meL’s Word

An attempt to use Web 2.0 in the classroom


Diigo

I started playing with Diigo recently and am rapidly becoming an advocate.  I frequently run across pages that I don’t have time to give a good once over, so I will put it in a Favorites folder called “Look at Later”.  Over the years I have gone through that folder and looked at sites and wondered why in the world I bookmarked it.  With Diigo’s highlighting and sticky notes, I can highlight the important stuff and write myself a note for later.  What is not to like about this?

My daughter (3rd grade) is embarking on her first science fair project.  I used my teacher tools to create a group and account for her.  Last night we bookmarked and highlighted pages for her to come back to when she needs.  The bookmarks and highlights are private.  If this were a class working on a project those would be shared with other members of the group.  Creating a student account was super easy, and I liked that I could choose whether or not she could alter her profile (not allowed for under 13s).  Had I been creating a whole class of usernames/passwords I could then print those and cut into strips to hand out to students.

As an ITRT I can bookmark, highlight and make notes on pages to share with other ITRTs or teachers.  I can also see what pages are bookmarked/highlighted/”stickied” by others in groups to which i belong – this allows me to see what others with the same interests are reading.  Again, what’s not to like about this?

Blogs and wikis

It would seem we are a step or two closer to using blogs and wikis and podcasts (oh my!).  The main theme at ETLC in Roanoke, VA seemed to be these Web 2.0 tools.   I think our tech coordinator is receptive to the idea.  We have a few teachers using Wordpress in their classrooms, mainly for discussions.  However, it was blocked for awhile because it would seem folks like to run proxy anonymizers off their Wordpress accounts….

I want more teachers to give blogs a whirl – give students extra credit or something for participating in a discussion on the blog.  We are planning on putting our technology plan into a wiki for the admin and teachers to comment upon before we have to submit it to the state.  Another plan is to have middle school students begin creating book reviews in podcast form to place on their school webpage.

What are other ideas for blogs and wikis????