My Favorite Web2.0 Tools

What are Web 2.0 Tools?

Wikipedia's definition: 

The term Web 2.0 is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web.

My definition:

Web 2.0 is the term used for all of the great sites and tools provided online to connect with people, share information and find resources. Sites that help organize your thoughts and aid in your productivity. The best part is that most of them are free!

Here are a couple of tools that I like:


Dropbox

It's part of the world of cloud computing. It's an application that you download to your computer that serves as a folder or in this case a box where you can store documents, projects and photos in your computer, but have the ability to access it from any other computer using the web. 

Example: I love it because my printer isn't compatible with my laptop, which is where I do most of my work. So I'll put the project or document in my Dropbox and then go to my home computer and print it from there without having to use a USB port.

Also, you can share your documents with other people. This would be great when doing a group project or if you want someone else to proof-read or edit something for you. As a teacher maybe you make a file with handouts or resources for your students, that way they can access them whenever they want.

Tokbox

If you're familiar with Skype than you'll know what this is about. Like Skype it's video-chatting and also text-chatting. You can do a group chat by inviting different people into the call. What's different and convenient about Tokbox is that you can access contacts from other sites like Facebook or your e-mail account. Also, it's not a program that you have to download and if a person doesn't answer you can leave a video message with I think it's really nice. Plus, you can do regular text-chatting in one place with people from different places. For example: I can chat with a contact from Facebook and a contact from my Gmail simultaneously in just one place versus switching from one place to another. 

As a teacher this would be good for video conferences regarding homework, projects, etc. You could create office hours for your students to reach you out of school.