Filtering+Through+The+Colors

G. FILTERING THROUGH THE COLORS
Why do we need to begin filtering the colorful spectrum of resources on the web? There are increasing demands to move textbooks and lectures from the center of instruction. I do think it is important to understand that there still is a place for both lecture and textbooks. It is just that the proper place for both is at the periphery. Also, on that sideline, educators should include amazing, bright and beautiful resources that can be found in both their learning community and on the internet. It is not only important that educators learn how to find items that will engage their students; they must also learn to organize and make them accessible. Welcome to a section that will help you find and filter some colorful gems!



 **Symbaloo** allows you to organize and share the best of the web with your students. This web curation tool allows you to organize your teaching resources all in one place. That one place happens to be the web which is accessible anytime, anywhere, from any device. Symbaloo promotes innovation while maintaining the ability to simplify digital curation. It is easy to create a webmix and share it with anyone whether they have a Symbaloo account or not. Take a moment and discover how Symbaloo works… watch this video for more information. You can also read the full story.

**Diigo** allows you to finally put all of those bookmarks together and organize them in the cloud. Since they are no longer dependent on a computer, you can now access your valuable bookmarks from any computer while you are virtually anyplace. Imagine finding cool websites while at a computer at home… to use at school on different computers. In fact, you can even expand your bookmark collection between multiple computers. It doesn't even matter what browser you are using at the time, even more,,, you can switch between browsers. Better yet, you can use multiple devices such as your phone or tablet! Even more, by applying tags you can search through the thousands of bookmarks you might accumulate over a period of time. All of this is a great reason to utilize this amazing tool to curate your curriculum. You may just wish to take the Diigo Tour for more information. You can also read the full story.

**LiveBinders** describes itself as the knowledge sharing place. We are all familiar with what we have always known and have fondly called the three ring binder. In our three ring binders of the past we collected items to put in to them and we categorized these items. We made sure there was Tab or Title sheets that separated all the categories making our information easy to find. Now… what if we could do the same thing on our computer and store our virtual binders in the cloud? Think of what we could put in our binders! There would be text, pictures, movies, sounds, maps, web pages, and so much more. Imagine having shelves of these binders that you can display by category and even share with other. What if you had access to other peoples’ binders and could edit them and make them your own? In fact, we could even share out binders with students as units of studies and through proper protocol, have them make their own. Since these binders are in the cloud we would have anytime, anyplace access. If this excites you… then know that it is all possible using LiveBinders, today! Let’s find out some more.You can learn more about LiveBinders in this 90 second video, it could be the best minute and one half that you spend today. LiveBinders allows you to curate and present your resources quickly and simply. Take a look at some of the features of this free tool. You can also read the full story.

**My Big Campus** is a safe social learning platform for students. It is actually part social network, part LMS and part professional development. The people at My Big Campus claim that it is, “all for K12 and all safe.” I view it as a lot like Edmodo, but with the capability of filtering student interaction, along with a strong content building element. There is a free version ( freemium ) and another version that is complimentary for Lightspeed Filter customers. Perhaps you would like to read more about My Big Campus and take a tour or read about it in one of my past posts. There is even a video that will introduce you to MBC. In this post I would like to concentrate on the Bundles section of My Big Campus (MBC). It is this portion that addresses the ability to curate curriculum… and it is pretty awesome! Read The Full Story.


 * Scoop.it ** - Imagine an online magazine filled with stories customized for you. Consider this magazine updated daily and automatically populated based on criteria you specify. This magazine could be shared between educators, or subject areas could be made available to a class of students. Such a tool exists, and is known as Scoop.it . Many teachers are beginning to scoop articles for research, curation, collaboration, and building of tremendous classroom content resources that can be accessed by students. Read Full Story.


 * Pinterest.com -** The link provided will connect you with various educational Pinterest Boards**.** Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. It allows users to organize and share all the great resources that can be found on the web. Educators can browse boards created by other educators to discover resources, lessons, websites, tools, and ideas. Pinterest is made up of Pins and Boards. A Pin is an image added to Pinterest. A pin can be added from a any website using the //Pin It Button//, or images can be uploaded from a computer. Each pin added using the //Pin It Button// links back to the site it came from. This creates a archive of materials on a specific subject or topic. A board is basically a set of pins. A board can be created on any topic, such as subject area, topic of study, curricular area, PD ideas, or educational tech tools. Users can add as many pins to a board as they want. These boards can then be share with others. Teachers can even search for boards they may be interested in. Keep in mind that Pinterest also includes people outside of education and educators must use discretion if including students. Read Full Story.


 * Educlipper.com ** - Much like Pinterest, the website Educlipper is similar, but built specifically for education. The advantage is that the entire community will tend to have an overall education base. This is a relatively new site and so you will note that it has some issues sometimes found in a beta site. The concept is great and you can explore, build, and share educational resources you find on the internet. You then clip these resources on your own clipboards. You can search for a wide variety of boards, or look at the numerous categories. You may wish to learn more by watching this informational video . With already a nice beginning foundation, Educlipper shows a great possibility as it continues to grow and improve. Read Full Story