Blog Post #3

Blog #3 (Week 4 Web 2.0, Mashups, and eLearning)

Part 1

·    ·     What are your feelings on using Web 2.0 applications in your classroom or in your own teaching?

-Well I have used some Web 2.0 applications in the classroom such as Youtube video clips, Engrade, and Renaissance Learning. Some of my 5^th graders that take Computer class now are using Achieve 3000. I still feel that this is not enough even though my students are only in 5^th grade. I want to challenge myself since I learned many different Web 2.0 applications from this class, I should be able to choose which one will be helpful to my group of students now.

·      Are there pitfalls to relying on Web 2.0 applications?

-Some pitfalls on relying on Web 2.0 applications are content quality can be low, there are many hackers that uses fake IDs, some can write negative comments, and too much information can make people confused.

·      Do you trust Web 2.0 applications?

-Not all of the Web 2.0 applications can be trusted. As mentioned above we really need to be careful using some applications on Web 2.0.

·      These apps tend to be free so should we look to these kinds of solutions before 
looking to purchase a product? For example, schools might spend about $80 to get Microsoft Office on each computer, but Google Docs is free.

-I think we should look at these kinds of solutions before purchasing a product. Nowadays we can find many apps that are Free of charge. If they are applicable the school doesn’t need to spend so much on getting Microsoft Office one each computer. Although the Free applications won’t have all the tools available as the commercial software, it does have the basic tools in which students can use.

Part 2

·      ·   Which “leap” towards a semantic web do you think is the most simple? Most difficult? 


-First of all there are 3 leaps that the article mentions. 1. Use intelligent tagging, 2. Group intelligently tagged information into ontologies, and 3. Use shared ontologies and databases. I think that the most simple would be Leap 3, which is to use shared ontologies and databases. This allows you to merge, borrow from, and cross-reference information. The most difficult would be Leap 1, which is to use intelligent tagging. If more people in the standards business agree on using this, then finding simple things like a phone number would be very simple.

·      ·   What causes of concern does this bring up for you? (Be more specific than“privacy”)

-As mentioned in the article privacy would be the number one concern and some people would be able to see your personal information such as phone number, e-mail address, and more. Other people may use your personal information in different websites.

·      ·   Something interesting I felt when reading the section on Education 3.0 and knowledge construction is what I’ve heard called the “library fallacy” that to earn your grade you must go to a library and do the research – do you think anything is lost here if all the information is aggregated for a student instead of compiling all the resources themselves?

-I think it is both important for students to have all the information aggregated and to compile all the resources themselves. If the information is collected into one whole piece, it would be too much information for the students to fully comprehend and use. In the other hand, if students themselves gather all the resources they would be able to filter and use some that are compatible to which they are researching about.

Part 3

·   Overview of the Web 2.0 Tool that I explored: Grammar Base

This application (GrammarBase.com) you will get a more comprehensive scan of your writing. They check your spelling to ensure the right words are used in your document. This helps prevent mistakes that other spelling checkers overlook. Therefore, you can get the very best final product with your writing. This application checks for spelling, grammar punctuation, style, and plagiarism. This application is totally free. Students may be able to check their writings before turning it in. Teachers may also use this as a tool to check for plagiarism too. Students may use the essay checker whenever they need to turn in assignments for their writing class. 

It is a very easy tool in which teachers and students can use. You can simply type in your sentence that needs correction or you can copy and paste your writing on the box provided. This is a very useful tool because it checks from simple grammar to spelling, sentence structure, and punctuation mistakes. It underlines for you in red the mistakes you made. It's really nice how they also have the suggestion check so that can give you another input on how they viewed your paper/writing. Teacher may teach the students how to use this application and students may use it at home or anywhere they have Internet connection. It is a totally free professional proofreading and editing service, which consists of certified editors and proofreaders. Twice different editors will review your paper. One editor will edit your papers first, then will send to the next editor to ensure that there are no structural or grammatical errors. This tool also has 24/7 friendly support representatives who will help you if you need help of any sort.