Journal 5: Collaboration in a Web 2.0 Environment

I have heard the words "syndication" and "Web 2.0" used, but have never fully comprehended the technological concepts these terms referred to. The article, 'Collaboration in a Web 2.o Environment" by Glen Bull, explains these terms and explores how we as educators can use syndication and collaboration in the classroom. In simple terms, Web 2.0 uses syndication which allows information to come to the user, rather than the user having to search for the information. Bull summarizes this by saying, "Syndicated feeds can be used to follow multiple student postings, facilitate collaborative writing, share images associated with group projects, and track news topics related to a subject area." These are all skills and resources we should use in our classrooms! One of the most available resource is RSS (Real Simple Syndication) where teachers can add live bookmarks and be notified when new content appears. Bull encourages the use of student blogs to submit assignments as well as collaborate with others in their class. In this way, students are using and developing skills that they use outside of the classroom as well. This article makes a lot of sense to me, and has great recommendations for applications to use in the classroom, such asRSS, Writely, TaDa, Flickr, and FeedDigest.

1. Are there any downfalls for using student blogs to submit assignments?
I think one downfall might be that student's writing skills may suffer. If they are submitting assignments on a blog, they may feel like they are writing on their own personal blog, instead of the writing with the formality and techniques associated with homework assignments. However, I do think the "pros" outweigh the "cons" in this instance. Like Bull states, the educational possibilities are unlimited!

2. I know we live in a technology-driven world, but I can't help but question, are the students who do not have unlimited internet access going to fall completely behind those that do?
I know that the internet is widespread and ever-expanding, but I somehow get the feeling that there are families and students that do not have unlimited access to the internet. I fear that these students will be completely lost and left behind their peers. A way to fix this would be to accommodate them with time before or after school, as well as set aside time during the day, for computer access. I hope that as technology grows in the classroom, the education gap does not become further apart.


Bull, Glen (2006, April). Collaboration in a Web 2.0 Environment. Learning and Leading with Technology, Retrieved March, 2009,from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume_33_2006_2005_/April_No_7_/April_2006.htm