I checked out a couple tools this week. My favorite was Diigo. At first, I thought, “What is the point of needing a webtool to sort your favorite websites when you’ve got the option to bookmark your favorites and then organize those?” Ah, but what are your favorite sites if you’re on a different computer? You don’t know because using your computer’s book marking tool only applies to that computer. I started in Diigo by watching their tutorial video, which was extremely helpful. I love the options to “1) research, 2) share and 3) collaborate.” The research part is similar to book marking, except you’ve got fun added features like highlighting and the ability to add “sticky notes” plus you can access your favorite bookmarked sites from any computer that’s online. The “snapshot” feature allows you to archive your favorite sites, so that when you revist, you’ll be sure that it is still there. I LOVE IT! This would be a great thing to share using our newly created PLN. If we all book marked our favorite science sites and shared them, what a build on our PLN that would be, huh!?!
I also set up an account at glogster.com but was having a hard time with the getting Adobe Flash Player to work. However, I’ve got the idea behind “Postering Yourself.” I think this is something that my student would enjoy; after all it is geared toward teens and preteens. I like the fact that this is something they could save on a computer and work on outside of school. However, I would be concerned about assigning it as homework, as only about 50% of the students at my rural, West Michigan school have internet access. Although, I’m willing to try glogster in place of a traditional glue-cut-paste project, I do think that some people get a lot of enjoyment from that physical form of creation.
I as well was very impressed with the possibilities that a bookmarking tool like Diigo possess. Do you think the students would think its as helpful a tool as we do? I was thinking about introducing it at the beginning of the year and just integrating it into the curriculum as something you use when conducting online research. By the end of the year they could put together a pretty awesome resource!
ReplyDeleteAlso, in terms of glogster, why couldn't you just offered it as an option for those who wanted to use it in place of a traditional poster assignment? I am sure some students will get more out of it (and enjoy the process!) more than others...
Dalton- By the way, you have such an awesome name! I think it would be great to show the class a few examples glogs and give them that as an option for a poster-like project.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Diigo, I think the more organized a person, the more they would/could appreciate having a site like Diigo. Some of my high schoolers would love it, other are so scatterbrained they'd actually forget their brain if it weren't attached. Then again, it's those type of kids that would benefit from an organization site like Diigo the most.