends of Web 2.0 and how they ultimately benefit educators. Because of its availability, using the web as a platform has increased the level of creativity and prompted more applications to be developed. Decreased cost and increased accessibility has also added to the increased production of media by several kinds of users. It is now very common to share and re-mix some elements of media for a new project. Content contributed by users adds economic as well as educational value for applications. Educators benefit from the abundance of media tools available at very low or no cost. Because of the web applications, students also benefit because projects that started at school can be worked on outside the classroom wherever there is access to the internet. Students can mix a number of forms of media to tell there stories.
How important is a mixture of media in the classroom?
Because different types of media will appeal to different children in the classroom, it would be important to have a mixture of media available. It’s important to try and keep students excited about assignments and if they are not connecting with the media, they would probably lose interest faster. I would require students to use more than one form of media in any given project as a way to make them more familiar with media that may not have used before.
How can I include multiple media options for children in the classroom?
It would be my responsibility as a teacher to be aware of what available for use. Since the trends of Web 2.0 all point to innovative applications being developed constantly, it is important to know about them and make sure they are appropriate for the classroom. I think discussions with the students would be a good way to understand what they like or dislike about a particular media form as well as keeping an eye on what’s out there.