Using+new+web+technologies


 * Using new web technologies**

There are many ways to use technology to enhance learning in contemporary science. As well as researching, pupils can engage creatively with a topic by making their own films or sound podcasts, animations and games.

A great deal of modern debate in the scientific world takes place on lines - most websites have discussion forums. Often they can be a depressing read. Some commentators have suggested that this is partly because the technology is so young, convention is still being arrived at. One way that schools can contribute to this is by helping students to understand the difference between good and bad debate. A wiki is a fantastic tool for this - it can be set up in minutes, made accessible only to a given group of students, all of whom will be identifiable (and thus able to be held accountable) by logon and proper debate can be modelled and practised. (An example of an online homework activity is here.) For an easy teach-yourself approach to setting up a wiki, see the Triple Science e-Learning material here.

In addition to wiki sites, the TS e-Learning site gives advice and instructions on a range of new technologies, presented in science teaching contexts with easy-to-follow instructions. Setting up blogs, podcast and film-based sites can all provide a stimulating framework for working with contemporary science issues.

This wiki has been modified so that not all of the pages show automatically in the contents bar to the left. This has been done in the interest of making the menu less cluttered and also to ensure that there is some sort of logical sequence through the material. Navigation in the wiki environment is up to the users but for students it can be helpful to provide natural progression through parts of a website.

If you're new to working with wikis, there are some tips on wiki etiquette here on netbeans. Also for newcomers, there are a few hints and tips that you may find useful:

Of course, wikis are not the only way that students can use new web technologies to share information. There has been a massive growth of collaborative web tools in recent years. A good list can be found (ironically, on another wiki...) at CoolToolsForSchools. Video and picture sharing sites, presentation tools and school LMS can call be very powerful tools for this kind of work.

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