Web 2.0 tool

Web 2.0 is a term that is used to describe the 2nd generation of the web that focuses on collaboration and evolution of the internet.  Examples of Web 2.0 include social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, hosted services, web applications, mash-ups and folksonomies according to Wikipedia.

Web 2.0 describes the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and can also get collaboration among users. Web 2.0 technologies provide a level user interaction that was not available before.  Now websites have become more interconnected, creating a ‘community’, which is easier to share information on the Web.  A lot of the Web 2.0 features are offered as free services, such as Facebook and Wikipedia which people like, and have grown at amazingly fast rates.  Web 2.0 continue to grow, adding more features, changing and evolving.  

An example of a Web 2.0 for the classroom is VoiceThread.  VoiceThread is a group of conversations that are collected and shared in one place from anywhere in the world.  This this not require a software to be installed!  VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate pages and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video.  Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.  Users can doodle while commenting, use multiple identities, and pick which comments are shown through moderation.  

Click on this link to watch a video on VoiceThread VoiceThread Video