Blog Post #1--Web Resources Explored

The first internet resource I chose to explore is Wikispaces.  I am using Wikispaces currently in another technology course I am taking and have found that it is extremely user-friendly, intuitive, and makes collaboration with others easy.  Using Wikispaces is simple, you go to the homepage, create a user account, and click create a new wiki.  It's all free and setup takes less than five minutes.  Once in, you are presented with a user dashboard when you can manage and organize your wikis.  You can follow others, set up email alerts when changes to a wiki you monitor occur, and check your wiki mail.  Once in your wiki, you can invite users by email and you can create your own wiki that can be altered, saved, and followed by you and all of your friends.  Here is a link to my Wikispace page that I had to create for another assignment.  You can see that with minimal effort, I was able to create a wiki that my classmates and anyone who finds it can join in on.  Each wiki also has a discussion board attached that allows friends to make comments and ask questions.  The whole site is free to use and customizable to fit your needs.  This is a great place to host your class website and my first wiki post is about 3 class sites that I reviewed.  In the classroom, Wikispaces allows educators a safe place online that can be sued for exchanges of communication between students, parents, and other educators.  Each student can have his or her own wiki page inside of the class wiki and teachers can post relevant information to the wiki that can be accessed anywhere there is an internet connection.  Wikispaces is a great way to bring children into the world of writing on the computer and allows them to share, collaborate, edit each others work, and feel a sense of pride in having an internet presence.

Image is from www.Twitter.com under their resources for free use link.

The second resource I reviewed was Twitter.  Twitter has taken the internet world by storm and has become one of the top sources of information for people the world over.  To use Twitter, you simply go to the homepage, create a user account with ID and password, find people to follow, and start posting.  When you post on Twitter--or "Tweet"--you are allowed only 140 characters to say what you'd like.  This forces users to condense information and often means leaving a link to a website with a full story.  The benefit of Twitter is that it provides real-time, immediate information to anyone who is monitoring the website via computer or, more popularly, via a smart phone or other mobile device.  It is not unusual for breaking news to appear on Twitter before any other news source as it does not have to pass through editing or press releasing.  In the classroom, Twitter can be a great way for teachers to stay connected to their students.  Teachers can Tweet relevant information about upcoming exams, homework assignments, recreational activities, and announcements.  Likewise, they can follow students and learn quickly about questions and concerns they may have.  Also, there are many wonderful educational resources on Twitter that would be beneficial for a class to follow.  Perhaps in connection with a class website, a class could have a Twitter feed that is constantly being monitored (perhaps as a class job) for new and interesting information.  One example of a great resource for children on Twitter is PBS Kids.  Designed and published by PBS, there are many great programs, links, and announcements from the kid-friendly broadcast network.  This is just one example of the types of Twitter user that children could follow.