Thoughts on how to grade student blogs.

looks like a great OS X tool for using Skype for presentations. Allows your cam to stream your desktop, image folders, Flickr sets, etc...

Gary,
I think it is a great idea, as it would be better than the current shared delicious account that has been used in other courses for many reasons.
1. Extendability: Ss create their accounts, join the group for the course, and then can keep their account and join other groups as well. This can help lay the foundation for social bookmarking as part of their PLE. I get invites on occasion from others to join their Diigo groups, and I have joined a couple. They are all good sources of information, and I have recycled some of those links into this group.
2. Push tech: The fact that Diigo allows for email notifications is huge IMHO. I love getting the instant notification of updates and I think that it contributes to a higher sense of both connectedness and social presence.
3. Highlighting: This is a nice feature as you can highlight the key points of a page that you want peers to focus on, saving them time and making the key information more accessible.
4. Comments: The "send bookmark to group" feature allows for the addition of comments which could be used in a number of ways. You could offer a summary, offer a question to ponder while reading, suggest related readings, etc...
5. Tags: This is common to all social bookmarking, but still worth a mention.

Possible disadvantages
1. Some Ss may not like that discussions and sharing happen here instead of in WebCT. Some people are just more comfortable with everything in one place.
2. Some Ss may not like the push factor and consider it "spammy". I think that perhaps an introduction to how to use the tool would be helpful. Perhaps including such things as:
a. How to set up the "push" tools and choose how often you receive notifications
b. Strategies for highlighting and adding sticky notes to pages
c. Privacy issues: How to set up the privacy settings
d. How to share links with groups, including suggestions on tagging and proper use of the comments text box
3. Possible sharing of unrelated links due to lack of understanding of how to use the tool.

OK, that is enough for now. I am sure there is more to consider, but I have to get back on task...

Cheers,
Steve

Gary Motteram wrote:
> Hi All
>
> I'm interested in seeing how useful Diigo is. I'd like to think of using this next year on the course.
>
> Gary

a very small app that enables screencasting in OS X

Create interesting word clouds from your blog

Nice Java word cloud web app... Would be an interesting way to make image links to articles or online courses. You could probably make a nice PowerPoint slide as well. A nice introduction to your presentations...

Another online audio chat site... Does not seem to offer private discussions, so may not be too useful in the classroom. (I have not created an account to confirm this, but there is nothing on the site to suggest privacy settings.)

An interesting site that creates cloze activites from wikipedia articles

Both individual and "teacher" exchanges. Very little visible w/out creating an account... Total number of Individuals looking for a language exchange : 18525 Total number of Teachers looking for a language exchange for a class : 354

Free "basic" accounts, then paid services. Focus on one-to-one, iPod integration, lessons, community

Lang exchange site, options for connecting classes, no options currently for native Japanese speakers

Peer learning site for languages, includes video, file upload, and virtual classrooms. Ties into podcasts and seem to partner up with paid langauge learning schools for online tutoring...

Web 2.0 lang exchange site, seems to include blogs and flashcards...

Language exchange site focusing on bringing people together, includes lessons, notepads, and more

Another social language exchange site focusing on setting up one-to-one exchange and social networks. "italki.com is where you can find everything you need to learn a language. italki is a social network and an online resource for learning foreign languages."

Yet another language exhchange site. Focus on one-to-one peers, looks kinda like a singles site...

Social Language learning... includes lessons and peer search

Site for connecting to language peers, focus on one-to-one. Includes text, voice, mail, "my network"...

Service for putting language learners together for exchange. Free to join, but also includes paid service where native speakers accumulate points for exhange, while the site collects the cash. Multi-lingual interface.