Learning 2 Tools

Page history last edited by Faith Chalmers 16 years, 5 months ago

Tool	What it does – key functionality	How it can be used for learning Please add your thoughts to this list!	Representative products	Examples and Links
Wiki	Creates multiple, easily edited web pages, allows asynchronous collaboration; enables indexing; tracks all edits (including who edits, what, when – able to restore)	Build knowledge databases	Pbwiki Wikispaces Wikipedia
Blog	Online journal; serial, dated communications; may allow comments from readers; posts can be tagged and categorized for later reference	Updates on a project (change management) Communication of expert advice or best practices	Wordpress Blogger
Discussion boards	Organizes online communications – postings plus responses, may be categorized	Live FAQ database Broad outreach to many experts with specific questions May help build community / network of people	Yahoo Groups (?)
Social bookmarking	Tag, annotate, and organize URLs; identifies who (user name) tagged specific items and with what tag; identifies the tags others are using to bookmark helpful sites (may give you additional keywords to search)	Aggregate web sites for reference on specific topics Enables efficient research (identifies the most helpful sites – as defined by other users – by keyword); uses “folksonomies” – user-defined keywords (vs. expert-defined)	Delicious Digg
Social networking	Creates an online profile; may be highly personalized with pictures, graphics, a variety of widgets	Manages skill and experience profiles May help build community / network of people	Facebook LinkedIn Ning
RSS Reader	Aggregates RSS feeds	Feeds learners updates from selected sources (designer can suggest specific feeds to stay current on a topic)	iGoogle Pageflakes Netvibes
Instant messaging	Live online conversation	Ping people for an answer to a specific question Use live chat, video or audio instant communication	AOL IM MSN IM Skype IM with VOIP, audio/video
Micro-blogging	Serial, dated, very short (140 characters) communications; can be subscribed or fed to other tools	Ping all your “followers” for an answer to a specific question Virtual shadowing (e.g. can “observe” what someone is doing all day, used either as a data set for coaching, or as a way of learning what a “day in the life” might be like) Practice reminder?	Twitter
Audio / video files	Short recordings, with or without video or accompanying graphics, easily delivered to mobile technologies	Online demos of specific actions / activities Communication tool for multi-taskers (can be listened to while driving, exercising)	YouTube ITunes
Podcast / vodcast	Delivers a series of mp3 or video clips on a specific topic	Updates on a project (change management) Short learning modules on a specific topic	ITunes
3D Environments	Provides a virtual 3D environment for activities; communication may be chat or VOIP;	Facilitate “meeting” or role-playing by placing characters in same “room” Provide virtual models to illustrate or practice skills (e.g. claims adjuster might tour damaged property virtually)	Second Life Protosphere (?)