The Technology Toolbelt for Teaching E-Book

Susan Manning

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 287

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Instructors are under pressure to integrate technology into their traditional or online instruction, but often they aren't sure what to do or why they should do it. The Technology Toolbelt for Teaching offers instructors a down-to-earth guide to common technologies, explains the pedagogical purposes they serve, and shows how they can be used effectively in online or face-to-face classrooms. Designed to be easy to use, the book includes a decision-making matrix for each technology tool: a series of questions that teachers can use to decide whether these tools support their teaching goals. This comprehensive resource contains an array of useful tools that address problems of organization such as a time management calendar, aids for scheduling meetings, and mind-mapping or graphic organizers. The authors also include a variety of online tools for communication and collaboration, and tools to present content, help establish presence, and assess learning. Praise for The Technology Toolbelt for Teaching "Feeling overwhelmed and even afraid of integrating technology into your course? Fear no more! Susan Manning and Kevin Johnson have provided the ultimate guide that explains not only the various technology tools that can support faculty work and enhance coursework but also provides sound advice to help faculty choose the right tool for the job. This is a must-read for all faculty regardless of their experience with technology."--Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt, managing partners, Crossroads Consulting Group, and authors, Building Online Learning Communities and Collaborating Online "The Technology Toolbelt for Teaching delivers exactly what it promises: a concrete overview of a wide variety of tools, complete with examples specific to practitioners in both K-12 and higher education. Authors Susan Manning and Kevin Johnson provide practical applications rather than philosophy, and solutions rather than platitudes. This is a must for any teacher working with--or wanting to start working with--technology."--Jane Bozarth, author, Social Media for Trainers; eLearning coordinator, State of North Carolina "Creating compelling learning experiences for students is fraught with decision points. Add one or more technology options to the equation, and the number of directions to take learners seems to grow limitlessly, and can either paralyze the instructional design process or cause us to take on too much. Enter The Technology Toolbelt for Teaching. Manning and Johnson's handy guide - and the decision-making matrix that frames each of the tools it demystifies - is an essential resource for choosing paths wisely."--Jonathan Finkelstein, author, Learning in Real Time; founder and executive producer, LearningTimes Includes * 50+ fresh and useful technology tools for teaching * A decision matrix for choosing and using the right tools * Examples for using each tool in higher education and K-12

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Series

Dedication

PREFACE

Our Audience

Organization

What This Book Is Not

How to Read This Book

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE: WHY WEB-BASED TOOLS?

Defining Technology

The First Webs

Our Future

CHAPTER TWO: HOW TO CHOOSE TOOLS AND A MATRIX FOR DOING SO

Instructional Technology and Instructional Design

Selected Instructional Design Models

Matching Tools to Pedagogy

What to Consider

Selection Matrix for Choosing the Right Tool

Too Many Tools Is a Problem!

A Word About Safety

PART TWO: TOOLS TO HELP YOU STAY ORGANIZED

CHAPTER THREE: CALENDARS

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER FOUR: SCHEDULING TOOLS

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER FIVE: MIND-MAPPING OR GRAPHIC ORGANIZER TOOLS

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER SIX: SOCIAL BOOKMARKING

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER SEVEN: VIRTUAL STORAGE AND FILE MANAGEMENT

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

PART THREE: TOOLS TO COMMUNICATE AND COLLABORATE

CHAPTER EIGHT: DISCUSSION FORUMS

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER NINE: VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER TEN: INSTANT MESSAGING AND CHAT

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER ELEVEN: BLOGS

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER TWELVE: WIKIS

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: MICROBLOGS

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: WEB CONFERENCING

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

PART FOUR: TOOLS TO PRESENT CONTENT

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: AUDIO

Single Audio Files Versus Podcasts

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: VIDEO

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: SCREENCASTING

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: NARRATED SLIDE SHOWS

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER NINETEEN: SHARING IMAGES

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

PART FIVE: TOOLS TO HELP YOU ASSESS LEARNING

CHAPTER TWENTY: QUIZZES, TESTS, AND SURVEYS

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: RUBRICS AND MATRIXES

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: E-PORTFOLIOS

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

PART SIX: TOOLS TO HELP YOU TRANSFORM YOUR IDENTITY

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: AVATARS

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: VIRTUAL WORLDS

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: SOCIAL NETWORKING AND YOUR STUDENTS' IDENTITIES

What Is the Tool?

Can You Share a K–12 Example?

Can You Share a Higher Education Example?

Where Can I Learn More?

Currently Available Tools

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

What Can I Do with This Tool That I Couldn't Previously Accomplish?

What Is the Learning Curve on This Tool for Me and My Students?

How Accessible Is This Tool for Users with Disabilities?

Do You Have the Time for Mastering the Technology?

REFERENCES

INDEX

End User License Agreement

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Guide

Cover

Contents

Text Begining

List of Illustrations

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THE TECHNOLOGY TOOLBELT FOR TEACHING

Susan Manning

Kevin E. Johnson

Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-BassA Wiley Imprint989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax [phone], or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax [phone], or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986, or fax [phone].

Jossey-Bass also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Manning, Susan, 1960-

The technology toolbelt for teaching / Susan Manning, Kevin E. Johnson. — 1st ed.

p. cm. — (The Jossey-Bass Higher and adult education series)

Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 978-0-470-63424-0 (pbk.)ISBN 978-1-118-00518-7 (ebk.)ISBN 978-1-118-00519-4 (ebk.)ISBN 978-1-118-00520-0 (ebk.)1.Educational technology. 2. Computer-assisted instruction. I. Johnson, Kevin E. II. Title.LB1028.3.M36 2011371.33′4—dc22

2010046962

THE JOSSEY-BASS HIGHER AND ADULT EDUCATION SERIES

Teaching is not easy, and teaching with technology is a little like trying to hit a moving target. Tools change, versions are updated, and few of us have time to completely analyze and thoughtfully render what that means for instruction. This book is dedicated to the brave teachers who do their best at integrating technology.

And as we did in our first book, we would like to dedicate this book to our families. We didn't get this far without good guidance from our parents, and we couldn't have worked through the development of this book without awesome support from our husbands and children.

PREFACE

Susan has a neighbor who has every tool imaginable in his garage. When residents on the street start home improvement projects, they first visit Fred's garage and have a conversation with him about what they need and what they might borrow from him. He doesn't try to convince them to buy a table saw when what they really need to borrow is a hacksaw to trim a 1-inch piece of PVC pipe. Fred understands that tools should be used in a specific context for a specific purpose. He saves the neighbors time, aggravation, and money.

That is exactly what this book is about, except that the context is technology tools. Instead of coming into Fred's garage, you will come to us with instructional problems that might be solved with technology.

Today's instructors feel pressured to integrate technology into their traditional or online instruction, but they're not quite sure what to do or why they should use these tools. With the proliferation of free or inexpensive Web-based tools, the pressure to be “cool and tech savvy” seems even greater. Teachers who incorporate new tools into their instruction are perceived to be cutting-edge. Those who do not embrace tools are sometimes viewed as unfavorably resistant. Rather than taking sides, this book examines how teachers might use technology tools to address instructional problems.

The caveat is that whatever tools teachers choose to incorporate must be part of the instructional design from the beginning, not cool add-ons. If tools do not address specific instruction problems, they are worthless. What sets our book apart from others is that we provide a decision-making process, a matrix, with which teachers can examine individual tools and determine whether these tools can truly address the instructional needs. We only introduce tools as a means to carry out pedagogy.

Our Audience

We wrote this book for the broadest market of instructors: those who teach in higher education and those who teach in elementary and secondary schools. That may appear to be too wide a scope. However, we believe that whether you work with our youngest or oldest learners, the twenty-first century demands some inclusion of technology. Very quickly those twelve-year-olds in middle school who know how to surf the Internet and view what they want on YouTube are going to be coming into higher education classrooms looking for some inclusion of media.

We wrote this book for both online instructors and those who teach in traditional classrooms. It may be easier to see the application of some tools for a wholly online course, but many of these tools are still appropriate for a brick-and-mortar setting. They may be tools that are used by the teacher in the classroom or tools that are used by the students at home.

Organization

This book is organized by themes. In Part One we lay the foundation for using tools in the context of instructional design. We begin in Chapter One with an overview of instructional technology and the Internet, considering such popular themes as Web 2.0 and where we are headed in the future. In Chapter Two we introduce several models of instructional design and tie these to the selection process for technology tools. In doing so, we offer a Decision-Making Matrix and a supplemental guide of questions that teachers can use to examine technology tools and deliberately consider whether these tools support their pedagogy. The Decision-Making Matrix is used throughout the book.

Part Two introduces an array of tools that address problems of organization. Teachers who are disorganized lose valuable time and resources. Chapter Three introduces calendaring tools that can help manage time. Chapter Four contributes to time management with scheduling tools that allow multiple parties to arrange meetings. Chapter Five introduces readers to mind maps or graphic organizers, Web-based tools that help organize thoughts and ideas. Staying organized with bookmarks and favorite Web sites is the dominion of social bookmarking, the topic for Chapter Six. Chapter Seven addresses tools that can help manage digital or virtual documents or files, some of which may be quite large and unwieldy. (For example, where do you put a 100 MB movie?)

Part Three continues our discussion of Web-based tools by introducing the idea of using these tools to communicate and collaborate. Such tools can encourage instructor-to-instructor, instructor-to-student, student-to-student, and guest-to-class communication and collaboration efforts. We begin with what may be the most popular tool in online education—discussion forums. Chapter Eight looks at both text-based and voice-enabled discussion tools. Chapter Nine specifically addresses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) tools, which allow parties to talk to each other in a manner similar to using a telephone. Imagine having your class talk to a class halfway across the globe! Instant messaging and chat programs are the focus of Chapter Ten. Not only do these tools make faculty more accessible to students but also students can use them to complete academic work. Chapter Eleven examines blogs and their instructional uses, whereas Chapter Twelve considers wikis for collaborative work. Microblogs as instructional tools are discussed in Chapter Thirteen. Chapter Fourteen introduces Web conferencing, allowing real-time communication between students and teachers with visual and audio components.

Part Four addresses an ongoing dilemma for online instructors—finding ways to present content when teaching online. This is one area in which students bring relatively high expectations given the sophisticated media they see online in other contexts. In Chapter Fifteen we address audio tools, such as podcasts. Chapter Sixteen adds video to the instructional mix. Screencasting, one specialized form of video presentation, is introduced in Chapter Seventeen. Chapter Eighteen looks at the ever-popular narrated slideshow. Chapter Nineteen, which considers graphics and images, reinforces the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words.

The age-old question of how teachers assess learning is the focus of Part Five. Traditional tools for assessment, including quizzes, surveys, and online tests, are examined in Chapter Twenty. Chapter Twenty-One looks at rubrics and matrixes that may be used to evaluate performance-based or authentic assessment. The topic of e-portfolios rounds out our discussion of assessment tools in Chapter Twenty-Two.

Part Six concludes our tour of tools with those that help transform identity, tools that are uniquely twenty-first century. These are technologies that were not available to the average teacher or student ten years ago. Chapter Twenty-Three examines the use of avatars. Chapter Twenty-Four considers virtual worlds. Finally, Chapter Twenty-Five looks at social networking and the online identities of students and teachers.

What This Book Is Not

This book is not a comprehensive listing of every tool available. It is not a sales guide for one product over another. Because technology changes so quickly and products move from beta to market (or disappear) within a matter of months, we have limited the number of tools. For each category, we have tried to select several tools that we think have some longevity and that will meet teachers' needs. Most important, we apply our Decision-Making Matrix to a couple of specific tools per chapter to model how instructors might consider additional tools they find in their own research.

How to Read This Book

Hearkening back to the example of Susan's neighbor, we suggest that you read this book with an instructional problem in mind. In other words, if you're going to visit our garage and ask about a tool, consider a project you want to tackle so you can ask for the right tool. First read Chapters One and Two so that you understand the framework of the following chapters and how to use the Decision-Making Matrix. From there, jump to whatever chapter you believe is best going to solve your instructional problem. You do not need to read this book in a linear fashion! It may be interesting, however, to stay within certain parts so that you can see how tools are designed to address one problem better than others.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to acknowledge the friends who have helped us experiment with the tools and lent their faces for screenshots. We also came into contact with several innovative companies, such as TweenTribune and Edmodo. In the technology world, it's rewarding to find a tool and meet the people behind the technology.

We would also like to thank Erin Null, Alison Knowles, and the editing team for making us look so good.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Susan Manning is best known as a teacher's teacher. She develops faculty and prepares them to teach online. Susan teaches online courses for the University of Wisconsin at Stout and the University of Illinois' Illinois Online Network in online learning, instructional design, technology tools, the synchronous classroom, and group work online. She has taught hundreds of teachers, including international instructors from Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Vietnam, and Russia. Susan's teaching career began with adult students learning English as a second language, and she often introduced them to new technologies she thought could help them learn. These students reminded her that basic human interaction and communication skills always trump technology.

Susan's online career began more than ten years ago when she became an online student and earned her certification as Master Online Teacher from the University of Illinois. In addition, she holds a doctorate in adult education from Ball State University, a master's in college student personnel from Bowling Green State University, and a bachelor's degree in communications from Truman State University.

Susan also puts her teaching and development skills to work as a producer for LearningTimes, LLC. Susan helps coordinate synchronous online conferences, but her favorite role is training presenters to enter the brave new world of presenting online. Finally, she can be heard regularly on the LearningTimes Green Room podcast, a series she cohosts with friend Dan Balzer as they examine issues and topics related to learning.

Kevin E. Johnson is CEO of the Cutting Ed, Inc., a consulting company that specializes in helping clients envision education and training for the twenty-first century. He has more than twenty years of experience working in education and figuring out how to use technology to his advantage.

Kevin started with technology as a fourteen-year-old teaching himself to program. Completing his bachelor's degree at Eastern Illinois University and his master's at the University of Illinois, Kevin developed curriculum and taught in academic and corporate environments for the next thirteen years. Due to his desire to save paper (not to mention not wanting to fight for the copy machine), he started providing lecture notes and other resources to students on CDs. As the Internet emerged, he began teaching Web development courses. It was a natural transition to move from burning CDs to placing course content on the Web. Before long, Kevin was interacting with his students electronically, and his interest in online education began.

PART ONEINTRODUCTION

In our opening chapters we lay the foundation for using tools in the context of instructional design. We begin in Chapter One with an overview of instructional technology and sort through the definitions of technology and educational technology. We then review the development of the Internet as most of us recall it, considering such popular concepts as Web 2.0. What distinguished Web 2.0 from Web 1.0 largely had to do with the ability to interact with and change content, to share and subscribe (for example, to Really Simple Syndication [RSS] feeds), and the granular nature of content. For example, an English instructor could share a learning object on correct APA citation styles, which could be dropped into a variety of science courses to address that one point. What we do in the future will depend on how the Web continues to develop.

In Chapter Two we introduce several models of instructional design and tie these to the selection process for technology tools. Herein we assert that technology tools must be used in the context of instructional design. We therefore offer a Decision-Making Matrix and resource that suggests more questions teachers should ask as they examine technology tools and deliberately consider whether these tools support their pedagogy. We explain the nuances of these questions and their implications as you move forward in the book.

CHAPTER ONEWhy Web-Based Tools?

For generations, wise old sages have enjoyed telling youngsters about life before the latest innovation, invention, or technology. Teachers are no different. First we told stories about life before the printing press when knowledge was only transmitted orally, then about how students had to write their own notes because we did not have copy machines to reproduce the latest handout, and now we pass on stories about life before the Internet when no one could “Google.” And with every invention of new technology and tools, in true teacher fashion, we scratch our heads and wonder where this is leading. In what ways do the latest innovations enhance learning and assist teachers in doing so?

That is the fundamental purpose of this book. We are going to explore a variety of technology tools available to teachers with an eye to instructional design and delivery. It is not enough to know that gizmos and gadgets exist—we must also consider how tools might be used to address instructional problems.

Defining Technology

Before we get too far into the text, we should first define technology, instructional or educational technology, and technology tools. We will address these definitions again in Chapter Two when we relate these to instructional design.

Science and technology are sometimes mentioned in the same breath, but there are notable differences. Science often deals with outcomes that are directly observable through the senses (Arms & Camp, 1998); teaching and learning do not. A better way to look at technology is to consider the International Network for Small and Medium Enterprises' definition of technology as “human innovation in action that involves the generation of knowledge and processes to develop systems that solve problems and extend human capabilities” (2010, p. 1). There may be a science behind how the technology works (such as computer science), and the application to solve problems may be systematic, but the results are not always so neatly observable as to be classified according to our senses.

Employing instructional or educational technology, therefore, is the process by which we use tools to address an instructional problem. This is not new science. As Saettler (2004) reminds us, instructional technology dates far back. Today's examples of technology include communication through e-mail and Voice over Internet Protocol, streaming video and content presentations, and synchronous Web conferencing, to name a few. All of these technologies can support learning as they address instructional problems. Further, if technology is a process, then the specific tools are the instruments we use to implement that process. Skype, YouTube, and Elluminate are specific tools that demonstrate the implementation of the previous examples.

The technology we examine in this book falls into the realm of educational technology in that we will discuss processes by which specific tools are applied to instructional problems. This is increasingly relevant in higher education as more and more courses become “distributed,” either as fully online courses or blended courses. Information from the Sloan Consortium reports that “over 4.6 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2008” (Allen and Seaman, 2010, p. 1). An article in Campus Technology shared research conducted by Ambient Insight, reporting that there are currently more than twelve million college students engaged in some form of online learning, with projections expecting this number to grow to more than twenty-two million postsecondary students by the year 2014 (Nagel, 2009). If even a fraction of those projections come true, faculty in higher education are going to have to become much more familiar with what technology is available to them and how they might use it to their instructional advantage.

For those of you not currently teaching online or in blended classroom environments, this book serves as a way of enhancing your onground classroom organization and instruction. The advantage of introducing these tools in onground classrooms, even pre-K through grade 12, is that you and your students will be better equipped to handle the learning curve when teaching or taking more tool-driven courses.

The First Webs

What Web are we on (and who cares)? No discussion of educational technology seems to get by without mention of Web 2.0. What difference does the number make in the process of teaching and learning? This is where our old stories come back into play.

The faculty who first began to interact with the Internet were the leading scientists and engineers of the 1960s and 1970s. You had to be a brilliant computer scientist to use very primitive list servers, e-mail protocols, and so forth in order to send or receive information. The general public wasn't online until the early to mid-1990s, when such subscription services as AOL and CompuServe came into existence. Surfing the Web was limited to whatever pages those services wanted to provide to the public. Very quickly, however, Web authoring tools made it possible for the average computer user (or instructor) to author his or her own content and make it available on the Internet. That was the birth of Web 1.0.

A decade later, Web 1.0 is described as the static Internet. Web pages were authored and offered for viewing, but there was little else a reader could do. An individual could bookmark a favorite page for later reference but could not make comments, tag or label the content, or very easily add to that information. In fact, that shift from reading as a consumer to contributing as a producer is one of the defining characteristics of Web 2.0.

Jones (2006) contends that self-expression has always been one of the primary uses for the Web, and offers blog growth to illustrate how the masses have employed technology for this purpose. He reports that in 1997 there were one hundred blogs on the Web site Xanga; by 2005 there were fifty million blogs. When the public learned that they could use the Internet to instantly share their ideas and resources, additional tools began to crop up, such those for sharing music, photos, and other files. Soon it was not enough to offer resources; users wanted to comment on one another's work, “tag” work with descriptive labels, and generally interact with what they were seeing online. Users moved from consuming what was available on the Internet to producing the content on the Internet. In 1993 you may have been able to look at someone's vacation photos. In 2010 you can search for photos using tags, find one and leave a comment for the photographer, download one that comes with a creative common license for reuse, and use it on your personal blog with permissions. The next reader can comment on your work, and so the cycle continues. Hence, “the value of the page is derived from the actions of users” (Elgan, 2006, para. 5).

Clay Shirky, a popular icon in defining and explaining the value of Web 2.0, specifically studies social media. His many presentations reinforce this idea of not only consuming Web media but also producing it. In a 2009 address on the TED Blog (Shirky, 2009), Shirky reminds us, “Every time a new consumer joins this media landscape, a new producer joins as well, because the same equipment, phones, computer lets you consume and produce.” Harnessed as an educational tool, technology affords new possibilities for learners of all ages.

The technologies of Web 2.0 have been shaped with the idea of community. Alexander (2006, para. 14) adds that “the desire to discover, publish, and share appears far back in Internet history.” Scholarship is predicated on the idea of having one's ideas debated, critiqued, and retooled by colleagues. This same spirit describes the rise of community-oriented technology tools in Web 2.0. These tools fit nicely with the belief that the meaning-making process of learning requires social interaction (Brown & Adler, 2008). From the practice of commenting on blogs to the ability to search within another scholar's bookmarks through social bookmarking sites, Web 2.0 technologies allow us to share and pool resources.

This openness and willingness to share come with a cost: it takes more time to follow the trail of information and ideas. The most significant development for managing time and resources has been rich site summary or Really Simple Syndication (RSS). Simply stated, RSS allows a user to follow information through subscription to the site. It is particularly helpful for organizing content that is updated—routinely or less predictably (Bell, 2009). Every time the content is updated, a notice is delivered to the user. The content could be a blog post, a podcast, or an announcement. That notice includes a title of the new content, metadata describing it, and a hyperlink to find the updated site. By using an RSS aggregator, a subscriber can also have the actual media downloaded automatically. Therefore, by subscribing to a site, the user always knows when new content is added.