Yiseul Shin & Bex Kentfield Grade 10 Technology

What, How, When, Should We?

INVESTIGATION
Our goal for this unit is to research all the aspects and outlets of Web 2.0, and form
a point of view on the benefits Web 2.0 could bring to the classroom. This opinion,
and the research that backs it, should be represented in the final product. Along
with this product, all of our research and Design Cycle will be recorded in a blog.

We think that this unit is important to us personally because we use Web 2.0 in our
daily lives: we use social-networking sites to keep in contact with family and friends
around the world, as well as watch videos on YouTube and other video-sharing sites.
By researching about Web 2.0, we will learn about the negative points and the
dangers of sharing information on the Internet by using Web 2.0, such as identity
theft. We will be fully aware of the risks involved after completing this subject and
will use them more carefully hereafter. In relation to society, this unit is important
because like mentioned; society today greatly depends on Web 2.0 and many
schools and businesses are incorporating it into their lives. By completing this unit,
it will give us an opportunity to see both the benefits and drawbacks of using Web
2.0 in an educational environment. After researching about this, we will be able to
reach a conclusion on where Web 2.0 should be utilized in the classroom in OSC,
helping our school community reach a judgment on the matter.

Links to Areas of Interaction:

Research questions:
• What is Web 2.0? What are some examples?
• What are the software/hardware developments that led to Web 2.0?
• What are the positive and negative points of Web 2.0?
• How can Web 2.0 be used in an educational environment?
• Human Ingenuity: In what ways has technology influenced knowledge?
• Health & Social Education: How can we be safe and protect our identity in
Web 2.0?
What is Web 2.0?
Web 2.0 refers to the “second generation of the Web, which enables people with no
specialized technical knowledge to create their own websites, to self-publish, create
and upload audio and video files, share photos and information and complete a
variety of other tasks.” (“Glossary”) Web 2.0 came out in 2004 and is the second
generation of the web. It is more of an addition to the original web, and just puts the
use of the web into a different focus as opposed to being a new and improved
version. For example, knowledge of HTML and CSS was required to create a website

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and embed videos and images in Web 1.0. The focus of Web 1.0 was to only receive
information. On the other hand, Web 2.0 focuses on writing and self-publishing, such
as blogs and wikis. Examples of Web 2.0 include:
• Social networking sites: Facebook, Myspace, Hi5
• Video sharing sites: Youtube, AOL
• Blogs: Blogger, Word Press, Xanga, Twitter, MySpace
• Self-publishing sites such as Wikis are also popular in both social and
educational circles and fall under the category of Web 2.0 because anyone
with the most limited computer skills can share and publish their information
and work. Programs such as Hotmail, the site that provides much of the world
with email, are not considered Web 2.0 because, although they do provide an
effective method of sharing information, there is no aspect that allows you to
publish information on the WWW.

What are the software/hardware developments that led to Web 2.0?

The development of the World Wide Web took place from the late 80’s to the early
90’s. At first, only scientific departments of universities made use of the web
because not many people used computers at the time. However, as computers
became more common and more companies started using the web, more work was
put in to develop the technology – thus the introduction web browsers. In the past,
the web only consisted of HTML and Gopher protocol that use text menu interface
rather than using a graphic one. Mosaic and Netscape are the earliest web
browsers, which led to the development of Microsoft Internet Explorer, the major
web browser used in the late 90’s. From the introduction of web browsers, it was
easier for users to create their own websites, which led to the commercialization of
the World Wide Web during the late 90’s. Software such as Java and RSS lead to the
development of Web 2.0, the new generation of the web.

What are the positive and negative points of Web 2.0?

• Positive:
○ Globally accessible
○ Involves interaction with users from across the world
○ Brings a new element of media to research
○ Freedom of ‘commenting’ particularly on videos allows for an objective
view of the work done
○ Allows access to many educational videos and blogs
• Negative:
○ Access to social networking sites could be distracting
○ Difficult to maintain safety of personal information
○ Could attract negative attention and cause privacy issues, i.e.
inappropriate video comments from anonymous Web 2.0 users
○ Could affect students performance in class, for example, a student’s
dependence on the internet could encourage laziness, plagiarism, and
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students could struggle to see the difference between a reliable and

unreliable source. Also fewer students would turn to books as a
research source.

How can Web 2.0 be used in an educational environment?

• Language A:
○ Teachers can set up a blog or a wiki as an online classroom where they
can post the assignment overviews & online copies of the short
stories/poems/novels for the students to use incase they forgot their
hardcopy.
○ Teachers and students can have discussions about the piece of
literature through posting comments on the blog or wiki.
• Language B:
○ Students can watch TV shows and video clips on video-sharing sites.
This will give them an idea of how the native speakers talk, and
therefore improve their accent and oral skills.
○ Teachers can set up a blog or a wiki as an online classroom. Here, they
can post such videos as well as the assignments, which students can
access easily. If daily homework is as simple as conjugating several
verbs, students can post a reply as their homework.
• Physical Education:
○ Students can watch technique tutorial videos and game plan/strategy
videos that are available on video-sharing sites to improve their game.
○ Teachers can set up a blog or a wiki as an online classroom, and post
these videos for the students, as well as any other useful information
and theory. This information can appear on the Criteria A Unit Test and
students can easily revise by accessing the blog and reading/watching
the posts.
• Arts:
○ In Visual Art: If the student wishes to create comic strips, they can use
the Web 2.0 tool Comeeko. They can create animations by using tools
like XtraNormal. They can also manipulate/edit photographs using Web
2.0 and upload through Flickr, Photobucket and others.
○ In Performing Art: They can use audio-editing tools such as BBC Virtual
Studio and Jam Studio.
• Humanities:
○ In History: Students can create timelines using Web 2.0 tools such as
Dipity. For example, this can be used to show the progress of WWII.
○ In Geography: Google Maps is a useful tool to use when showing the
location of Sri Pada, for example.
○ In Economics: Students can create graphs and charts to show the stock
market using Web 2.0 tools.
• Technology:
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○ Students can create online surveys using Web 2.0 tools such as Survey
Monkey and Ask 500 to test the final product in Evaluation.
○ Students can create concept maps easily by using Web 2.0 tools
Mindomo to show their understanding how the unit of work links to the
AOI in Investigation.
• Math:
○ Students can create charts, databases and graphs by using Web 2.0
tools such as iChart and Google Chart. This can be used in units such
as statistics.
• Science:
○ Teachers and students can debates on Criteria A One World on issues
of Science in society. They can use Web 2.0 tools such as Quick Topic
and Debate Graph.
○ Students can use blogs as another source of information for One World
essays – there are many informative blogs focusing on these issues.
○ Students can use Web 2.0 to create graphs, databases and charts to
show the data collected from their investigations.

Essential Question (HI): In what ways has technology influenced

knowledge?
• Technology has made knowledge easier to record and access – continues to
improve as technology develops, e.g. writing → printing → computers.
• The use of computers in business and school has cut down on the time it
takes to complete work, and therefore has increased the amount of work we
can take on.
• Development in technology helps to make new discoveries and therefore
improve knowledge – e.g. better microscopes for Science.

Essential Question #2 (HSE): How can we be safe and protect our identity
in Web 2.0?
• Refrain from including any personal information such as place of residence,
phone number and email address on your blog or social-networking profile.
• Do not share any of this information with another Web 2.0 user if you do not
know their true identity.
• Refrain from leaving any negative or offensive comments on others pages, to
prevent getting any in return.
• There are many organizations that will help you prevent identity theft and
raise awareness about it – Indentity.org, and there is a whole website
dedicated to identity theft in the Federal Trade Commission of the United
States (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/).

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The collection of information that we found above is from more or less reliable
sources. We used articles from Wikipedia, and this has a limitation that anyone can
change the article and the information may not be true. However, we made sure to
check with multiple sources that the information was correct. The large sum of
research that we have above that looks at Web 2.0 that can be used in the different
subject is created by us: we basically found a website with a list of Web 2.0 tools,
and we picked some out relevant to each subject.

The following is a list of possible creations that we could make for final
product:
• PowerPoint presentation – It is very easy to create. It will be a short
presentation showing how Web 2.0 can be used in the different subjects at
school. This can be then be uploaded onto the blog by using Web 2.0 tools
such as Slide Share. Communication tools used: Microsoft PowerPoint, Slide
Share.
• Video – It will be more interesting to create: have several scenarios which
show how Web 2.0 can be used in different ways in education, have
interviews and classmates acting in the video. This can then be created into a
podcast. Communication tools used: camera, podcast.
• Website – Create using software such as Microsoft Frontpage or
Dreamweaver. This will be fun, interesting and a good opportunity to practice
and improve our knowledge of HTML. The website will consist of images and
write-ups of how Web 2.0 can in the classroom. Communication tools used:
Microsoft Frontpage.

We decided to create a PowerPoint presentation because it is much easier to make

and less time- consuming compared to creating a website or a video. It would also
be interesting to use Slide Share to upload the product onto the internet and then to
share it on our blog. This would ensure that we would have two communication
mediums on our blog because we are also going to upload our Design Cycle using
iPaper. This also gives an opportunity for us to improve our knowledge and skills of
using Web 2.0.

To test our product, we are going to show our product (the PowerPoint presentation)
to some of our classmates and receive feedback about it. This is because although
we are “supposed” to make this presentation to the school board, the reality is that
we’ll probably just present to the class, and so our target audience is the students =

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us. We will create a table like below with our design specifications, and they will fill
out the table. This will give us an objective view of how well the product fulfilled the
design specifications.

Specification Poor Average Good

Visually appealing
Include visual or other media
Informative
Give specific examples of Web 2.0

Design Brief: We will create a slideshow that demonstrates how Web 2.0 can be
utilized for educational purpose in the classroom.

Design Specification:
• Visually appealing
• Include visual or other media (diagram, screenshot, etc.)
• Informative
• Give specific examples of Web 2.0

Works Cited

Alew. “Education 2.0.” Hub Pages. 2009. 27 April 2009.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Education20.

Beekman, George, and Michael J. Quinn. Computer Confluence. 11th Edition. New

Jersey: Prentice Hall Publishers, 2006.

"Glossary." Capilano University. 2009. 27 April 2009.

http://www.capilanou.ca/help/active-cms/glossary.html.

“History of the World Wide Web.” Wikipedia. 3 May 2009. 4 May 2009.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_World_Wide_Web.

“Internet.” Microsoft Encarta 2005. [CD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft, 2005.

Personal Information.

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"Web 2.0." Wikipedia. 8 March 2009. 2 April 2009.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0.

"Web 2.0." Wiktionary. 2 April 2009. 3 April 2009.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Web_2.0.

"Web 2.0 Tools and Applications." Go To Web 2.0. 2009. 1 April 2009.

http://www.go2web20.net.

"What Is Web 2.0." O'Reilly. 2008. 1 April 2009.

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-

20.html.