Pro's and Con's of Web 2.0 Application

What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 represents a fundamental change in the use of the Internet  from a medium mainly used for finding and viewing information to one which now also realising large-scale personal publishing and social networking.
 
 
 
Web 2.0 tools (blogs, Wikis, social networking sites etc.) tend to be relatively unstructured, easy to publish in, have a high level of interaction, and self-assigned semantics (tagging), and they are often media rich. Web 2.0 is great for chat, banter and networking,
The Web 2.0 application I use reguarly is facebook, I am going to look at the advantages and disadvantages of it.




Advantages of Using Facebook

 Facebook is a social networking site which is free and it's one of the best mediums for communication. With so many users around the world, you can connect to almost anyone, using status, photos, video’s, events, blogs, Skype or promoting a group or company. Students can use Facebook for group study by creating a group only for studying, where they can share any information about projects, assignments, exams, due dates etc. Facebook like button is connecting their user to every other website and if you have a Facebook login ID than you can easily access other websites and social networking using this and without registering. It has a good privacy setting which allows the user to customise their profile to exclude other users from seeing what they have shared. Additionally, it allows for private messaging and chat so no other user can see what you’re sending other than the recipient. You can stop spamming by hiding the post of the spammer or block them permanently.

Disadvantages of Facebook

 If you have a facebook account you will probably know that it can be quite addictive, notifications allow for users to know when someone has shared something with them, however, if you have a mobile app or notification via texts, it’s hard not to quickly check who has posted on your site.

As with any social media site, they can be dangerous if they are not being used correctly, with the ability to search for anyone and message any user, if you’re using Facebook you should really take advantage of it privacy settings.  As it is so easy to set up a profile there is a problem with fake accounts which have proven to be dangerous, furthermore, there have been many cases of cyber bullying, abuse, fake accounts and groups set up with the intent to harass, discriminate or bully. Although it is not a chat room and the people that are on your profile should be your friends, if you don’t set your privacy settings correctly you can be searched for by name!  Facebook does give an option to report abuse, but really such things should not be happening in the first place. There isn’t thoroughness in the age restrictions and younger and younger children are using Facebook all the time, and they don’t all know what the implications of sharing information with other people are. You can locate a post or ‘check in’ which allows others to see where you are at what time.

My opinion is that on creating your profile, everyone including individuals, fan pages and groups should give their address, administrators should send a letter containing a unique code to the address to finalise set up of the account, they should have to type in their code to be verified.

Conclusion

As I have already suggested, Facebook as far as I am concered is the biggest and best social media site, which allow you, in various ways, to keep update with family, collegues and friends. However, it becomes dangerous when you do not use it properly or take advantage of it to bully or abuse others.

My Blog List- The Creative Education Blog

I have chosen to add to my blog list the Creative Education Blog, as it is a good useful education blog with valuable,current, relevant, interesting posts.



As a student of Education thier posts really interest me, such as, 'Back to school- how to motivate your class after summer break' and 'Do you have a student in your class with Anorexia?' to name only two of thier most recent posts. The Blog, as thier slogan reads ' practical teaching advice, ideas and opinion' which is exactly what they do.



Creative Education blog offers paid employment, but they only employ outstanding teachers who are looking to make an impact beyond the school gates by sharing expertise with followers and visitors of thier blog, which gives the blog validity and professionlism. You can also write a post for them as a 'Guest Post' following certian criteria, which is basically the post has to be useful and informative to the reader. It allows readers to easily navigate thier way around the blog and access thier previous blogs via catergories. Some of these include Behaviour, Assesment, Leadership, Ofsted inspections adn many more catergories. They also give access to lesson plans, supporting and enthusing teachers who use thier blog.

The blog allows for comments and  is reguarly updated, for these, and the above reasons, I would suggest this is a really good blog to follow and for a teacher or Education student I would suggest essential.

The journey so far.....

So Far...

Link to my first post.
This is an update on my journey so far. My first ever post, explained how I was on a journey to understanding Visual Communications and writing my reflections into my blog.



In my second post, I wrote about how
 I had discovered the differences and similaraties between websited and blogs. A quick recap, a website: has static content; is formal and usually has one way communication where as a blog: has changing content in chronological order; is informal and is interactive as audience can usually post a comment.



Also, I have told a story by images, produced an animation and created mind maps with Bubbl.us. Along the way I have learned how to blog, be creative and make my blog as interesting as possible,for my post concerning Rugby I intorudced a video to my clip, and I have added links into my posts for extra support or reading. I have added images to all of my blogs to make my blogs stand out and appeal to the reader. I recently changed the layout of my blog profile, including a different design and widening the layout to fit my blogs.I have enjoyed my blogging so far and found that it isn't as hard as I intially thought.

Mind Mapping- Bubbl.us

Bubbl.us

A mind map is a diagram used to visually outline information. A mind map is often created around a single word or text, placed in the center, to which associated ideas, words and concepts are added. Major categories radiate from a central node, and lesser categories are sub-branches of larger branches.Categories can represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items related to a central key word or idea.

Bubbl.us Tutorial (PDF)

Bubbl.us Video Tutorial




Bubbl.us is used to create mind maps. When you fist load up the website, you see a button in the middle of the page that says “Start Brainstorming”. You click that button and you’re immediately in editing mode for your new mind map. No sign up necessary unless you want to save it and you sign up. It is an excellent idea and if your like me and use mind maps after discovery it will become one of your favourite tools. I have 2 exams at the end of January and after using Bubbl.us for myself, I will create all my revision notes using it.

My Bubbl.us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Animation!

2simple2animate

What is it?
2simple 2 animate is an application from 2simple.com enabling children of all ages to create thier own animations. The application enables the user to draw images, capture images from a webcam or scan images to the computer, additionally it encourages creativity within the user and can be used as a cross-curricular resource. For example, An English lesson, whereby the subject is story writing, the pupils could produce a story and then turned into an animation, deepening understanding and consolidating learning. There is a simple and an advanced level.

Experience with 2simple2animate
I voluntered in 2010/2011 in a year 5 class of a local primary school, during one lesson they were using 2simple 2 animate, they worked in groups of 3/4, they used plasticine to create characters and used the webcam to capture pictures, they moved the plastacine figures to create a story. They all really enjoyed using it and the had a lot of fun, but most importantly how enthusiastic and creative they were when they were using it.

Lesson Plans example for a Year 2 class - Lesson Plan Year 2

This is my first animation- A CatchPhrase, can you guess?

 

I had a lot of fun making my animations and I think that a lot of pupils of all ages would too. It is an easy-to-use application and I embedded the animations on to my blog through TinyPic.



     

And this is my second animation- '999'

Hi Honey I'm Home...

Visual Story Telling

After getting some inspiraton from Flkr 'tell a story in 5 frames' I am now ready to do my own visual story telling in 7 frames, with my friends as my actors.

 

Grumpy young women

Rugby as a whole I don't understand, I don't understand the rules, I dont understand why if you going foward and the goals are forward, why you throw it backwards, I don't understand why old men gather in clubs on a Sunday to watch and I really don't understand why anyone would throw themselves to the floor so that players (wearing studs) can jump on top of them! What I do understand is why they make the tops tight and thier shorts short.

I think what I really want from rugby is, the goal to be forward, so the ball goes forward, it should be played on a big bouncy castle so no one gets hurt.

Kit can stay the same!

 

  My New Rugby Rules:

1) Ball goes the way the goal is facing.

2) Pitch ditched for bouncy castle.

3) Players must only be wearing socks.