SMART-8

A blog is a writing tool based online that presents entries with the most recent appearing first. They support text and image and can be the length of the author's choosing. A blog also accepts comments from other users on the original entry. They can be easily moderated and there are many free sites available on the internet. Blog readers may also subscribe to me notified every time an entry is posted to a particular blog through and RSS feed. In the class room blogs can easily be used as response journal in book studies. This allows students to easily publish their thoughts and reflections somewhere that is easily accessible to their teacher and classmates.

A wiki is an online web tool that allows users to add, remove, or edit content. A personal one can be created rather easily online and many are free. These wikis can be individualized by adding graphics to make them look unique. Many sites allow anyone to make changes, but there are some who do limit who can actually change the information. Wikis are very beneficial in the classroom during class projects. Students can easily add photos and information from both school at home, which makes collaboration very easy.

A web-based word processor is much the same as Microsoft Word without the hassle of purchasing or downloading a particular software, because it is all available online. Users may create, edit, save, and upload documents in these word processors. It is also possible to then publish files that have been created to the internet. Many of these word processors now support online collaboration among its users. A good function for this in the classroom is in round-robin writing. Students can each write on line of the story and the next can add on. This allows students to be creative and engaged while also practicing necessary writing skills.

Prior to this class I have had experience with blogging and wikis, but not with the web based word processor. In early high school I used to keep a personal blog and I used the wiki in my introduction to educational technology class to edit standards as an entire class. I never used the web0based word processor, because I have always owned Word and never saw a need for it.