Web 1.0 vs 2.0

This summer I created a website where students are able connect with another class somewhere in the world and participate in a language arts and science activity.  This project was designed for students to communicate with one another using email.  They were asked to write a descriptive piece describing their new insect species.  Using the write up the partner would have to draw a picture of what they thought the insect looked like using the descriptive writing piece.  Once both partners completed each others they would get to see what the original image looked like.  Both the original image and the image created using the clues would be posted on the website to see how close the two images were to each other.  The idea being, the more descriptive the details you gave, the better chance your partner’s insect would come out looking like the original.  This lesson was designed to use Web 1.0 tools. It required teachers to create an email address for each of their students so they could communicate back and forth with their partner and it also required that teachers submit the final projects of all their students to the website creator so that they could then be displayed on the website.  It was a timely project both for the participating teachers and the website creator.

If I could change this project to incorporate web 2.0 technology I think I would create a wiki instead of a website.  This way it would eliminate the teacher having to create an email account for each individual student.  Creating email address would be both time consuming and hard to monitor all 25 plus students use.  By creating a Wiki each pair of students could be assigned a wiki page where they are able to write their detailed description of their insect and then post their work.  Teachers can easily monitor progress.  This would also take a HUGE chunk of work away from the website creator.  They will not have to ask that a teacher submit the final projects for their class and also eliminates having to upload every participating students final work for the world to see.  Using a wiki puts the responsibility on the participating classroom teacher and students.