Our students, who are the 21st century learners, are often called as digital natives and they are surrounded by new technology. Cindy Wright, who is the creater of the slideshow above, argues that our students should have these skills: communication, innovation, creativity, problem solving, interactive, collaboration and critical thinking. These skills can be facilitated with the use of Web 2.0 tools, which enable students to read and also write contents on web pages.
I think... one of the most popular Web 2.0 tools is wikis. I am a primary school teacher and I've been using one since 2008. When I first started using my class wiki, the main purpose of it was to give an opportunity to students to learn after school hours. However, it was difficult for students to access the wiki at home. My school is a low decile school (decile 2) and majority of students do not have the internet access/computer at home.
Last year, when I was in a year2/3 class, there were a few students who used the wiki at home. This year, however, I 'm in a year1/2 class and I think it's even harder to encourage them to use it at home. For this reason, our class wiki is now used like a 'learning log' that I use to record what's happening in the class and what we are doing.
As many studies state, the way that Web 2.0 tools are used determine the effectiveness of them - whether they facilitate student learning or not. It is teachers' role to fully understand about the use of Web 2.0 tools and learn to use them effectively. In reality, however, I think it is such a hard task for majority of teachers, to find time to do that...
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