Selecting & Using Web 2.0 Tools

Selecting Tools

Criteria 1: Accessibility & Usability

• Can the tool be used by PC and Mac users? I always choose tools that can be used by students with both types of computers.
• Will I or my students have to download something to use this tool? I try to stay away from tools that require a download because that introduces more opportunities for confusion and frustration and increased the likelihood that I'll have to spend more time troubleshooting problems.
• Can it be used with a variety of web browsers? Most people use either Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari. I pick tools that can be used with all three. Generally speaking, if it works on those three, it will work on anything my students will be using.
• Are my students likely to have the hardware required to use the tool? I use a lot of audio and video in my courses but most of my students are studying how to teach online so I know they have things like microphones and web cams on their computers.  However, if I were teaching some other type of course, I would probably stick with tools that only required students to have a computer and possible a microphone.

• How simple is the tool to use?  The more complicated the tool, the more often you will have to spend time trying to help students use the tool, so I look for simple, easy-to-use tools.
• Is the product of the tool in a format that I and my students can use?  I generally select online tools so a browser is usually the only software necessary to view or interact with the product.  But, if I do use a tool to create content that I send to my students, I select tools that have outputs that can be viewed by anyone. A good example of this is PDF files - anyone can view them just by downloading the free PDF viewer. Another example is MP3 files (audio files) because they can be opened in a variety of audio software programs (Windows Media Player, RealTime Player, Quick Time Player, etc.).
• Will my students have to create an account on the tool in order to interact with it?  I try to keep to a minimum the number of tools I use that require students to create accounts.  It can be very confusing to students to try to keep track of which user names and passwords go with which tool and the more confusion they have, the more time I spend helping them gain access to the tool rather than helping them understand content.

Criteria 2: Privacy & Intellectual Property

• Can I restrict access to the content created by me or my students?  I look for tools that allow me to decide who can view the process or product of the tool.  I especially look for tools that allow me to share the content with just a particular student or with a group of students or with the entire class.
• What does the web site's privacy statement say about what they do with your personal data? Some sites state that they will never give out your personal data (e.g. email address) to other companies, while others state that they may occasionally do so.  I look for tools that never give out personal data or, at the very least, allow me to choose.
• Does the tool allow me / my students to retain intellectual property rights to our content? I have seen several web 2.0 tools and services that state in the EULA that they retain the right to do whatever they want with the content uploaded to, or created with, the site.  I never use these tools because, while I usually am not concerned about this, I don't wish to make those types of decisions for my students.
• Does the tool allow me / my students to decide the level of copyright assigned to our content?  Some sites provide options to use a Creative Commons license.  I think this is a nice feature and if the tools in question are equal in all other concerns, I go with the tool that provides the Creative Commons license.

Criteria 3: Workload & Time Management

• Does the tool have RSS feeds I or my students can subscribe to? I use a lot of tools that encourage interaction and participation. Tracking / grading those interactions can be quite challenging if we have to do it on the tool site, so I look for tools that allow us to read, listen to, or view those interactions in an RSS reader like Google Reader. That allows us to stay up to date on new content without visiting the site. It also means I can grade on participation more easily than visiting the site and re-reading all the content to find the newest interactions or latest content added.
• Can I embed the tool or the product of the tool on my course management system, course wiki, or course blog? I use so many different tools in my courses, that it would be very burdensome to have to visit all the different tool sites to check in on my students' progress. It's also more confusing for them to know which site to visit for particular assignments. So, I always look for tools that allow me to embed the tool on my site so that students and I can conduct our interactions all in one place rather than in multiple places.
• Will my students have to create an account to use the tool?  I prefer tools that don't require students to create accounts in order to participate in activities I've designed. This makes it more usable for the students (as I mentioned above) and it also means I spend less time helping students through the account creation process.  If the tool does require them to create an account to participate, I will sometimes create a guest account they can use and then ask them to make sure they put their name next to their work so I can give credit to them for the assignment. However, this occasionally backfires and makes more work for me if I have to spend time tracking down who did what if they forget to "sign" their work.  So, use your best judgement here.  :)

Using Tools in the Classroom

All manner of interesting and challenging issues crop up when using Web 2.0 tools in your classes. Here are a few tips along with examples of my personal experience to help you avoid these "fun" times.

Tip 1: Don't assume your students are savvy with technology.

I was quite proud of myself. I had adhered to all my checklist criteria  when selecting my tool and was certain (yes, certain!) that the planned activity would go off without a hitch.  After all, the students only needed to be able to browse the web to do the activity so it should be a piece of cake, right? HA!  My first hint of disaster came when one student asked me why they couldn't see the content in their 'browser.'  After several minutes of discussion it became clear to me that 1) the student didn't know what a web browser was and 2) that the student was trying to view the online activity with Windows Explorer (the program on your computer that lets you search for content on your computer) rather than Internet Explorer.   <grin>  There's no way to avoid these issues; however, you can minimize the impact of said challenge by creating a non-graded activity with the tool first so that all the students can get familiar with the tool BEFORE they have to do something that will harm their grade if they don't get it right.

Tip 2: Understand that students will use pseudonyms.

The activity I planned was for students to contribute to a wiki.  I had given them directions on how to create an account on the wiki and log in to post their contributions and gave them two weeks to complete the assignment.  The two weeks were almost up and I was anxious to log in and see what brilliant things they had done! I logged in and did indeed find some excellent work. Problem was, when I checked the wiki history, I saw names like Hymenoxys (a small yellow flower that grows all over the US, in case you're wondering), Olive Oil, TrainLover, and a host of other psuedonyms!  YIKES! How was I going to grade all this work and give credit to the appropriate students when I had no idea who was who??  This type of online behavior is very normal - many people like to humanize their computer interactions by going by monikers that say something personal about them.  I actually  encourage students to use pseudonyms if they want to maintain their  privacy, but it can be a challenge. So, now in my directions, I ask students to please email me their user names and I keep a list on my computer so I can reference those names as I grade their work.  It only really takes grading a few assignments before you start associating pseudonyms with real names without having to take time to look them up.

TIp 3: If possible, use an RSS reader to track tool activities.

I had just found CrowdAbout and had planned to use it for several different assignments; the first assignment was student introductions.  I knew the tool had RSS capabilities, but didn't think much about it at the time.  I created my intoduction and then invited students to participate and gave them directions.  The first few days went well. A few students logged in to participate and it was easy to see at a glance where the new posts were. Then, there was a flurry of activity over the weekend (is it just my students, or do all distance students wait until the weekend to do their work?? LOL). Friday night I logged in and found that I had to re-read several previous comments before I got to the new stuff. By Sunday, I had re-read so many posts to find new comments (a real time-consuming process) that I was almost convinced that the tool, while quite engaging for the students, would not be a welcome addition because of all the extra work it created for me. It was a bleak moment as I considered the possible trade-offs. Fortunately, RSS readers (like Google Reader) help mitigate the challenge of tracking student work.  By adding the RSS feed from CrowdAbout (or any other tool) to my reader, I was able to see all the new activity as it happened. Better yet, I could even click on the link provided in the reader and go directly to that post so I could respond. Problem solved!

Contribute Your Ideas

Have tips or checklist criteria to contribute?  Visit the Web20 Checklist Contributions page and tell us!