Delicious, social networking and teaching

Each semester I include a discussion /exercise for experimenting with Delicious as both a bookmarking and social networking site. Students are required to create an account and then tag 20 sites. Since this is a cataloging class the objective is to compare the intellectual process of tagging to subject analysis and then use the cloud tag to compare. Its a great way to introduce students to a non-threatening social network site.

Quiz

I created an assessment tool for my cataloging class using ProProfs quiz maker. It was very easy to create and required that I plan ahead for the types of questions I wanted to ask! I liked that I could time the quiz and select various types of questions.

The things I did not like about Proprofs are:

Inability to give a varied grade.

Inability to force students to answer the question.

Inability to control open ended questions - the entire answer was checked versus part of the whole.

Then I created a survey in Zoomerang which I liked much better for this type of survey!

Jing - great!

I created a 5 minute Jing for my cataloging students. Its a basic introductory tutorial for verifying and assigning LCSH. Students can see the searching in action and understand the process more readily.

Jing is easy to use and you can embed, link or post the link. Creating tutorials are very easy and can convey to students concepts and procedures that are too complicated for an online class. Jing could not be easier to use!

RDA Updates

As the RDA testing period ends in December, the documentation continues to grow. Example sets, additional clarifications and instructions are available from the Library of Congress. .

Creating my own content

I created a Jeopardy review game that will assist students in preparing for the exam. I created the game using the Wisc-Online games tool and found it to be very easy to do! Review games seem to help students prepare and they can do it on their own time.

Twitter Tech tips...ultimate synchronous communication

Great article! Twitter Tech tips Twitter is the ultimate in real time communication! I am still on the fence about using Twitter in the classroom but as an instant poll or question it fits the bill nicely.

The future of online education?

OpenStudy is a startup company from Georgia Tech and Emory University that wants to create online study groups and a platform for independent learners. What does a project such as this do to the future of online formal education?