Most teens felt that they could benefit from improved instruction in writing. When teens were asked about their suggestions for improvement, researchers discovered that, “Overall, 82% of teens feel that additional in-class writing time would improve their writing abilities and 78% feel the same way about their teachers using computer-based writing tools.”

Focus group teens offered this helpful advice to educators:
“…they are motivated to write when they can select topics that are relevant to their lives and interests, and report greater enjoyment of school writing when they have the opportunity to write creatively. Having teachers or other adults who challenge them, present them with interesting curricula and give them detailed feedback also serves as a motivator for teens. Teens also report writing for an audience motivates them to write and write well.”

Asking students to share their views about their own learning can be so illuminating. Students, in their infinite wisdom, have identified what makes Web 2.0 communication media so powerful: they genuinely put the act of communication back into writing. They offer a platform for students to use writing to develop their ideas and communicate those ideas to real audiences with real purpose. Isn’t that what we’re trying to prepare them to do? If we want students to learn to communicate in writing, then we should give them opportunities to do so authentically in the course of instruction.

Artificial writing exercises that ask students to tell teachers and test-makers what they already know, or prove command of rhetoric divorced of meaningful substance, do not qualify as authentic communication. Students are eager to use blogs, wikis, and threaded discussions for academic writing because they offer opportunities to interact in writing with other people around ideas. As teachers, we must find ways to engage students in writing about things that matter to them and to society and facilitate the sorts of interactions that help them sharpen the expression of their thoughts. And we are fortunate to now have such helpful tools available to help us meet those goals.

Forums are online discussions organized topically and chronologically. Whether public or private, forums are open to a number of participants who need not be online simultaneously to participate, as contributions can be posted asynchronously. Threaded discussions maintain the coherence of a given conversational thread, with a hierarchical format that tracks each chain of responses and how they are linked to each other.

Chats are real-time (synchronous) conversations online via text involving two or more people, often at a distance. Chatting (or instant messaging) often involves informal rhetoric, shorthand conventions, and emoticons to convey tone. As with any digital text, chats can be saved and transfered to other media.

A blog is a public online journal managed by a primary author who posts entries that appear chronologically. Blog posts are in digital hypermedia format, which means they can include text, images, links, video, audio, or animation. Readers can comment on blog posts, and bloggers can link to each other’s blogs and to other web sites.

A wiki is a web site that is open to many contributors who share authorship. Pages can be created, edited, organized, and discussed by different authors, and all changes are tracked. Authoring permissions are managed by wiki owners and may include a range of levels.

A podcast is a digital media broadcast via the internet, in either audio or video format, often through syndication feeds, for playback on a portable media player or personal computer. Podcasts allow radio shows, television segments, or homemade productions to be distributed widely for anywhere, anytime listening and/or viewing.

Digital multimedia productions take many different forms and can be distributed through many channels. For example, a slide show with text, images, and animation can be saved as a movie. Videos can be taken with a regular digital camera, imported into editing software to create movies, and then uploaded to a blog, an online social network, or any other web site.  Any digital media can be combined with any other digital media, and authors can share their digital creations with the world via the internet.

Every day makes new resources available to authors of all ages and experience levels, helping them engage in meaningful expression and interaction and make their voices heard all over the world. Though we have barely begun to explore the implications of the Web 2.0 revolution for authorship, I believe that these developments have a great deal to offer teaching and learning. That is the subject of this blog.