Tools

Not as many new tools to talk about this week but the ones I listed below are some really good ones. I went back and looked at my Edmodo, Wikispaces, and Parascope accounts. I still use Feedly to keep up with classmate’s blogs. I’m a heavy google apps user and like sites like Nuzzle and VoiceThread that alert me to activities through email. The reminders help me to keep up with all these web tools. Some to which I used once and haven’t had the time to get back to. You can find me mostly on Twitter bouncing back and forth between class blogs and blackboard. Below are some web tools I discovered this week that I think are perfect for the Instructional Designer’s toolbox.

Diigo –

I finally got into Diigo! It’s a Google Chrome extension that lets you bookmark and tag websites, highlight text, add sticky notes, and share information with friends. Looks like it’s available for all browsers. It’s a pretty slick extension that gives users the ability to organize the materials they see on the web and as they say, “digest internet information.” When bookmarking isn’t enough Diigo has more than got you covered. My account right now is sparse but I look forward to implementing this tool into one that I use daily. All the great extensions I’m using in Chrome are making it much harder for me to use any other browsers anymore. Sorry Safari. 

                       

 Google Classroom –

High praise! I used this free social classroom application for my performance support produsage project and loved it. The format is easy to use and capable of curating materials, interactions, and involvement from the students. Google classroom assigning deadlines to tasks but I’m a huge fan of letting the students’ progress through it as they wish. I was able to connect google docs, YouTube videos, and other web materials with no problems. Basically, the teacher creates announcements, assignments, and questions for the students to interact with. It’s pretty straight forward.  

Grammarly –

New favorite extension! This one is super easy to use and works like a charm. It acts like a spell check but is so much more. It has proof reading capabilities and plagiarism-detection. I forget I even have it installed until I see the little green arrow at the bottom right corner of my text filed. Before sending out an email or turning in a paper I use Gammarly because it is the best way to find errors in the content I have produced. I purposefully use Word to compose emails and professional documents because of the spelling and grammar help. However, using Grammarly even after using Word has found issues that went unnoticed in my desktop publisher.