To Web 2.0 and Beyond

Wow, have I been introduced to a wealth of Web 2.0 tools during the summer semester.  First let's take a look at the master list of tools (I created my own list by noting the tools we explored each week and noting their categories): Blogging:  Blogger  Wordpress  Edublogs Social Networking:  Twitter  Instagram  YouTube  Reddit  LinkedIn Feed RSS Readers  Feedly Inoreader Feeder Badging Tools:  Badgelist  Badgr Knowledge Sharing Tools:  Quora Wikipedia  Social Bookmarking Tools:  Diigo  Pinterest  Peartrees  Intellectual Property: Creative Commons OER Commons  MERLOT  Wikimedia  Automated Content Curation:  Refind  Nuzzel   Pocket Specialized Communal Collection and Curation:  Cluster  Flickr Goodreads Writing and Publishing: Stories for School  TinyLetter Letter  Futureme Framapad Concept Mapping Tools: Bubbl.us MindMeister Canva Miro LMS/Discu...

It is hard to believe that this is the last week of EME6414. I have enjoyed our journey together and have loved being able to connect through blogs, Twitter, Instagram, Slack (and so many more) and explore new tools together. I have learned so much from each of you in the backchannels of our learning through your blogs and posts, it has been so nice and comforting to be able to learn in that informal online space with all of you.  I have all the final week feels, excited to finish off the course, sad to leave the little community we built over the last 12 weeks. I feel as if I am standing in the middle of a pathway, with an adventure to look back on and new perspectives, learning and tools for my journey ahead.  I remember my thoughts about social media during the first week of the course, I was unsure, timid and perhaps a bit pessimistic towards social media and using web 2.0 tools to learn, connect and discover. I've been doing a lot of reflecting this week and rea...

Since our upcoming produsage assignment is centered around using Web 2.0 tools for learning, I wanted to share a resource that I posted to our Pinterest group early on in the course. I have observed and participated in some great interactions and discussions on this week's Canvas discussion board about ideas for the produsage assignment and which tools will best support these ideas. From what I have noticed and from my own experience, we begin with a tool in mind and then as we talk through our idea for the online space, we wonder about the capabilities of the tool...  Can you comment on other's posts? Can the online space be open (for contribution) to the public either by invite or a URL? [view only or edit capabilities] Can you like, react or favourite posts? Does it have the ability to save posts and resources Is it compatible with images, videos, hyperlinks and attachments?  These are some questions I am pondering and you may be too. Certain tools are designed for particul...

Recently, my husband and I have been discussing in more seriousness, a dream of ours, to buy a used RV, remodel it and travel the country for a year. I know it sounds a little crazy (and it is a bit crazy), but if the pandemic and some of the challenges we faced this year have taught us anything, it is to live while you can.  When I was younger, my family had an RV and did trips throughout the year and they were some of the best memories I have.  So, what was the first thing I said when we started talking about it?  "I'll make a Pinterest board!"   To my husband, it seemed like I was making a vision board that 'looked cute' at first, but after I invited him to the board, he discovered that there was knowledge and ideas to be found on the board. Here is the board if you are interested in taking a look.  What I love most about Pinterest is that it only took me about 15 minutes to collect and begin: make the board, start collecting, saving, pinning, and then I spen...

This week, I explored Trello for the first time and I am excited!  It reminds me of Notion , an app that I intended to use, but lost interest because of how complicated I found it. In contrast, I grasped the basics of Trello in a few minutes and created my own board this morning, which I  am excited  to share with everyone.  I created a board, chose a template, changed the background to match the aesthetic I was aiming for and began changing and renaming the lists and cards. I added cover photos to both my lists and each card (which is like a post) and placed any links in the description along with a brief annotation. I added a description of the board, so first time visitors would know what they stumbled on. I then made the board "public." You can also change your board to a "workspace," which means that everyone in your workspace can edit and add (like a collaborate project). If you haven't checked out our EME6414 Summer 2021 board, it's awesome, check it...

    Flash back to 12 year old me, in grade 7, getting most of my information from Wikipedia for my school projects. I used Wikipedia throughout high school from what I can remember. Then when I got to university, Wikipedia became the 'big bag wolf' and we were told not to use it in our research or papers because it is not a reliable or credible source. This belief held true for the remainder of my education. Today, when I am teaching my young learners research skills, I specifically tell them not to go on or use Wikipedia for the same reasons I was told, except in grade 2 language, "anyone can contribute, so the information may not always be true or accurate." When students ask me why they shouldn't use the site, it's hard to argue with "but it's the first one that popped up, see it's at the top." They are not wrong, Wikipedia is at the top or upper right side on most searches.  I still use Wikipedia casually, and as long as students are not...

Have you ever heard of Diigo? Neither have I, but it didn't take much digging before discovering that it is a tool worth learning about. So, let’s begin exploring Diigo—the social bookmarking tool—together!  What is Diigo?      Diigo is a free research tool and a platform for knowledge sharing. You have the capability to bookmark, research and share information.  How do I access Diigo and what can Diigo do?       Diigo has a browser extension, called “Diigolet” that allows you to then highlight text on webpages and add sticky notes. When you return to the webpage, Diigo saves your previous highlighting (which can also be deleted at any time). You can drag the extension to your toolbar and click on it to have the Diigolet dialogue appear.       Through the browser extension, Diigolet allows you to bookmark and save to a ‘Read Later’ section. You can also access Diigo’s website through the dialogue box or visiting their webs...