Blog : Bookmark and Curation Tool

Tool: Google Scholar

Website: www.googlescholar.com

Rating: 

Quizlet.com is a free website which enables teachers and students to create digital flash cards. Quizlet can automatically generate interactive games and tests for the material that is entered. Five or ten minutes of initial preparatory work entering information up front can yield literally hours’ worth of automatically-assessed activities inside and outside of the classroom, on computers, smartphones, tablets, and even pencil-and-paper printed exercises.

Usage

Quizlet is a useful tool in education (particularly in language teaching) because of the following functionality:

1. It reads the word and definition to the student out loud, enhancing students’ grasp of pronunciation.
2. It provides targeted spelling feedback, in the “Speller” studying mode, students hear the target word spoken out loud and see a written definition on the screen.
3. Quizlet generates customizable randomized tests for students to boost their long-term memory.
4. Quizlet generates interactive games to help students study course content.

Reviews

“I absolutely love this tool! I use it with my 2nd-grade students and my college-level students. For my 2nd graders, I like to create vocabulary flash cards that include images and definitions to help them better connect to the terminology. In my online college courses, I use this tool to introduce new topics being covered in the module and as a knowledge check at the end of the module. There are so many wonderful uses for this amazing tool! I would definitely recommend this to every educator.”

By Christi Collins, USA- Educator, Instructional Designer, eLearning, Online Instructor

Tool Evaluation

Tool: Scoopit

Website: www.scoop.it

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Scoop.it is a curation tool that allows users to collect information about a topic of interest and display it all on one attractive visual page. The platform is dedicated to organising links to websites in one centralized page. A basic version with limited features is available for free (Free Trial). Two option Pro and Business are paid ones. Pricing details are available on: https://www.scoop.it/pricing

Usage

Each website that user ‘scoop’ appears on the webpage in its own self-contained box. User can personalize this box, to a certain degree by adding a short description and some tags. A tag is usually a one word indicator of what a particular piece of information is referring to. It is a label which enables users to categorize and facilitates search processes in Scoop.it. The tool allows users to share the data thanks to integration with e.g. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest.

Review

Scoop.it requires an account. User can use the Diigo profile or integrate it with Facebook or Twitter. Access to tool is possible by any computer or browser. Additionally, mobile apps for Scoop.it are available on iOS and Android. With Scoop.it user can discover content on interesting topics by reviewing suggestion lists and the topics from other curators. The information can be selected and published with individual comments using the social services.

Tool Evaluation

Tool: Feedly

Website: www.feedly.com

Rating: 

Feedly is a tool for organising, reading and sharing the content from your favourite feeds, blogs and news sites. It compiles news feeds from a variety of online sources for the user to customize and share with others. The tool can be used for free. However, the paid versions: Pro and Team with the extended list of functionalities are available.

Usage

By using the tool, users can view and read news from the favourite webpages, manage and organised into categories and selected RSS sources. Because it is powered by RSS, feedly is an open system: you can add any RSS feed to your feedly and easily read the content of your favorite feeds on the go. Feedly integrates into web browsers, appearing as a clickable icon that redirects the user to their Feedly Page, where all of the news feeds are found. The user can also customize the content aggregated by Feedly to include own personal preference of RSS feeds. Any article can then be shared using e.g. e-mail, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and a variety of other services.

Review

The Feedly runs on browser and a mobile application is available for iOS and Android devices. Internet access is required to view the information. The User is obligated to create an account. It is possible to use the Feedly profile or integrate it with eg. Facebook, Twitter.

Tool Evaluation

Tool: Polona

Website: www.polona.pl

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Polona is thematically collection of data, a national digital library available via webpage. It enables the user to view and read books, journals and other types of documents, which  reflects the polish culture.

Usage

Polona allows user to have access to different type of documents possessed by National Library, available in digital form.  It enables the user to search, read, comment and download the available sources as well as share them using the social services. There is an option to create own collection on the basis of existed materials.

Review

The service is available for free. Access to the service is easy and available via browser and requires the Internet connection. User is not obligated to create an account while viewing the library. However the creation own collection and making notes requires a personal account. With Polona user has access to the digital repository of the National Library, which sources reflect the polish culture.

Tool Evaluation

Tool: Pocket

Website: www.getpocket.com

Rating: 

Pocket, previously known as Read It Later, is an application and service for managing a reading list of articles from the Internet. It enables the collation of web content (articles, videos, pictures) that a user wants to watch and read.

Usage

Pocket allows the user to save an article or web page to the cloud for later reading. The article is then sent to the user’s Pocket list (synced to all of their devices) for offline reading. Pocket removes clutter from articles and allows user to adjust text settings for easier reading. User can share the articles e.g. via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter.

Review

Reviewing the Pocket resources requires the Internet connection. The User needs to create an account. Pocket profile can be integrated with Google. For iOS and Android devices, there is dedicated app. For Windows Phone user can install a free Pocket client Poki. If there is no dedicated application – Pocket’s web version is available. Very useful tool as it is a Place, where user (students) discovers, saves and recommends web content worth to visit.

Tool Evaluation

Tool: Flipboard

Website: www.flipboard.com

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Flipboard is a social-network aggregation, magazine-format mobile app localized in more than 20 languages. It collects content from social media and other websites, and presents it in magazine format.

Usage

Flipboard allows users to “flip” through their social-networking feeds and feeds from websites that have partnered with the company. Flipboard can be used as a source of information and inspiration, not as a course development tool. It allows users to collect stories, images, videos into own magazine and manage all created magazines in a convenient dashboard at https://editor.flipboard.com/. Users can share the articles via e.g e-mail, Twitter, Facebook.

Review

Access to the service is free. Apps for IOS, Android and Windows Phone mobile devices are available without any charge. The tool is easy to access as reviewing the Flipboard resources is possible via browser or dedicated apps and requires an Internet connection. User needs to create an account to login to the service or the user can integrate an account with Facebook, Twitter, Google. Flipboard is comparable to a personal magazine, which lets to keep up on the news, follow topics, magazines and people user finds interesting. Additionally, it is possible to share stories, videos and photos that are worth to follow.

Tool Evaluation

Tool: Pinterest

Website: www.pinterest.com

Rating: 

Printerest is a thematic social networking service available as a free website or downloadable for mobile devices as a dedicated app.  It is a visual bookmarking tool that helps discover and save creative ideas.

Usage

In Pinterest users can upload, save, sort, and manage images and other media content through collections known as pinboards. It is possible to browse the content and share everything that’s important to him/her. Pinterest offers a virtual pinboard where can be added new articles or images from the web, according to own interests. In this way the user can organize and plan his/her web activity and share favourite articles, pictures and info with colleagues. Content can also be found outside of Pinterest and similarly uploaded to a board via the “Pin It” button, which can be downloaded to the bookmark bar on a web browser, or be implemented by a webmaster directly on the website. Some websites include red and white “pin it” buttons on items, which allow Pinterest users to pin them directly. There is also a possibility to send a pin to other Pinterest users and email accounts through the “Send” button.

Review

Using the tool on devices with iOS and Android is available by app or in case of Windows Phone by the external app Pin.it  (the developer of this app is not associated with Pinterest). Users can use Pinterest via browser. An account is required to use the tool.

It is a great tool as it is easy to set up, interesting to use and free. Students can relate to this app as it is considered a mainstream social media platform, so incorporating it into education is relevant and interesting for the student.
With Pinterest user can view, store and share different type on information collected created on the pinboards.

Tool Evaluation