Free Lesson Plans for Teachers: Web 2.0

Pass-Ed's Living Textbook
Free Lesson Plans for Teachers
Alpha Stage

Web 2.0
April 26, 2007

Time Magazine is running an article entitled, "Who's Really Participating
in Web 2.0."

The article states, "We're very taken with the idea of consumers creating
content for the Internet. With the advent of blogs, tagging, personal
profiles, garage band music and amateur web videos, instant notoriety is
just an "upload" click away. The sheer volume of user content is
staggering. Wikipedia's user-created entries have surpassed the 5 million
mark. In 2006 YouTube announced that it had served over 100 million
video clips per day. With such vast libraries of lip-synched videos and
episodes of LonelyGirl15, the numbers seem to indicate that this
phenomenon has gone mainstream."

"But," the article reports, "the latest data on Internet participation reveals
that only a very small percentage of Internet activity is related to users
creating and publishing content."

Read the article!!

Discussion-Starters for Younger Children

Have your students ever made anything using the computer? What
did they make? Would it have been possible to make this thing
using paper? Why/why not?

Consider asking your students to paint a picture, using a
program such as Paint. Then all of the pictures on a class
website or a class wiki.

Have your students ever been afraid to try something new? If so,
what? Did they eventually overcome their fear? Are they glad they
overcame the fear? Why/why not?

Students could record podcasts in which they explain a
fear that they have overcome.

If your students could tell everybody in the whole world one
thing, what would they say? Why?

Incredibly, they can share one thing with a wide audience.
Post students' ideas on a wiki. Alternatively, you could
introduce them to blogging.

Do your students think it would be more fun to watch a really
good movie or be an actor in a really good movie? Encourage
them to explain their answers.

Students could develop their own skits. These skits could
be videotaped and uploaded to a video sharing site such as
Google Video.

Discussion-Starters for Older Students

Vocabulary terms to discuss: Consumers; Democratization; Skew;
and, Disseminate.

Do your students think that the tools of Web 2.0 which enable
web-surfers to publish their own products are good for society as
a whole? Why/why not? Does an individual benefit personally
when he/she posts a product to the Internet? Why/why not?

These questions could prompt an interesting class
discussion. Alternatively, consider asking students to
collect answers to these questions from three different
people form three different countries.

The article states, "The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto
Principle, states that 80% of all consequences stem from 20% of
the causes." Ask your students to explain this rule in their own
words. This rule explains a socially observed phenomenon. Why
do your students think this is the case? How might this rule be
applicable to your students' lives?

Ask your students to develop one rule or theory that
explains something that happens in the social world.
Consider posting these rules/theories on a class wiki.

Ask your students what they think is the best part of the Internet.
Encourage them to explain why. How do they think their answers
will be different in another ten years? Why do they think this is
the case?

Consider asking students to design an online presentation in
response to these questions. Even if you don't know how
to do this, it's fine to challenge your students to do so.
They can help one another. You will learn in the process.

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