Whether the emerging Internet applications are labeled 21st-century, Web 2.0 or social networking, there has been an enormous grassroots power shift from online users being passive consumers of information, to actively creating collaborative content. For example, the use of Weblogs to share personal thoughts, opinions and information across the Internet is exploding in every area of society - and capturing the interest of educators and students around the world. A new blog comes online every second, and the Technorati.com directory lists more than 57 million examples on every conceivable topic. Blogs are becoming new communications vehicles for teaching, learning and professional development in K12 schools, and any student, teacher or administrator can add a voice to the conversations. Related user-created online media include the social networks MySpace, Facebook and Xanga; photo-sharing sites such as Flickr and Webshots; shared information sources including Wikipedia and Wikibooks; and the personal classified ads of Craigslist.
Web resources touch every realm of society, and influence teaching and learning profoundly. Most school districts offer high-speed Internet service, and half of all Americans have broadband at home. The Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 87 percent of all teenagers are Internet users, and 68 percent use online resources at school. However, online experiences are totally different than they were even a few years ago, and Pew found that each day 5 million people post information through blogs or other content-creating applications, 4 million share files including music and videos on peer-to-peer networks, and 3 million use the Web to rate people, products and services.
Powerful new Internet products are being
developed for almost every education
application and offer personalized features.
Powerful new Internet products are therefore being developed for almost every education application, from curriculum and school management to professional development, and the influence of user-created online media is clearly evident. Online products now make use of high-speed interactive multimedia, offer customized and personalized features, and link to communities of users from schools and from home. But at the same time, finding information on the best products has never been more important or more complicated, so we asked our readers to help us select the Top 100 Products of 2007-08. In addition to nominating and voting for products, it was particularly gratifying to note the supporting comments we received. For example, Dan Broadbent, from the Northside Urban Pathways charter school in Pittsburgh, said that because of the Apangea program, "test scores in math this year were significantly higher"; Jeffrey Peal, from the Alexander County Schools in North Carolina, said that Connect-Ed allowed his district to "communicate with every household in a matter of minutes"; and Erica Rodriguez from the Laredo Independent School District in Texas said, "eChalk changed the way I teach and interact with my students."
Here are the 2007-08 DA readers' choice awards for Internet products.
AMERICA'S CHOICE
SCHOOL DESIGN, Research-Based Teaching Strategies, Pricing dependent upon district needs
School Design includes components such as daily literacy blocks, workshop teaching strategies, school-improvement leadership teams, and in-school math and literacy coaches. it also provides a safety net for struggling students, with double-period courses, proprietary instructional publications, and a national network of curriculum and teaching experts. School Design uses research-based teaching strategies for students by aligning standards, instruction and assessments. www.americaschoice.org
APANGEA LEARNING
SmartHELP, Supplemental Education Service, $50 per student/year
Apangea's online supplemental education service, which combines tutoring software with live support from certifi ed teachers, was designed to facilitate costeffective differentiated instruction. Its seven-step problem solving method helps students understand the process of solving math problems, not just how to arrive at the answer. With just-in-time feedback, student progress can be monitored and analyzed. Teachers can also create customized tutorial programs and reports on student progress. Other features include automatic progress lerts and multilingual support in seven languages. www.apangealearning.com
BRIDGES
CHOICES PLANNER, Education and Career Options, Prices start at $400
Choices Planner helps high school students compare, connect and choose career and education options. It features more than 8,000 colleges, technical schools and graduate schools, along with over 1,000 college, job bank and financial aid links. Other highlights include Occupational Information Network (OINET) occupation profiles, a work values sorter, transferable skills checklist, interest profiler and over 250 career videos, some in Spanish. access.bridges.com
