Friday, March 16, 2012

TOOL SIX

I looked through several of the web tools listed and like Diigo the best. I do a LOT of online reading, both for work and personal use, so I am excited to see how I might be able to use Diigo. I set up an account in Diigo and have downloaded the "diigolet" to my toolbar on my personal computer and will do the same on my work computer after Spring Break. I also really like that it is easily accessed/used on my iphone and ipad. I am going to download the Diigo app to my iphone today as well. Diigo reminds me of Evernote, a web clipping program that I've been using for a couple of years now. Diigo seems a little more advanced, especially with the sharing/collaboration capabilities.

I set up a group in Diigo called Journalism/Desktop for my journalism classes:

http://groups.diigo.com/group/journalism_desktop-students

There are projects done in class that would benefit from this tool. Students could set up their own accounts so they can highlight info as they research and then access it from home. Also, since we would have a group, they could see each other's work as well. I know students could use this when researching for their "famous journalist" project or their editorial writing. I could also see how this could benefit my yearbook students...we get many ideas from various online sources, and often get inspiration for graphics, themes, fonts, etc by things we see online. If the yearbook staff members each had an account and we had a group set up, we could share these ideas with each other and have one central location where we could go see all the ideas. We actually have an "ideas binder" in our classroom - a three ring binder with magazine clippings in it - that we use periodically. Diigo could supplement this binder and perhaps eventually replace it.

I've already established a blog separate from this one in Blogger and each semester, my Photojourmalism students create a blog as well. On my blog, I list all the students' blog addresses so that I, as well as all the students, can see everyone's blog. The students complete very little work in class with pen and paper; they use their blog for 90% of their "written" assignments. They also post examples of their photography on their blogs. I go to the students' blogs to grade their work and can comment back to them about aspects of their entries or their photography. My blog address is:

http://hsh427.blogspot.com/

On the right side of this blog are links to all my current Photo J students' blogs.

I also use this blog when I am traveling in the summers on the National Geographic trips that I go on with Memorial students. It serves as a record of our trip and parents are able to go to my blog and link to all the blogs of all the students on the trips.

I know my students enjoy using a blog for their work as opposed to doing traditional written assignments. I do an end of course assessment in my classes asking students for feedback on the class and the blog is almost always listed as a favorite aspect.

I will continue to investigate some of the other webtools available in Tool Six to see what others might be useful in my classes.

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