Monday’s Muse by Brenda Branson

The 9 Muses: “a sisterhood of goddesses or spirits, their number set at nine by Classical times, who embody the arts and inspire the creation process with their graces through remembered and improvised song and stage, writing, traditional music, and dance.”  

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

My  vision of the educational uses of Web 2.0 is similar, in that, the many applications that are now available have “inspired the creation process” in reading, writing, science, social studies, economics, research, communication, and collaboration around the world.   According to Wikipedia, Web 2.0 is  “the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.”

As part of my professional goal for this year, I am setting up a semblance of a webquest to provide individualized exposure and experience with “9″ Web 2.0 applications that will enhance curriculum and learning in the classroom.  Following the All Together Now and 23 Things models, this adventure will allow you to explore some of the most useful Web 2.0 features and discover ways to integrate them into your classroom learning experiences. This quest will take you on a ten week journey throughout “Worldwide Web” in search of wonderful new adventures.

Yes…look at this as an adventure… it’s more about “playing” and “learning” and “discovering” what’s new in the world of technology.  You’ll find many ways to participate in these activities and will enjoy using many of them for personal and family purposes., as well as, educational practices.  Again, the idea behind this little adventure is to allow the Worldwide Web, our number set at nine, to “embody” the curriculum and “inspire the creation process with” its support through the use of blogs, podcasts, flickr, RSS, wikis, games, tagging, TeacherTube, Google features.

Each Monday, I will post a new activity for your journey.  You will need to record your experiences in a blog, which will be our first activity.  We will begin the week of August 25, 2008.