Why Don't You...?
Why Don't You... Network?
Create digital networks that link to experts and peers beyond the classroom
Tools that help conversations take place between the classroom and the community; approaches that bring people together to collaborate, and prompts for thinking about new ways that learners (of all ages) can come together at times appropriate to them.
Tools are listed below; approaches are listed on the right-hand side.
Tools:
Grupthink
Bubbl.us
Skrbl
Compendium
StoryBox
MyToons
Ficlets
Tumblr
Google.docs
Clipmarks
Zoho
VideoEgg
Sakai
Eyejot
Grupthink
Keywords
Free web 2.0 tool, sharing, social software, questioning
Aim of tool
Grupthink provides an online space where users can ask open-ended questions and receive a wide variety of answers from either your own created groups (classes, year groups, thematic etc) or from all people using Grupthink. Where this may provide a huge number of conflicting responses, the social tagging element of the site provides a method to navigate the (potentially) vast number of responses – as whilst providing answers, users can also rate other contributors' answers.
Education scenario/possibility
Listening to the views of all school members of community groups can provide a huge number of conflicting responses – from what playground toys to buy to considering issues of building new schools. This tool enables all users to share their answers and by rating others’ responses a greater understanding of widespread opinion can be gathered. Classroom use, where students collect answers from home to sharing questions and conversations between schools groups, schools or communities. Grupthink can provide a tool to support questioning and differentiate between varieties of answers.
Bubbl.us
Keywords
Free Web 2.0 tool, mindmap, brainstorm, collaborative, cross-site
Aim of tool
As with any mindmapping software, this tool provides a way of capturing discussions, planning sessions or ‘brainstorming’ activities in a mixture of multi-coloured diagrams – highlighting links between ideas or discussion points. The advantage of using the internet-based bubbl.us is that learners can collaborate on a document without being in the same place and that the intuitive application can be navigated without having to use a mouse. Mixing this with a voice tool (such as Skype, YackPack etc) could provide an even richer method of interacting around a shared document. Maps can then be saved, printed, e-mailed or shared more widely via the web.
Education scenario/possibility
Collaborating during idea generation activities, capturing discussion points, organising ideas, using mindmapping activities to share understanding of a particular topic or even mapping out the resources available to the learner for a particular project is possible with this software – but being able to create (for example) a mindmap of local historical events, could become much richer when collaborating between secondary and primary schools students, the local museum and parents and grandparents. Using this software can begin to extend the activities within the classroom to others outside and provide students with wider access to other experts and peers beyond their immediate environment.
Skrbl
Keywords
Collaborative, free Web 2.0 tool, whiteboard
Aim of tool
Skrbl is an online shared space that allows users to annotate documents, draw and write text from any internet connection. Skrbl can be kept private from other users or shared – allowing both personal and shared activities to take place. An added benefit of using Skrbl is that it is easy to upload images, files or documents that can then be accessed by those you are collaborating with.
Education scenario/possibility
Many activities that require learners to collaborate or share ideas around a blank piece of paper, or activities that require learners to annotate text or images can be undertaken through Skrbl. The benefit of Skrbl being a collaborative online resource is that the activity is not confined to who is in one classroom at a time. Using Skrbl with small groups (both in one classroom and online) provides the opportunity for students to access new collaborators and new opportunities to work across locations and times (continuing Skrbls started at home in the classroom, and those started in the classroom at home).
Compendium
kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/compendium
Keywords
Dialogue mapping, concept mapping, visualisation
Aim of tool
Developed by the Knowledge Media Institute, as part of Open University, Compendium is a sophisticated concept mapping tool - users can construct maps composed of different nodes, and from each node both internal and external resources can be directly referenced in. Suitable for use by both individuals and groups, Compendium helps to manage information so that it can be explored visually.
Available as a free download, all that is required is to install the application on your local machine. There is a full set of resources available on the website that includes fairly comprehensive tutorials and training. Despite looking daunting at first, the application becomes very easy to use very quickly.
Education scenario/possibility
Concept mapping is a tool that could be used by both learners and teachers. In this instance, however, because it is a fairly complex tool designed for handling information and 'concepts' in a certain kind of way it would be more suitable, for example, for teachers to visualise their discussions around more abstract ideas and concepts. Compendium is a tool that can be used to support and visually document discussions and conversations, and as an effective tool for developing shared understandings.
StoryBox
Keywords
Free Web 2.0 tool, sharing, social software, story making, video, text
Aim of tool
StoryBox is a site to publish stories – visual or video-based or textual stories, StoryBox provides a space for sharing imaginative stories or historical accounts, documentary recordings or rants about current events. Once published, all stories can be reviewed by anyone and commented upon by (free to join) members.
Education scenario/possibility
Providing a real audience who can give feedback and comments to stories and video compositions, students have a space where they can freely share their imaginative ideas or documentary reports. The site can also be used to search for different stories as inspiration, based upon themes, title or ranking.
MyToons
Keywords
Animation, share, community, video, creative
Aim of tool
Hosting an online community of creative individuals, MyToons is geared towards hosting and sharing user-created animated content. By providing reliable file hosting facilities akin to websites like YouTube, focusing on building a creative community in the same way as Deviantart.com, MyToons.com has built its own niche.
Education scenario/possibility
There are many websites currently available to freely share video footage. The reason that MyToons is different is in the way that it acts to encourage a specific community of animators, and provides forums and spaces of communication intended for the discussion of skills and talent specific to animation. MyToons provides a resource that could be used by learners informally to help develop and showcase their interests in animation, or it could be used in a similar way in a more formal learning scenario by, for example, media students, as a way of showcasing and discussing their works with both expert and amateur animation community members.
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Ficlets
Keywords
Writing, creativity, community, collaboration, English (as a subject), 'literary lego'
Aim of tool
The Ficlet community is based around the collaborative writing of short stories. A Ficlet is a very short story, between 64 and 1,024 characters long, and all entries must be within these constraints. The collaborative part is that participants are encouraged to write 'prequels' and 'sequels' to existing Ficlets, as another Ficlet that you associate with an existing one, with the more popular story chains potentially being many Ficlets long. The users of the Ficlet website refer to Ficlets as a form of 'literary lego', where the short stories are neatly stacked on each other. All of the contributions are publicly accessible, and are covered under creative commons.
Education scenario/possibility
In the traditional subject classification, this activity would be most suitable for writing lessons with the prospect of publishing, or sharing, with a real audience. Therefore, in an educational context Ficlets are most suitable as a creativity activity - and this does not necessarily have to be attached strictly to a 'creative writing' lesson. Students could be encouraged to write short stories collaboratively with each other, and because of the online nature of the website this could be done out of the classroom.
As an alternative activity, the concept of the Ficlet could be borrowed from the website and used in a traditional classroom environment; except that the stories would still be collaborative, and each contribution intentionally short. However, this apporach would not take advantage of the website's global collaborative reach.
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Tumblr
Keywords
Tumblelog, blog, sharing tool, free Web 2.0
Aim of tool
Tumblr is a variation of a blog that favours short-form, mixed-media posts rather than longer text-based posts. The tool aims to provide a way of capturing links, photos, quotes, dialogues, and video. Unlike blogs, this format is frequently used to share the author's creations, discoveries, or experiences without providing a commentary.
Education scenario/possibility
A resource for capturing information from other sites, tumblr allows users to gather together information and to share it with others who are working in the same area – without providing explanation or commentary. This could be useful when learners are working independently, but are encouraged to share processes of working – students can share resources that they find easily.
Further links
Further information: www.tumblr.com/faqs
Wiki description of a tumbellog: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumblelog
Google.docs
Keywords
Online free suite of tools, presentation, word processing, spreadsheet etc
Aim of tool
Google.docs provides free online tools for word processing, spreadsheets use etc that, due to its web-based nature, allows multiple users to work on the same documents at one time. One of the strengths of Google.docs is that it attempts to compensate for a time when multiple users are editing the same place in a document.
Education scenario/possibility
Students working on a shared project, peers editing and assessing others’ work, allowing learners to work on documents in different sites are all made possible with Google.docs. As with other shared documents, such as wikis, users can also return to previous versions of a document to look at progress.
Clipmarks
Keywords
Tagging, blogging, sharing
Aim of tool
Clipmarks provides a simple way to capture information from anywhere on the web and to collate it in one place. Whether it is a sentence from a website, a whole webpage, an embedded video or an image, Clipmarks enables you to select it, label and tag it, and easily transfer it to a personal or a shared space.
A word of warning – the shared space is used by all members of the web community and some of their clippings may not be appropriate for your class. However, once installed on your toolbar, clipping does not require you to visit this site and this is a useful resource in gathering information.
Education scenario/possibility
As a tool for gathering together and beginning to organise lots of information, Clipmarks provides a way to capture the information viewed whe using the internet as a research tool. An investigation into (for example) local businesses could take route through many sites, and students could use this tool to capture elements that help capture their web-based experiences of the topic, whilst the tagging/labelling function allows learners to begin to piece together their arguments as they make links between different resources and information. The production of a well-evidenced presentation could easily develop from using such a tool.
Further links
Introduction: www.clipmarks.com/how-to-clip
Zoho
Keywords
Suite of tools, presentation, spreadsheet, notebook, wiki, document, chat, management, free Web 2.0 tools
Aim of tool
A web-based suite of tools that provides a space for individual or shared writing, management, note-taking, chatting or developing. A free version of this tool has limited storage facility, with the option to pay a monthly subscription for greater amounts of use.
Education scenario/possibility
Zoho is a suite of office tools: from planning, managing and organising, to creative writing, use of spreadsheets, noting and developing a shared wiki, Zoho has a tool to help. Due to the online nature of these tools it means documents can be accessed and developed anywhere that has web access – and the work can be shared and collaboratively developed between multiple users.
VideoEgg
Keywords
Video hosting, online communities
Aim of tool
VideoEgg is a video hosting site designed to support online communities with video content. It offers a comprehensive platform including the facilites for video creation and distribution. A unique property of VideoEgg is that it offers an ad network aimed towards online communities specifically, and this means that there is the potential for users to earn revenue from the creation and sharing of their own video content. VideoEgg is not intended to stand alone in the same way that, for example, YouTube or video.google.com, but is an effective video resource specificly for online communities such as Bebo, Hi5, Dogster etc (for a full list, see VideoEgg website).
Education scenario/possibility
The popularity of VideoEgg is down to the it having been well concieved and well written. Within the realm of the established online communities that VideoEgg is designed around, it is an unparalled video resource. In the context of education, if students or teachers were a part of these online communities then VideoEgg should be one of the first ports of call when using video content.
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Sakai
Keywords
Collaboration and learning environment, schedule, discussion
Aim of tool
The Sakai Foundation sees the act of teaching as an authoring environment in itself, and its goal is to enhance and improve the practice of teaching through effective collaboration and informal dissemination.
Sakai provides a collaboration and learning environment that supports groups of people working together. Inspired by Lotus Notes, which was a basic collaboration system, Sakia core application is to help organise and coordinate collaborative calendars, schedules and discussions. Around the core modules the software is aimed more specifically at uses within education, such as the building and sharing of electronic portfolios and presentations. These additional modules are intended to be fully cutomisable to each organisation according to how it will be used, for example as a research collaboration system, a teaching collaboration system, or even as a large-scale file storage system for students and teachers.
The application is a conglomerate of different modules of software all designed to be able to talk to each other realiably, and is based on a form of open source software called community source software. The difference here is that whilst contributions are voluntary, the Sakai Foundation acts to coordinate aspects of the software development.
The software is free to use, with a recommended number of users anywhere between one and 100,000, and the Sakai support community is free to join.
Eyejot
Aim of tool
A new service called Eyejot will let you send video messages really quickly. Instead of writing, you can record yourself and send it to anyone you want! Eyejot is a client-free online service and the platform is absolutely easy-to-use. The interface is like an e-mail box except the messages that you're sending (via e-mail) are videos and not text. Well, you can add notes to the videos if you like.
Education scenario/possibility
Students looking for new ways to share ideas, to pass messages or for relaying instructions, teaching points or practices. Consider what you would use a video e-mail for… that’s what Eyejot can essentially enable you to send.