By Emily Hixon, Janet Buckenmeyer, David Freitas

"If your target audience isn't listening, it's not their fault, it's yours.”

Seth Godin, the author of 12 best-selling books, chastised the business community with this insight. Ironically, his wisdom equally applies to schools and our primary audience, students.

Despite overwhelming and staggering evidence documenting our students’ nearly obsessive engagement with Web 2.0 tools (see GENERATION M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds; The Pew Internet and American Life Project’s Teens and Social Media ), we continue to downplay, and in some cases ignore, its (Web 2.0) tremendous potential in teaching and learning.

In their new book, Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum victoriously slay the scourge of ignorance. Web 2.0 How-To for Educators is one of the most informative, practical, and user friendly books available for school practitioners.

Solomon and Schrum substantially exceed their stated purposes. (“One purpose of this book is to provide a practical guide to integrating Web 2.0 tools into the classroom. Another purpose is to showcase teachers who are using Web 2.0 tools.”)

The first eight chapters focus on popular Web 2.0 tools – blogs; microblogs-twitter; podcasts and vodcasts; productivity applications; social networks; visual learning tools-videos and photos; virtual environments; and wikis.

Each chapter is similarly organized using a common journalistic paradigm – what, why, when, who, how, and where. In Chapter 1, for example, the authors answer the following questions: what is a blog?; why are blogs useful tools?; when do teachers use blogs?; who is using blogging for teaching and learning?; how do you get started with blogs?; and where can you find more information about blogs and blogging?

These chapters succinctly present what you need to know to about each tool and how to successfully integrate it in meaningful learning. We were particularly impressed with the instructional rationale (why) for using the specific tool, the illustrative exemplary examples cited from all grade levels and multiple academic disciplines (who), the approaches to stimulate action (how), and the exhaustive vetted online resources (where) listed for further exploration. These chapters are the heart of this book.

You can easily jump, non-sequentially, from one chapter to the other depending on your interests and needs. So, if you need to know how to implement social networking, go right to Chapter 5. Each chapter is a distinct, free-standing unit. Everything you need to know is in one place.

Also of note is the inclusion, in Chapter 10, of “some [popular] lesser known applications making a difference in classrooms”. Following the same format from earlier chapters (what, why, when, who, how, and where), essential information for each application is written by teachers, instructional technology coordinators, and other successful users. Here’s the list of the applications - Audacity; Delicious; Diigo; Drupal; Evernote; Google Earth; Google Forms (surveys); Google Reader and custom Rss feeds; Issuu, Moodle, Netvibes, skrbl, Skype, Timetoast; TodaysMeet; VoiceThread; Voki; Webspriration; WizIQ; and Wordle. How many of these do you know? Several certainly merit integration in your teaching.

And there’s more! Chapter 11 provides “an assortment of Web 2.0 tools . . . for instructional practices and professional development.” Over 200 tools are organized into 24 categories. They include recommended tools for collaborative writing, idea and mind mapping, communication, online discussion, video editing, and video sharing.

Embedded throughout this book are sidebars offering useful advice from school practitioners. Here’s a sample of these “Web 2.0 Wisdom” contributions - Nine Reasons to Twitter; Five Easy Steps for Creating Podcasts; Making Time for Professional Development in Second Life; Turbo-Charged Wikis: Technology Embraces Cooperative Learning; and Fourteen Tips for Using Wikis.

Web 2.0 tools often remain untapped or underutilized resources for leadership and professional development activities. The authors remind us to exploit these financially inexpensive tools, especially in this continuing malaise of severe budget constraints. Teachers and administrators will “find a community of other educators online. They can create a network of these educators to share with and learn from and can build a personal learning network to turn to regularly. Online, they have access to best practices and the leader/practitioners and models that can show what strategies make a difference, and they can learn where and when to use them.” We certainly concur.

The authors rightfully create a sense of urgency. “Clearly, today’s students live in a world of interactivity and connectedness. They use tools to interact with information and others and to connect the dots of multiple ideas until relationships are clear. So schools must provide the same opportunities as students have outside to engage them and to individualize learning or risk apathy. Anyone used to interacting with objects and others to get information on a daily basis cannot learn by sitting still and listening to someone at the front of the room spout facts.” Amen!

Over a decade ago, Chris Dede warned us that "The most dangerous experiment we can conduct with our children is to keep schooling the same at a time when every other aspect of our society is dramatically changing."

Are you listening?

Now’s the time to change. Get this book and let’s go!


Dr. David Freitas has served in a number of leadership positions throughout his career including College Dean at three Universities, Tenured University Professor, University Vice Provost, Public School Teacher/Administrator, State of Illinois Teacher Certification Board Member, State Department of Education Official, and Elected City School Board Member. He is a frequent national and international presenter and author.

Janet Buckenmeyer, Ph.D., a former elementary school teacher, is currently a tenured Associate Professor and Chair of the Masters of Instructional Technology Program at Purdue University Calumet. She has published and presented nationally and internationally on various topics, with a primary focus on instructional technology and design.

Dr. Emily Hixon is an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology at Purdue University Calumet. Her research projects have focused on the effective integration of technology at both the K-12 and higher education levels.