Great web 2.0 tools for students

Sindya Bhanoo has posted a nice top 10 list of read/write web tools students can use for educational purposes. Although the post is ostensibly for college students, most of these tools can be used powerfully in the K-12 space as well. Tools on the list I had not heard of before include:

• Soundslides – Storytelling management made easy. Allows you to easily merge sound and audio to create and audio slideshow presentations. Requires a small registration fee.
• Blue.Us – A great social bookmarking/networking service. With the click of a button, you can “Dot” a Web site / page that you find interesting and instantly share it with all of your friends. Perfect for groups of students who have similar interests – it’s an easy way to share information.
• mynoteIT – mynoteIT is a free service built for students to help keep school information organized and have it easily accessible whenever, wherever.

We are still living in a day when many, if not most professors in classrooms where students are using laptops are VERY concerned that the students will use them to be off-task, doing things like instant messaging. Marc Prensky stated the digital native response to this sort of worry very succinctly several years ago: “Engage Me or Enrage Me!” (PDF) Rather than banning laptops or tools like Skype, teachers as well as professors (but especially professors) need to get over “The Synchronous Non-interactive Fallacy” and engage students with these digital tools! More educators need to teach digital! 🙂