Web 2.0 Creative Writing Tools and

This week I began to think about what online tools would be suitable for enhancing reading and writing skills. With sooo many to choose from, I reviewed a list given by my tutor and selected two candidates: Curriculet and Little Bird’s Tales.

Curriculet is a digital reading platform which promotes comprehension through quizzes and assessment.

This tool aims to improve student reading skills through embedding questions, comments and other information media. Reports help teachers save time by tracking student progress. However, the current online library is limited. Of course, the onus, and the burden, is on the teacher to exploit the platform’s potential by uploading additional reading content and supporting materials. So saved time on assessment is balanced out by prepararing of new materials.

Looking back at the task of reading part of Madame Bovary for my Creative Writing module, this tool could be used to encourage deeper, reflective learning. Being able to embed images, video and sound scaffolds learning and facilitates interaction with the content. And the assessment tools would save the teacher time and energy usually required to mark assignments. In a word, this seems to be a great online reading tool with the potential to increase learner’s reading ability, vocabulary and critical thinking skills. In turn, inspiration may be drawn from reading texts to inspire learners to write their own creative pieces.

Little Bird Tales is an online tool that helps young learners to create digital stories.

Users are able to narrate their stories by recording their voice, drawing on the integrated art pad, importing images and/or by simply typing on a keyboard. The key features are that of sharing your work with others and having the opportunity to publish the work to an international audience. It’s clear to see that this creative and fun tool would work very well with young learners

Of course, students will require support from the teacher, from brainstorming their story idea, to using the tool itself. I think it would work best with smaller groups, if not one-to-ones, due to the technical (albiet, very simple) know-how required.

In relation to the Creative Writing tasks I completed this semester, this tool would be useful for visually and aurally enhancing a short story or piece of writing, the process of which would be engaging for the writer, as well as the future reader. Also, I think this tool could be used as a prompt that models the outline of story to inspire students in the story-writing process.