1. CESD Team 7 Teri Patterson, Jody Watson, Cherra-Lynne Olthof, and Kim Gramlich

2. Is the use of Web 2.0 tools in an elementary classroom setting effective in improving student literacy skills?

3.  Goal: choose a variety of Web 2.0 tools to use with our students, focusing specifically on tools that best fit our curricular objectives  Teacher and students need to keep in mind that the purpose of this particular use of technology was to monitor the development of student reading and writing skills

4.  Several action research projects have been completed on the use of Web 2.0 tools with students.  Our project is different because of our specific focus on the improvement of student literacy skills.  Very little research has been done on the connection between Web 2.0 tools and student reading and writing skills.

5.  A large project such as this would be most effective and gain the most results if used over the course of an entire school year.  A complete and well-developed action research plan was put together.  We picked and chose specific parts of the project to implement to accommodate our 3- month time period.

7.  Use a variety of Web 2.0 tools with our students in ways that relate to our curriculum  Monitor students’ reading and writing skills with the hope of seeing a definite improvement over the course of the project

8.  Document using surveys, interviews, videos, samples of student work, and anecdotal notes  Engage students and ensure the students have an audience to share their work with (classmates, friends and family, pen pals, school division, the world)

9.  Reading and writing skills rubrics: completed at the beginning, middle, and end of project by both students and teachers  Google Docs Form: online survey  Student interviews  Recording videos and taking pictures  Anecdotal notes  Samples of student work

11.  January to February: begin to prepare, create reading and writing skills rubrics, create Google Docs Form, select students to interview  February to Mid-April: project work, use Web 2.0 tools in meaningful ways, complete the rubrics + survey + interviews, document  Mid-April to May: gather data, put together presentation, present information at PLP culmination

13.  Group: spread across schools and divisions, so it was difficult to meet face-to-face  Did not lose sight of our goal to use Web 2.0 tools to further develop student literacy skills  We chose our own ways to implement and document the use of Web 2.0 tools  Come together to share our overall impressions

14.  Kidblog and WordPress: student blogging  Glogster: demonstrate knowledge in a glog  Gmail: email pen pals, classmates, teachers  Google Docs: collaborate  Google Sites: build websites to show learning

15.  Instant chat: communicate with people  Voice Thread: demonstrate learning  YouTube: students film tutorials and post onto the Internet  Wikispaces: student wikis, online portfolios  Fakebook: create profiles for historical figures

16.  Allowed us as teachers to research a variety of Web 2.0 tools  Students enjoy working on computers so they were receptive to trying new things  All students found at least one tool that they were drawn to (different learning styles)

17.  Having an audience made a HUGE difference  Smaller projects were well-received, whereas larger ones were too overwhelming  Students preferred working individually or with a partner – lost focus in small groups

20.  Knowing that they had an audience played a huge role in how much effort and time the students spent on their work  Bigger audience = better work  More accurate information, demonstrating higher level thinking, writing with proper sentences and conventions

21.  Instant chat: students admitted to not caring about proper spelling and sentences  Email: still a limited audience, but better literacy skills than instant chat  Creating a blog, Glogster, website, wiki, or video that could be viewed by anyone clearly led the students to focus more on demonstrating strong literacy skills.

22.  Smaller and shorter time-framed projects were more well received by the students and kept them focused on their reading and writing skills  More complex and longer time-framed projects were overwhelming to students and focus on literacy skills seemed to be lost

23.  Variety of learning styles = variety of Web 2.0 tools need to be used  Blogs and Google Docs may be well-liked by students who enjoy writing, whereas Glogster and Voice Thread may be well-liked by students who are more visual and auditory learners

24.  Overall, students enjoyed using the computers and experimenting with new Web 2.0 tools  “Technology makes learning more fun”  Expressed wanting to use technology even more in their learning

26.  Used to monitor and evaluate students’ reading and writing skills before, during, and after the project  Completed by both teachers and students  http://tinyurl.com/424ar65 http://tinyurl.com/424ar65

29.  Used to gather students’ opinions about the use of technology, Web 2.0 tools, and their reading and writing skills  Completed before and after the project by all students  http://tinyurl.com/446rmah http://tinyurl.com/446rmah

31.  CESD Team 7: Project Details was compiled using a Google Doc so that our team could collaborate anywhere and at anytime  http://tinyurl.com/3fqpwps http://tinyurl.com/3fqpwps  PLP Wiki: includes project links  http://plpcanadian10.wikispaces.com/Chinoo k%27s+Edge+Team+7 http://plpcanadian10.wikispaces.com/Chinoo k%27s+Edge+Team+7

32.  Student interviews – completed throughout the project  Mid Interview #1: http://youtu.be/PRBzk9SIczQ http://youtu.be/PRBzk9SIczQ  Mid Interview #2: http://youtu.be/WqNFtXPW7KMhttp://youtu.be/WqNFtXPW7KM  End Interview #1: http://youtu.be/vnhSOELXKughttp://youtu.be/vnhSOELXKug  End Interview #2: http://youtu.be/UFTVz79ByS0http://youtu.be/UFTVz79ByS0  End Interview #3: http://youtu.be/EIB1Onx5nb8http://youtu.be/EIB1Onx5nb8  Students using Web 2.0 tools: http://youtu.be/XXEfiriiWZc http://youtu.be/XXEfiriiWZc

34.  Students using Web 2.0 tools

35.  Students created glogs demonstrate their learning in various ways – text, pictures, video, audio  Enjoyed greatly by the students!  Students viewed and commented on each other’s glogs, shared with friends and family  Example of Gr. 6 assignment: http://spruceview6.edu.glogster.com/glogste r-assignment/ http://spruceview6.edu.glogster.com/glogste r-assignment/

37.  Students each had their own blog to post their responses to poems, as well as post their own poems  Classmates responded to each others’ posts  Shared blogs with parents and pen pals  http://kidblog.org/MsPattersonsClass/ http://kidblog.org/MsPattersonsClass/

39.  Blog by the teacher (Cherra-Lynne Olthof) to discuss how her Grade 8 class came together to discuss a current event  Students took this forward by using the main words to create a Wordle  http://cherraolthof.wordpress.com/2011/05 /02/obamas-speech-a-grade-8- perspective/ http://cherraolthof.wordpress.com/2011/05 /02/obamas-speech-a-grade-8- perspective/

41.  Student video filmed with a Flip camera  Designed to be used by other students as a tutorial to help solve a single-step equation  Video link is posted to the class’ wiki page  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxHR12x _efw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxHR12x _efw

43.  Websites created by small groups of Grade 6 students about poetry devices  Required the students to research poetry devices, learn how to build a website, cite their information, etc.  https://sites.google.com/a/cesd73.ca/poetic -devices-group3/ https://sites.google.com/a/cesd73.ca/poetic -devices-group3/

45.  Teacher-based wiki: students can access information and use as a communication tool  www.olthofgrade8.wikispaces.com www.olthofgrade8.wikispaces.com  Online portfolios: created by students  http://cremonagrade8.wikispaces.com/ http://cremonagrade8.wikispaces.com/

47.  Grade 8 students created fake online profiles for historical figures  http://www.classtools.net/fb/28/Sc634Z http://www.classtools.net/fb/28/Sc634Z  http://www.classtools.net/fb/39/Le94ab http://www.classtools.net/fb/39/Le94ab  http://www.classtools.net/fb/48/LeKCVa http://www.classtools.net/fb/48/LeKCVa  http://www.classtools.net/fb/46/TVfL3J http://www.classtools.net/fb/46/TVfL3J  http://www.classtools.net/fb/38/lU6lBc http://www.classtools.net/fb/38/lU6lBc