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After spending the last week browsing through the seemingly infinite universe of Web 2.0 tools, I have at best been able to name what it is I want, but cannot find: "synchronous whiteboard stylus-type collaboration." I think. It's out there...it has to be, I just couldn't find it...yet. I want something that acts like a big old piece of chart paper and a set of scented markers. My collaborators and I could synchronously (please, God, no swimcaps), brainstorm, web, list, you name it...and produce this wonderful, savable, retrievable record of our transformational musings.
I took a stress-break, I DO have a synchronous whiteboard collaboration thingy called an iPad app...life is good...but it doesn't count for this assignment...so here goes...
I used three "human filters" for this inquiry: "Web 2.0 4 Kids" by Laura McDermott, "Jog the Web" by Mark Brumley, and, of course, "Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators...Web 2.0 Tools." These sites were a good litmus test for determining which Web 2.0 sites were actually worth exploring. Many tools such as "Glogster," "Wordle," "bubbl.us", etc., appear consistently on a number of filters. There are SO MANY sites out there, it is nice to have had someone else take a look and narrow it down to the worthy. I also learned something which should have been intuitively obvious, but wasn't (to me, at least), that there is a WORLD of difference between business and educational application of the web. I looked at quite a few business sites (the quest for that synchronous whiteboard app), and NOTHING compared for intuitive ease of use to those applications developed specifically for education. Plus...we have more free stuff available to us...
My three favorite tools were 1) Wallwisher, 2) TodaysMeet, and 3)Timetoast.
"Wallwisher" is a great content-response and/or collaboration tool...it is the digital equivalent of a bulletin board...a blank slate with an invitation to comment via digital sticky note. It would be a great way for kids to practice vocabulary, comment on content, or jump-start research. It is an amazingly simple tool to use and the applications for it are boundless. As a test-drive, I set-up a "wall" called "Country of the Day: Ghana," and posted the question: How likely are you to find giraffes in Ghana? Why do you think this? It was literally as easy as using a real sticky note and pencil, and it will work on iPad, as well, so a classroom could have a number of platforms using the application simultaneously. I give Wallwisher a 23/32 possible points. Its major advantages were in the area of cost, system requirements, and education-friendly features. Its lower points were its limitations on collaboration (a teacher could enhance this easily, but it is not built-into the program), and in creation of final product (nothing super-exciting here, but the process it records could be a useful part of something bigger).
"TodaysMeet" is an easy and fun microblog that could be used in a number of different ways, much like "Wallwisher." My first use of it in the classroom will be to post critical thinking questions around our daily read-aloud. Students will respond through the "backchannel" of the program (although not during the read-aloud...gasp!). As we got proficient at using a backchannel appropriately, I could envision us using this as an "active listening" tool during a movie or other "sit-and-git" type of activity. That would come later in the year, but it could certainly evolve as the students' academic social skills developed. I give TodaysMeet 29/32. It scores all possible points when it comes to simplicity of sign-up, safety, cost, system requirements, education-friendliness and curriculum support. It could definitely enhance collaboration, but isn't really a collaboration platform in and of itself, and it does not specifically create a "WOW" end-product.
"Timetoast" is a simple timeline creator that allows the user to add photographs and text to make simple or complex timelines. I uploaded and annotated some vacation photos with amazing ease. Kids will enjoy the process and easily produce very impressive end-products. The site itself does contain advertising, in the form of links to other commercial sites. These links often look like part of the program, and you end up accessing them whether you intend to or not. At least they are education-related. There are no specific mobile apps, but it runs just fine on iPad. I give Timetoast a 27/32. It's free, it's easy, I had to verify my e-mail address, the advertising was annoying, but unobtrusive and safe. It's real strength is in the final product...a professional-looking, photo-enhanced timeline. It is easy to imagine using this tool across a number of content areas.
There was one Web 2.0 tool I absolutely fell in love with..."Museum Boxes." I signed-up for it, and was able to watch a demonstration video and read about the history of the "museum box" concept...pretty interesting, but I was not able to experiment with the program to see how easy or challenging it was. That is testimony to its killer authentication system. It will take approximately 14 days for them to authenticate my application before they allow access to the site. This is the site I wrote a "Letter to the Creator" for. I explained that having to wait 14 days to access the site would inevitably result in my selecting another tool. Lucky this is summer, and I can afford to wait, because it is an intense information/artifact gathering tool that could be used in so many rich, authentic ways... It was (I THINK) the perfect answer to my question: How can we use technology to create or recreate a collection of historical information and artifacts that accurately portrays the (fill-in-the-blank) time period?
There were many, many other Web 2.0 tools to choose and write about. Selecting which THREE was the most difficult part of this assignment.
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