A friend of mine recently sent me a link to MoMB, The Museum of Modern Betas. This website provides a quick glimpse of web 2.0 applications that are currently receiving lots of attention. I was blown away! It has an evolving feel, much like a blog, that isn't present in lists like SEOmoz's Web 2.0 Awards.

As I was perusing MoMB, I cam across ning. Ning is a web 2.0 service that allows users to create their own 2.0 applications (that is a very "Alice in Wonderland" statement). How might this be used in classrooms? I gravitated towards the map "apps" and kept wondering how this tool might be used in the early elementary social studies curriculum (ie, digital photos and descriptions that demonstrate student exploration of their surroundings). Could be cool...

Side Note: The image is a web 2.0-themed photograph by Leigh Blackall. I have enjoyed reading Leigh's posts/comments in various educational blogs, and I highly suggest reading this Aussie's personal reflections. He even invited me to join his YouTube group (despite the fact that I have very few instructional videos uploaded)!

Technorati Tags: education, web 2.0, & technology

This post has both nothing and everything to do with educational technology.

The "nothingness:" The link below references a blog post about art.
The "everything:" The link below references a blog post about art that was created by mother, Mandy. The educational connection between her blog and what I write about is learning. My mother wanted to be able to connect her experiences (learning about art and classical realism) to a larger audience (the blogosphere). I helped her, but she took that those all important first steps: struggling to truly understand something new and taking a "risk." The result was undoubtedly new understandings/learning. I only wish that more of the classroom teachers that I work with would follow her example. I think teachers would reach more children if they were willing to say, "I don't know, but I want to try and learn something new. I am willing to take a risk."

Here is the link to her first post: Apprenticeship in Classical Realism: Still Life of Apple and Red Bottle. I am proud (a) that my mother was willing to let her son teach her something new and (b) that she was willing to do something that is quite scary for many people (try something totally differnt and new).

I am fascinated with the power of student immersion in virtual worlds that have true educational value. This video clip comes from a future "game" called Ancient Spaces. According to the April issue of Wired magazine, Ancient Spaces:

...is an online 3-D environment that re-creates past civilizations through wiki-like mass development. [Players in this massively multiplayer online game] can earn points by contributing historically accurate structures and objects or by completing missions.

I can't wait to see it in action. I imagine, given the fact that it is a MMO game, that there will be a large component of real-time collaboration among players (much like River City).