Who's the Biggest User? - FETC 2010

Cindy Lane and Lee Kolbert held a very informative and fun session at FETC called The Biggest User! In this session, Cindy and Lee took web 2.0 tools that are used in the classroom to explain them further, and to vote on which one will be provided in their “Biggest User” wiki. A few things that Cindy and Lee wanted us all to know (and what you should know) about all these tools discussed: they’re all free, they are able to work on both PC and Mac, and they are easy to use in all K-12 subject areas. I wanted to blog about this session because it’s always nice to have alternatives – so you pick which one you like best!

Multimedia Publish Platforms:

• Cindy discussed Glogster. Not only is Glogster a fun word to say, but it is an easy and free way to share and express various media. With Glogster, you can add text (poems, jokes, letters, journals), images, music, or even video. You can share all your links with friends, add your creations to other platforms such as Facebook, and even find new friends on Glogster by their style.
• Lee discussed what seemed to be a big topic at FETC, Voicethread. Similar to Glogster, you can share all your images, documents, and videos as well. In addition, Voicethread is a great way to start a conversation. One really cool thing about Voicethread, and that conversation starter they talk about, is how you can leave comments. There are 5 different ways – using your voice (mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (webcam) – then you can share it with others and add comments as well! You can also “doodle” on the actual media file – neat!

Wikis:

• Cindy discussed using Google Sites to create a wiki for your school. With tons of templates to choose from, it’s easy to create a webpage, collect and add information all in one place, and control who can view and edit it. As it being a Google site, you will need a Google email address to set this one up!
• Lee talked about Buzzword, which is actually apart of Adobe Acrobat. Buzzword is a “proven and robust online word processor” – where it’s easy to write reports, proposals, or anything else that you might need to put online. You can create print-perfect documents, share it with a number of contributors or non-contributors, and control it just the same as Google Sites.

Video Conferencing:

• Cindy’s pick was one I’m familiar with – Skype. With Skype, you can make free calls over the internet to other people for as long as you like, and whenever you like. It’s THAT simple to explain.
• Lee’s choice of Tokbox is as simple to use as Skype except there seems to be a little edge over Skype. You can share YouTube videos, Picasa and Flickr photo albums, SlideShare presentations or even collaborate on real-time documents together, all directly from their chat window.

Gotta Haves:

• Cindy first discussed Printliminator. This is BY far one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Say you go to a website and you find a page you want to print. Aren’t you tired of all the stuff that comes on the print like ads, side links, etc? I just want the actual writing! Printliminator allows you to delete the stuff on the page you don’t want and only print what you need – you can remove graphics, elements, etc…saving time and lots of PAPER!
• Lee’s “gotta have” is Rondee – a free conference call service that has web-scheduling AND attendance tracking. There is integration with Outlook and iCal, and you can additionally have up to 40 participants per call.

Make sure you stop by The Biggest User website! http://sites.google.com/site/thebiggestuser/

Have you used any of these resources before? How have they worked out for you?