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//Web 2.0 - Helping Teachers Apply Web 2.0 Tools to Teaching Standards// // Communicating // Challenges With any technology being incorporated into the classroom, there are always challenges. Financial ability is always one. Do the students have access to the needed technology at school and/or at home? Can teachers get training on technologies to be able to utilizes the technologies to their fullest extent? Other issues include changing the mindset of a classroom to being more student centered and having the student take more control over the lesson.

 In regards to this specific standard, it is important that teachers create a bridge between fundamental basics of reading and writing with Web 2.0. While many of the Web 2.0 technologies incorporate writing skills, teachers should make sure that students are still having experience writing in ore formal settings as well. Communication on a global scale is very dependent on the written word, so ensuring students get exposure to writing different styles and for different audiences is important. The writing style for a wiki or blog will be much different than the writing style for a formal paper or report.

 //Teamwork// **What does this mean for informal learning?**

The advantages of teamwork are evident and been proven over and over through sports. The state of Illinois is seeking to infuse these advantages throughout the educational system, whether it is formal or informal education. Teamwork is currently infused in many of the informal educational institutions such as, youth programs and at community centers. Web 2.0 offers students the opportunity to take education and teamwork out of classroom and into the home. Web 2.0 is the tool that will bridge the gap from to school. It connects students together even when they are home.

**Challenges**

Web 2.0 is a double edged sword. It has an endless amount of educational potential, while also having some serious challenges to overcome. One of the biggest challenges is trying to incorporate this type of technology into the curriculum. Web 2.0 technologies are changing everyday and it is virtually impossible to stay current with. So how do we implement such a shifting technology into a curriculum that needs to be stable and identical in so many different classrooms? In order to overcome this teachers will need to incorporate technologies not programs. For instance, teachers or schools can’t get married to a specific wiki such as Wikispaces. They need to focus on the technology of the wiki. This will allow the technology to grow and the curriculum to grow with it, without having to rewrite every time it changes.

//**Applications of Learning**//
 * Challenges **

Teachers need to become expert in Web 2.0 tools. Teachers need to teach Web 2.0 tools before using them. They also will need to put a lot of work into changing the curriculum to incorporate the tools. The tools are not created once and used many times either as the web changes the curriculum must accommodate those changes, new tools, URL that come and go, are some of the issues with a web based project. “Good portfolio projects do not happen without considerable effort on the part of teachers, administrators, and policymakers. Research shows that portfolios place additional demands on teachers and students as well as on school resources. Teachers need not only a thorough understanding of their subject area and instructional skills, but also additional time for planning, conferring with other teachers, developing strategies and materials, meeting with individual students and small groups, and reviewing and commenting on student work. In addition, teachers may need extra space in their classrooms to store students' portfolios or expensive equipment such as video cameras.”11 It is also not a certainty that students will glean all the benefits of performance assessments. Some students will continue to cut and paste information with the single goal of completing the assignent. "Most said they produced these portfolios just to 'get them done,' because the program required them – not because they found them personally meaningful." 12 Learning on the web also requires different skills from students. The information is not focused but often spread out over a number of web pages, with a great deal of distractions. One web search can return millions of pages of information and the student needs to know how to handle this. “Information overload (readers overwhelmed by excessive disorganized information), Technology (training faculty), copyright and privacy issues (providing authentic examples poses legal problems), adoption (faculty buy in).”15

Another challenge for teachers is to incorporate students centered learning while preparing students for higher education or for a job right after high school. While some students will go on to college others will not, while some students will use Web 2.0 tools in their jobs many others will not. The teacher will need to strike a balance of preparing students to learn more complex ideas that are presented at the college and job level while also giving them exposure to Web 2.0 tools. One way to approach this is to use new media projects that closely align to standard learning expectations of the state and of their employers. The tools and projects examples given in this section can help teachers strike this balance.


 * Identify/define standard **

Learn and contribute productively as individuals and as members of groups.

Students learn to recognize individual strengths, resolve differences and use teamwork as a necessary tool for working with others. Teamwork is also integral to many sports. Sports in turn teach the elements of teamwork in other fields. One overall goal of physical development is to give students the knowledge and skills necessary for working on teams to achieve specific objectives or a common goal.