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Welcome

Welcome

This blog is dedicated to facilitating Web 2.0 training for Walnut Grove Elementary teachers and staff. It is designed to provide a flexible, collaborative environment for learning about technology tools that can be used to build skills for professional growth and classroom technology integration.

How it works
Each week brief exercises will be posted to guide teachers through a self-paced, hands-on exploration of freely available Web 2.0 and Internet tools. Support materials, including podcasts, tutorials, sample uses in education, and tips will be provided. To receive credit for completing each week's exercise, teachers will be required to create a blog where they will share their experience for the week (or comment on this blog).

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Cloud Computing

Today, you can create and access documents on a variety of devices, including laptops, smart phones, iPads, and iPods.  While this creates powerful opportunities for productivity, it also results in challenges related to storage and access between devices.  Cloud computing provides the solution.  In a nutshell, cloud computing is using online services to store and retrieve files and access programs.  Instead of emailing documents to yourself or keeping up with flash drives, you can use online applications like Google Docs and Dropbox. 

Watch this video from Common Craft that explains Cloud Computing in Plain English.  Then, go to the Cloud Computing blog to access Google Docs and Dropbox tutorials and complete this week's exercises.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Wikis

Wiki is a Hawaiian word that means fast or quick. A wiki is a website that can be easily updated and changed by multiple users. Wikis can be used in many of the same ways as blogs. The main difference is the higher level of collaboration and shared content creation available in the wiki environment.

A Few Key Wiki Features:
  • Wikis can include text, images, audio, and video.
  • Every version of every page is saved in the page history. So, you can revert to older versions, if needed.
  • The history allows you to track what has been changed and by whom.
  • A wiki's "permissions" may be set to public, protected or private.
    • Public - Anyone can view and edit the pages;
    • Protected - Anyone can view the pages, but only approved members may edit pages;
    • Private - Only approved members (who are logged in) can view or edit the pages.
  • You can track page changes by email or RSS reader.
  • You do not need to know HTML to add content or apply styles.
To get a better understanding of how wikis work, please watch this short video, Wikis in Plain English, from CommonCraft. Then, go to the Wikis blog to access tutorials and get started with the exercises for this week.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Blogging

A blog is an online journal consisting of posts and comments generally on a specific topic.  Blogging sites, like Blogger, Wordpress, and Edublogs, make it easy for those without programming expertise to create a Web presence that is dynamic and includes links, video, images, RSS feeds, and other gadgets for an interactive experience.

Watch this short video, Blogging in Plain English, and then get started with the exercises for this week on the Blogs Page.