Many new, FREE web tools are emerging that allow for new approaches to fostering interpersonal interaction in the online learning environment. While many of these new Web 2.0 tools are designed for integration within blogs or other social networking applications, they may also be embedded within Blackboard to extend its existing collaborative capabilities. This session will explore various free Web 2.0 tools and discuss how these new free tools can be integrated within or utilized in conjunction with Blackboard.

Session Rationale

• LMS Limitations
• Web 2.0 Applications
• Comfort with Status Quo
• Essentials of Contemporary Distance Learning
• Rise of Social Learning
• Convergence
• Ubiquitous Connectivity
• Networked Learning
• Personal Learning Environments
• Formal vs. Informal Learning
• Groups, Networks, Collective
• Interaction vs. Enagagement
• Limited Resources

What is Web 2.0?

• Definition and history of Web 2.0
• Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us
• Tim O'Reilly's definition
• Highly technical definition - Andi Gutmans
  
• Abstract concepts : new ways of being free, made for you by you; structured web offering visibility; flow of media; societal change; collective knowledge; always changing
  

What is RSS?

• RSS in Plain English
• RSS defined and demonstrated
  

Introductions to Web 2.0 Technologies

• Blogs: What is a blog?
• Podcasts: What is a podcast?
• Wikis / Collaborative Authorship: Wikis in Plain English
• Google Documents: Google Docs in Plain English
• Social Bookmarks: Social bookmarks in Plain English
  
• Social Networks: Social networking in Plain English

Web 2.0 Technology Concept Diagrams

• RSS
• Bookmarking Tags & XML
• Blog Structure
• Blog Subscription
  
• Podcasts

Web 2.0 Tools

All examples provided below are FREE tools that can either be embedded within a Blackboard or used in conjunction with Blackboard.

Blogging

• Blogger
  free blogging host/tool powered by Google
• Edublogs
  free blogs for educators
  
• Tumblr
  basic blogging tool; creates RSS feed of misc. items (text, photos, quotes, links, chat, video) | sample |
• Uniblogs
  free blogs for university and college students
  
• ElggSpaces
  hosted Elgg service for walled-garden blogging
  

Bookmarking

• del.icio.us
  free, easy-to-use social bookmarking service
• diigo
  social annotation: seamless integration of social bookmarking, web highlighter, sticky-note & clipping
• Listible!
  social bookmarking / listing combined with ranking / voting of resources
• Scholar
  free social bookmarking tool from Blackboard
• StumbleUpon
  discover and bookmark sites, videos, pictures and more — all according to your interests

Collaborative Authorship / Wikis

• Google Docs, Spreadsheets, & Presentations
  collaborative online creation & editing by Google
  
• Listphile
  create and share community-powered lists, databases, and atlases | education journals | educational psychology journals | educational technology journals |
  
• Zoho
  online office, word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and more
• Zoho Writer
  online word processor - write • share • collaborate
  

Concept Maps / Diagrams

• bubbl
  free web application that lets you brainstorm online
  
• Gliffy
  draw and share / embed create diagrams
  | examples |
• MindMeister
  online mind mapping tool supporting all the standard features of a classic mind mapping tools; allows unlimited simultaneous users
• Mindomo
  Web-based mind mapping tool, delivering the capabilities of desktop mind mapping software in a Web browser - with no complex software to install or maintain.
  

Maps

• Frappr!
  visitor maps and other web social maps
• Google Maps
  create custom maps and directions share online or embed
  | sample | "america's highway" sample
  

Mashups

• Yahoo! Pipes
  powerful composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web.
  

News

• Google News
  search and browse news sources; create custom news RSS feeds
• Yahoo! News
  aggregated news feeds from Yahoo!

Notes

• NoteMesh
  free service that allows college students in the same classes to share notes with each other

Photos

• Flickr
  upload photos to share online or embed; RSS feeds for photo collections
• Picasa Web Albums
  online photo sharing, hosted by Google
  

Presentations / Slidecasts

• SlideShare
  upload PowerPoint slides, share with a link, embed in a blog, tag, & comment; ability to create slidecasts
  
• VoiceThread
  add voice narration and to a slide show composed of photos; asynchronous discussion and annotation centered around images or diagrams
  | demo | art history sample | class introduction | conference wrap-up | conference presentation |
• Zoho Show
  create and share presentations online

Reference

• CiteULike
  free online service to organize academic papers
  
• Connotea
  free online reference management for clinicians and scientists
  
• EndNoteWeb
  free web-based research tool
  
• Zotero
  free, easy-to-use Firefox extension for collecting, managing, and citing your research sources

RSS

• Feed2JS
  free service for building javascript command for embedding the contents of an RSS feed in a website
• WebRSS
  free service for generating code to publish RSS feeds to your site

Search

• Google Blogsearch
  find blogs and blog postings / current events by topic
  
• Google Scholar
  search of "academic" sources indexed by Google

Social Networks

• EduSpaces
  social network for those interested in all aspects of education
• Elgg
  open source social networking platform allowing community and individual blogging in either a public or a walled garden environment

Video Conferencing

• ooVoo
  free video conferencing with up to 6 people simultaneously
• Skype
  free VoIP calling and one-to-one video chatting

Videos

• Google Video
  free online video viewing and sharing service; videos can be downloaded for viewing offline
  
• TeacherTube
  online video sharing and viewing service oriented toward education
• Ustream
  platform that provides live interactive video for everyone; anyone with a camera and an Internet connection can use Ustream to broadcast to a global audience.
  
• Viddler
  upload, enhance, and share video
  
• YouTube
  free online video viewing and sharing service