Web 2.0: can it enhance the classroom?

I have spent a lot of time over the past week exploring all of the wonderful web based technology that is available to teachers. I have found that every single one of these can be a wonderful asset to any classroom, and any teachers instruction.

The first site I explored was www.gliffy.com. I am fortunate enough to teach in a school that uses the Inspiration program. This is a great program, however if students need to work on a chart at home they cannot access this software. Instead I could give my students an assignment that they could create with gliffy, then they could save it and I could view it right from the internet. This also would allow students to view charts that I have made from home.

The second site I explored was www.wikispaces.com. I think that this is a brilliant idea. This site allows teachers to bring information to the students in their own language, the language of the internet. This also allows students to check work that they may have missed when they were absent as well as post discussion questions or topics.

In general, I think that teachers need to start using sites like these. This would allow us to bring education to the students in a way that they can understand it. This allows teachers to be fast paced so that their audience doesn't become bored or underwhelmed. This is the correct direction for education to be moving, towards the future.