EDIM 514 Week 2 _Dig Deeper Into the Mainstays

In this posting assignment, I was tasked with evaluating 3 websites, one from each of the following category; social, creative, and curation. The websites I chose were Twitter, Prezi, and Symbaloo. Since I use all three of these sites within my classroom, I asked a few other teachers if they use any of the websites to see how they use them differently.

Twitter: I feel that many people scared to use Twitter in the classroom or crisis it for not being an "educational tool". I look at Twitter a different way. If our society and how people interact has changed, Twitter being a huge part of that, than the way I interact with my students needs to change as well. Obviously there are implications with Twitter that I need to be aware of as a teacher not to step over any bounds. I myself and the other teachers I talked to like to use Twitter for 3 simple means. The first is communicating reminders, due dates, interesting information, and additional resources to the students. The second is to document what is going on in the classroom by having the students tweet pictures of fun events. Last, the other teachers and myself use Twitter as a resource to link to other professionals, companies, and teaching aids.

As far as the website itself goes, it is pretty easy to navigate around. The built in search engine is extremely helpful for finding what you want. Following people, companies, etc. is also a really easy way for students to keep updated on sources they want to know more about. Twitter is also an easy way for teachers to quickly blast out link to all the students. Overall, Twitter feels a little uneasy to get started at first, but is a great website after started.

Prezi: Prezi has been around for a while now. It makes presenting information much more fun than the typical PowerPoint presentation. It allows for users to explore their creative minds while still having all of the features PowerPoint has. Teachers and myself use Prezi to find information on a topic, create presentations on a topic, or have their students to do the same. Through its unique zooming motion, colors, and freedom of how and what is displayed, Prezi has taken the presentation market by storm. It grabs the student's or viewer's attention much more, it can be used to engage students more than a PowerPoint does. It has preloaded templates that allow you to create cool looking presentations with minimal work. Prezi can also be used as a way of organizing information in a large chart form. I have had my students do this to document their brainstorming / planning process of a problem solving challenge assignment.

Here are two unique Prezi examples that I made:

• https://prezi.com/zfvtilksw0m3/video-storyboarding/
• https://prezi.com/urxtzr7tkk3i/determining-density/ 

Symbaloo: This is a website for all, teachers, students, or the normal internet user. Symabloo is extremely easy to sign up for, create a board, and use on a daily basis. Basically, Symbaloo is a way of making a digital bookmarking landing page. As a user, you can search and find premade Symballoo boards or website links to add to your board. Talking to other teachers who use Symbaloo much more than I do have said that the nicest aspect about it is finding website resources that you would never find by just doing a Google search on a topic. The teachers told me that they search Symballoo's website for a topic they teach. They are able to find premade boards that people have made and shared. On those boards, there are website links to tons of wonderful resources. Overall Symbaloo is a unique way of creating a "launchpad" website for all users. Its also an easy way of sending out a large number of resources to students for a project in different way than in a Google Doc, Word doc, email, etc. Below is an example of a Symbaloo I made for the STEM students I teach.

• https://www.symbaloo.com/mix/i-beemteacher