Take a look at Top 100 Tools for Learning, which rates educational learning tools based on votes provided by educators. Compare this year's results with that of the last two years'. Use the 2008 and 2007 links to access those lists. Note also the box, "25 TOOLS: A TOOLBOX FOR LEARNING PROFESSIONALS, " with these two links: 25 tools, 25Tools Ning Community.Slideshare, a site for storing PowerPoint presentations and other slide displays, gets a top billing, and Nings are receiving increasing attention as professional development tools. Twitter moved to first place from 11th in 2008. PowerPoint went from 8th place in 2008 to 12th in 2009, a sign that emerging Web 2.0 tools are overtaking Microsoft Office products. Slideshare is in 7th place this year, above PowerPoint by 4 spots. YouTube in 4th place this year was in 18th in 2008, a significant climb. Delicious, a social bookmarking site, slipped to second place this year from 1st last year as Twitter moved to the top. Let us know which of the multitude of sites you incorporate in your teaching or plan to consider for the future.
We will devote one night in class to Blogger/Blogspot, in 14th place; it's one of the easiest blogging tools to learn. The top 100 for 2008 is also available to view on SlideShare, and the 2009 list should be in SlideShare soon once the voting closes. In fact, you have until Nov. 15, 2009 to cast your vote for this year's winners.
Remember to bookmark Top 100 Tools for Learning for reference. There's lots to explore. I will soon update my list of "Education Websites" on this blog's second sidebar, and for class, you need to create your own annotated lists of valuable sites for teachers and students. The Top 100 Tools and the second sidebar on this blog might help you find some sites you want to include.
Image from the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies
11 comments:
I just can't see how the social networking sites are on the top of the list. Twitter? I think I would be too concerned that my students were using the site to network and not just for blogging or school work. Plus isn't it easy to see what is going on with everyone else? What if there is something inappropriate on the site for the younger viewers? I'd be very careful about allowing these in the classroom, primarily the elementary school classroom. Maybe someone can convince me otherwise.
Jess, Twitter is gaining popularity in high school and college classrooms, which is probably what pushed it to the top. It is being used for discussion purposes during class time, and the teacher or professor has some control over how the tweets go. Some presenters like the concept because they can see audience reaction while they are talking and modify their comments accordingly. Others are using Twitter for discussions and collaborative writing. Personally, as a long-winded writer, I would find it hard to cut my writing to the maximum of 24 characters. I have also heard the Twitter has played a key role in diverting tragedies by getting word out quickly of a trouble spot, but can also see where this quick way to communicate can lead to some false reporting. Newscasters frequently use Twitter. Have any of you followed newscasters or other media figures on Twitter? What are your opinions of Twitter or other Web 2.0 tools you find at the top of the top 100 list?
Hi Jess and anyone else, to add to what I already posted, I found this information about how a social studies teacher is using Twitter, and guess you can post up to 140 characters, not the 124 as I originally stated in my last comment. Use this URL to find out more about the social studies teacher's use of Twitter:
http://mobile-libraries.blogspot.com/2009/10/twitter-lessons-in-140-characters-or.html
Seems use of Twitter is just at the tip of the iceberg for using it as a way to promote student interaction and move beyond more traditional ways of teaching.
Social networking sites, when used properly, I feel can bring classrooms together, and anywhere from learning to collaboration can be done. However, in the end, I feel it can be too hard to police. There are a lot of preditors out there with these social networking sites, which in the end may be too hard to avoid. Maybe one can be created for educational use only...allowing classrooms to collaborate...???
Yes, Scott, the accounts can be closed to just the students in your class. There are blog sites intended just for the K-12 such as EduBlog. No one else can get to these blog sites if the teacher has the restrictions in place.The same is true also for Blogger/Blogspot. It just depends on how the teacher sets up the account.
Jess, I am totally in agreement with you. However, I wonder how many hours of homework have been lost to social networking sites by my students. Though it is not the same thing several years ago I had 40% of an elective class miss school because a new video game launch. At the secondary level this may be a way to get some lost time back.
I tried to visit the slideshare spot but it has been taken off line. It would have been interesting to have seen what they are doing.
The social websites are here to stay. I believe it will by our job as teachers to appropriately direct the students towards utilizing these sites in a manner that will allow them to get the most out of it while not subjecting themselves to unsociable behaviors or actions. They can be used an incredible tool but could also be very damaging if not taught how to use correctly.
I like this site as it has opened my eyes to many tools I wasn't even aware of. I think that utilizing social networking sites for educational purposes is a great way to stay up with the times. However, with Twitter and Facebook I think that it would be really hard to monitor your students to make sure that they are doing what they should and not seeing what Miley Cyrus (sp?) or Justin Beaver are doing. For in the classroom, I like the idea of the EduBlog. For out of school assignments, I wonder if having the assignments on Twitter would be helpful because the students are already at that website or detract from the education experience because they see that one of their friends is online. I think it would be interesting study and I wouldbe interested to see the results.
When I went onto the 100 Tools for learning I saw Google Reader and decided to check it out. I like the idea of being able to see every readings that I would want at once. But I'm afraid I could get a little over whelmed with all the articles. This partly may be my fault because I subscribed to a bundle that seemed interesting and all of a sudden I had 90 articles in my box to read. One thing that I found interesting is that this was my first time using it and it said I already had a subscription to CNN. I thought it was weird that it has already linked up.
I would caution using this with school kids as there are FML subscriptions which are not appropriate. I do think it is a good tool for the teacher though. It keeps the teacher up to date with current events and can help with pulling articles for classes.
Some social networking sites may be appropriate for class; however, Twitter and Facebook aren't. Grade 2 children shouldn't be using twitter. They can type and spell any way they want and they can see other people's opinions. My students are WAY to young for this type of situation if you want my opinion. Why do people need to know what you are doing all day long? I find Twitter a bit like tracking someone or a news event all day long. Is that necessary?
I don't know how I feel about Twitter being used in a classroom setting, even for older high school students. I do think that blog sites could be a great addition to a class. I could definitely see students responding to current events that the teacher posts or something to this affect.
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