Blog Post 5

• A paragraph about which Web 2.0 technologies you think are useful and/or not useful in the classroom.  Provide specific examples.
• A review of an interesting Web 2.0 tool that you might use when teaching (e.g. delicious, library thing, Scribd – but don’t choose one we’ve already reviewed/used in class). Be sure to include a link to the tool.
• A paragraph about which technology advancement you believe holds the biggest promise for education.  Why?  

I think all of the Web 2.0 technologies have varying levels of usefulness based on factors surrounding the classroom. I think it all has to do with what class you're teaching, what age of students you're dealing with, and what the use of the technology is. Different assignments have different needs to be filled. I think ones like siigo and scribd are the most all-around useful. They aren't necessarily age-specific with appropriateness or usage, and they can be useful for any type of research, project, or organization. I feel that blogs are super useful, but maybe are specific to older classrooms and more creative settings or assignments. The one I feel least keen about is Twitter. I have a hard time using it myself, and am struggling with it as far as making posts for this class. I just never got into it and don't find it interesting, and I also feel as though it hold the most risks as far as privacy and keeping the class age appropriate. I understand how it's useful, really, but personally struggle with it. 

A web 2.0 tool that I feel enough to review is Google Docs. It (to me) is as easy to use and useful as Microsoft office, and gives me the peace of mind of having all of my documents accessible from any device. I find it easy to organize, as well as soothing to organize, and like the interconnection of all of the google apps. I also like the social collaboration tools that are built in. I find it extremely easy to do group work with this tool. 

I was taken aback by how many sensible applications VR software has for learning. I always thought it was sort of a silly novelty thing, but an argument was made that anything that could be difficult, dangerous or expensive to experience or to teach could be done through VR. They pointed out using it to teach driving, or operating planes or dangerous equipment. Obviously it can't completely replace hands-on training, but could definitely decrease the risk of the first few lessons, and give some experience and confidence to students going into daunting tasks.