Monday, June 03, 2013

Sharing resources

I remember teaching when I had used the day textbook for so many years, and answered the same questions by students that I even had the page numbers memorized. "Yes Larry, the answer to that question is correct and we talked about it when we covered acids and bases in Chapter 12 and its on page 215." My students would shake their heads and mumble "dang, he has the whole book memorized". 

Back then, with 4X4 classes, teachers taught the same content twice in the year. That was fine, but it was repetitive. 

Today's classroom has changed. Students still use textbooks. However, iPads and MacBooks in our 1:1 classes enable learners to access video clips, tutorials, collaborative chats, and Skype sessions with experts. 

We started in 2008. One of the first tools for sharing we trained teachers to use was Delicious. Great tool. However, it faded in popularity. Some complained it was too much to worry with. Some said it was filling up their inbox. Whatever reason it is not used. 

Many of our teachers are Pinterest users. They share jewelry, Bible quotes, and receipts. However, social media is not without issues. Personally, I never got into Pinterest. I tried it one time on my phone to help locate resources for using iPads in our school. It is additive and there are many Pinners. 

However, it's not something I would want to explain to a 6th student. I have students that would spend the entire school year on Pinterest repinning bulldogs or rap stars. My concern is that Pinterest is not a classroom-friendly site. 

Much to my surprise, their is a site that combines the functionality of Pinterest with the power of Delicious and supports the classroom. EduClipper.net is promising. I set up my account and tried it on an iPad mini and iPhone. They need a mobile app for the small screen. It works ok on the iPad. 

Give it a try. Post your comments here.