Thursday, July 14, 2016
DIGITAL TOOLBOX SHOWCASE
My digital toolbox was made with my college freshman students in mind. One of our main objectives in our first year seminar classes is to build community. We do quite a few targeted activities to do so. Through these activities, we also hope to build collaboration and group work skills. Typically, a group research project is assigned with a culminating presentation. Therefore, in my toolbox, I chose apps that I believe will provide more creative ways to collaborate and to share information prior to the presentation as well as creative ways to present. I haven't always given my students a choice in the way to present, but maybe this year I will. I am definitely seeing the value in sometimes letting them choose their own tools to use. I also chose apps that I think will be helpful for them in their actual research and citing of sources.
In putting the toolbox together, I was overwhelmed by all of the choices. After going through a large number and a wide variety of apps, I have come to believe that there must be an app for absolutely everything! This was probably my biggest ah-ha moment. When I need a tool for something now, I'll be sure to search to see if there is something available for me to use. After I created my rubric, it was easier to narrow down my choices - but it was still a little daunting. Also, while putting the toolbox together, I was very aware of the idea of providing choices that will enhance, not just replace my previous lessons.
I chose to organize my toolbox by using Symbaloo. I really liked the idea of how easily the information could be shared with my students and the fact that grouping the information was simple, but effective. Symbaloo is a tool that I will very likely use again.
You can check out my toolbox by clicking on the following link:
http://www.symbaloo.com/shared/AAAAA-tln_sAA41_WEtQJg==
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I agree, there are an overwhelming amount of resources available! As an early elementary teacher, I'm somewhat limited by only being able to choose apps and programs that require only small amounts of independent reading or writing. It must be exciting to have so many great resources to choose from for adult education. I think your students will enjoy the creativity of choosing their own tools!
ReplyDeleteYour Symbaloo looks great! I'm sure your college students will enjoy having everything in one place and being able to access it anywhere as long as they have Wi-Fi.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure your students will also be glad to have the choices to present their information.
For your collaborative apps, you might want to consider and see if they fit with your criteria, Google drive (I've just learned to use this in this class and find it very easy and helpful). Also, Tim Lawson, who is also in this class, introduced me to Adobe Connect. Here again, this might offer a few more choices for your students. However, I know we don't want to go overboard and overload students with too many choices, too.
I liked Symbaloo, too because if there wasn't an app to "link" to then you could create a tile and link it to a website that can help for a specific purpose. I made a couple of these for my digital toolbox.
Thanks for sharing!
Marilyn,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your aha moment with us. Really it is freeing to finally admit that there's too much to know and thus give ourselves the permission to simply remain curious and inquisitive and to not know everything!
I liked that you included scheduling software in your list of apps. I use these apps quite a bit because the calendaring applications that people use tend to be disparate and not very useful for finding free time for projects across the schedules of people who are in different organizations. Another tool I'd recommend for your list is "WhenisGood"