Collaborate & Communicate Online
There are so many Web tools out there at the moment, how do we find them, why and what do we use them for, and how do we engage learners with them?
How do we find them?
Have a look at this directory of Web 2.0 Tools - this is an amazing list of Web 2.0 Tools. If you haven’t been here, you’re in for a treat. It’s beautifully designed, in fact, I would go so far as to say quite gorgeous. Have a look at some of the blogs listed on my blogroll for ideas, examples and links.
What do we use them for?
To engage. Technology is just a means to an end, it’s not what you use, it’s how you use it! You still need to facilitate the learning and you still need to be organised. The real value of technology in education lies in what the technology enables: better collaboration among learners.
Social bookmarking for example allows users/learners to store and link to list of resources they find useful. Start with sites like del.icio.us, reddit, Digg and ma.gnolia.
RSS feeds allows users to save time and effort by grabbing news, information, resources, podcasts and blog posts from all the different sites they visits and place them all in one convenient location. This can include the latest class/course postings on teachers blogs, forums, and their list of bookmarks relevant to the topic. Start with aggregator sites like netvibes, bloglines and newsgator.
Wiki’s - a tool that enables groups to work on a single website without extra software or web development experience. An example of it’s use might be to set a task for your students, use the tool to share their expectations for the session, to share research and resources.
These tools create a richer user-experience, they are often web-sites that mimic personal computer applications, such as word processing, the spreadsheet (see Google Docs & Spreadsheets), and slide-show presentation (slideshare). Online Project Management tools, such as Basecamp are also included.
Here are a couple of useful tools;
Stu.dicio.us: Student organizer and social note-taking tool. Students can, track their grades, create a schedule, manage a to do list, store files for classes, and write public notes in an outline-like format. Stu.dicio.us also allows students to connect with friends.
mynoteIT: An online note taking tool for students including a WYSIWYG note editor, assignment reminders, grade management, to do lists, and more. Students can also share notes with friends and receive feedback through commenting on notes.
Backpack: Backpack is an all around great organizer including note taking, file storage, to do lists, a calendar, and more. An example use could be that students can create pages in their organizer for each class and manage notes on class discussions as well as upload related files and class documents.
Wufoo: Online form creation, collect information online using a simple HTML form builder without having to write any code.
Zoho Challenge: Online test tool where you can easily create tests, send tests to students, and view results with visual reports and straight forward grading (pass or fail).
Diigo: Social annotation and bookmarking service where users can bookmark sites and add highlights and notes to them. Great for research.
Eyespot: Users can create video mixes online and share them with others. You can add up to 100 clips or photos to a movie as well as add transition effects and video effects. This is a neat YouTube workaround if you work for DET.
How do we engage learners with these tools?
We don’t need to try very hard, they are already using them. These tools can be used to empower students and to create engaging new learning experiences. Through these tools, “e-learning has the potential to become far more personal, social and flexible” (Read/Write Web).
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