Donna Drasch is a Service Learning Coordinator atEASTCONN. Rebecca Pilver is an Education Technology and Literacy Specialist at EASTCONN. Between the two of them, they have 40+years of experience in the field of education. As staff developers, they are committed to providing authentic, meaningful learning experienceswhere children learn to problem solve, think critically, collaborate, communicate, and care.
Both Donna and Rebecca believe that Web 2.0 tools can be a way to change the level of student engagement, increase student satisfaction, and enable students to take responsibility for their own learning. They believe that while the old Web allowed us to be consumers of information, the new Web provides us with the opportunity to be information producers and collaborators on a global scale. Some of the benefits that Donna and Rebecca foresee happening by using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom include:
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Students write for a real audience.
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Learning expands beyond the classroom walls
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Parents can participate in the learning experiences
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Students are motivated by the authentic learning environments they create.
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They allow for purposeful reading and writing across the curriculum.
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They foster communication and collaboration.
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Students have voice and a sense of ownership.