Lori Holcomb

Developing Classroom Web Sites for 21st Century Learning

Classroom Web sites have the potential to support and enhance student learning by targeting 21st century skills, such as collaboration among teachers, students, parents, and other teachers, media literacy, and interpersonal and self-directional skills, as well as thinking and problem-solving skills. For example, Web site components such as collaborative projects can enhance students’ interpersonal skills (Holcomb, Castek, and Johnson 2007). These skills are imperative for the 21st century student, as Dede (2007, 16) suggested: “The importance of cooperative interpersonal capabilities is substantially higher than in the prior industrial era.” Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, vokis, and podcasts enhance teacher Web sites to prepare students for the future. By making learning a social event, teachers help to keep students engaged with course material. In addition, teachers are supporting 21st century skills through the posting of student work so that classmates may comment on and refine one another’s products. Research shows that the Internet, along with proper technology, allows students to take control of their own learning (Strom et al. 2010). Jennifer Tingen is a doctoral student in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Instructional Technology and a research assistant at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Her research interests include Web 2.0 tools and online learning. Lauren Philbeck is an instructional technology specialist at North Ridge Elementary in Raleigh, North Carolina. She always is looking for new, fun, and effective technology to use with her students. Lori B. Holcomb is an Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology at North Carolina State University. Her research interests include the adoption of technology by in-service teachers, distance education, and the evaluation of technology in educational settings. By using classroom Web sites, teachers are encouraging students to seek out information themselves, which is a necessary skill for success in the 21st century.