Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0

In the net we find different web sites. Those sites may be divided in three categories: Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. In this post I am going to talk about Web 1.0 versus 2.0.

Web 1.0

Web 1.0 sites are personal or institutional sites that are “based on ‘http’ (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) to publish information” . These sites are static pages that contain information that may be useful but it does not change. They are not interactive either, users can only visit the site but they cannot contribute or comment anything, these sites do not allow the reader interact with the writer or the webmaster. These sites are useful to investigate, look for information, among others. For these reasons, users only visit this type of site once; they do not have any reason to return to it, because it does not offer anything new.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is a term that according to Wikipedia is generally “associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web”. Web 2.0 sites are dynamic sites in which readers may interact with the writer of the page or site. In these sites you can share information, opinions and you have the opportunity to participate in the creation of the site. Some of them are real time web pages, such as blogs and wikis, facebook, skype, flickr, interactive dictionaries and encyclopedias, among many others. Web 2.0 pages are an excellent tool for English classes, because teachers may interact with students in a very different environment. We have to take advantages of technology!
One of the most significant differences between Web 2.0 and Web 1.0 is greater collaboration among Internet users and other users, content providers, and enterprises.

Wordpress

For the course we were asked to create a professional web page in wordpress.com, it was not an easy task, due to the fact that I am not that used to technology and I have not the experience to create a web page, but I did it. If you are interested in seeing the results of this experiment you can visit my page: http://ayleentrujillo.wordpress.com/, and leave a comment ; )

References

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-101.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_1.0

ICT in ELT

Communication and Information Technology (ICT) offers us teachers new ways to communicate, interact and teach our students. It helps us improve our classes, our knowledge, our lives. It provides us tools, techniques and instruments for the development of our classes and materials for our classes.
With technology our students have a wide range of opportunities to learn and practice English in real time and with people outside the classroom and the institution, people from all over the world. That leads them to an authentic learning experience.
Technology gives our students the opportunity to create, innovate, share and construct meanings, information and knowledge in a very interactive way, that will motivate them and will develop their autonomy, they will have control in their learning process.
The main task for us teachers is to guide them in order to teach them how to use technology in a safety and critical way. To teach them how to differ right and wrong, safe and dangerous, true and false information.
The first thing we teachers have to do is analyze our context. I work in a school with elementary students and I also work at the UCV. In the school there are many web tools that can be used in order to motivate children and to help them practice with technology (that they use everyday and that they handle almost perfectly), but it is very difficult to accomplish this because we do not have the resources at the school, neither the time. In my second context it is a completely different situation. At the UCV we do not have the resources either, but we have the opportunity to assign some projects that may involve technology, such as wikis and blogs. One of the projects I've been thinking about is an e-portfolio in literature, in which students have to translate some Aesop fables into Spanish for children.

We teachers have a lot of work to do, technology is developing every day and we can not be behind it. So, let's start!!

Digital literacy

Introduction
The development of technology and technological tools nowadays have put us teachers in a big challenge, because we have to learn many new things in which our students are usually more competent than we are.
This new generation is the technological generation. Kids nowadays know how to handle a computer, a wii, cellphones, dvds and use internet (and its tools) without any explanations, like we used to do with toys. If you do not believe me, just ask a kid about facebook and how to use it, or about twitter, to name some of them.

What is Digital Literacy?
Digital literacy, according to Wikipedia, is just that "the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate, and create information using digital technology"
According to Gilster (1999) digital literacy is “the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers”
Among the competences of digital literacy we may find: information processes, reading comprehension of oral and written texts, writing skills, social networks, among others.

Digital Competences a XXI EFL teacher should have
Teachers should learn how to use technology outside and inside the classrooms and take advantages of the useful tools that it (internet, technology, ipods...) offers us.
A XXI EFL teacher should know what new tools are available, how they work, what the advantages and disadvantages of those tools are. A teacher should be updated in technology, know how to handle it and use the benefits it offers.
You are welcome to have an immersion in technology and use it wisely!!

References
Gilster (1999) Ethics and electronic information
http://www.aea1.k12.ia.us/techdocs/SandBox/PPT/Copyright_Pres.pdf
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_literacy

Welcome

Welcome to my blog: My ICT World!
This blog is about my experience in the ICT in ELT 09 course. An inmersion in technology.
Ayleen Trujillo Ruiz