BP11_20091115_Web2.0Tools

Screenshot of Web Poster Wizard by Hardy Reeves

Altec. (2000-2009). Web Poster Wizard. Copyright Altec at the University of Kansas. Retrieved November 10, 2009 from http://wizard.4teachers.org

This tool is very cool. I have been to http://wizard.4teachers.org/ before, but for their other free products, such as: rubistar, a rubric maker, Assign-A-Day, post your own online class calendar, and Casa notes-take home notes in English and Spanish. When I went searching for Web 2.0 tools today, I found Web Poster Wizard, an online poster making program.

There are several items of interest for this site. First, they say it is to make a very simple webpage in minutes, which it does. Teachers are able to create classes of students and then create worksheets and assignments for them to complete, a very simple Course Management System, but it doesn't stop there. Students are able to access a student site and either work on the assignments or create an online poster. This feature, the online poster, is what really got me excited.

We use teacher generated posters to learn material and then I have students generate posters as a group for review practices and checking for content mastery. What this site does is allow students to work as a group and collaborate on a poster that they will present online. Students login and add titles, paragraphs of information, pictures (and they must cite where they got the picture from), and urls for sites they would like other students to visit. This just made a poster activity in the classroom something that all students with an internet connection at home, are able to access and study there instead of just in the classroom.

For my class, we are wrapping up a unit in science on Physical/Chemical Reactions, Physical/Chemical Properties, etc. I already know that they will be working together with a partner to create an online poster to present to the class to review the concepts from this unit.