Managing+Information+&+Social+Media

There is a lot of information available on the internet. Some of it is good, some bad, and a small percent is outstanding. The most difficult aspect of the internet, in my opinion, is managing the information available. Pretend you read a good educational article. You want to keep it for later reference as well as share it with a colleague. You could email the article to your self and your colleague. But, most likely the article will get lost in your inbox. How would you ever find it again. Fortunately there are a number of services available to help manage articles and websites.


 * Unit Objectives:**
 * **Establish** a tool to collect and/or organize desired information.
 * **Identify** information organization tools to be used for assessments

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 * Suggested Reading:**
 * Google Apps Education Module 3: Calendars
 * Information Management Assignment Rubric: **
 * || **Not Proficient (3)** || **Proficient (4)** || **Exceeds Proficiency (5)** ||
 * **Classroom Video** || * Incomplete sign up for one of the bookmarking or information organizing tools and/or lacks at least four educationally focused websites/articles/blogs/video/image with identification tags that can be used in the coming school yea
 * Tool is not shown or emailed to instructor || * Sign up for one of the bookmarking or information organizing tools and add at least four educationally focused websites/articles/blogs/video/image with identification tags that can be used in the coming school year
 * Tool is shown to instructor during class or a screen shot image showing the tool and four items are emailed to Rott (drott@ttsd.k12.or.us) || * Sign up for one of social bookmarking tool and one information organizing tool and add at least four educationally focused websites/articles/blogs/video/image with identification tags to each tool
 * Tool is shown to instructor during class or a screen shot image showing the tool and four items are emailed to Rott (drott@ttsd.k12.or.us) ||
 * **Assessment Tool** || * Tool is identified but discussion does not describe how it can be used as an assessment tool within the classroom and/or is not at least one paragraph or two minute video clip || * Describes how any of the tools could be used as an assessment tool within the classroom in a minimum of one paragraph or a maximum of a two minute video clip
 * Description includes tool, how students will use the tool, and value of using technological to increase student learning || * Describes how any two of the tools could be used as an assessment tool within the classroom in a minimum of one paragraph or a maximum of a two minute video clip
 * Description includes tool, how students will use the tool, and value of using technological to increase student learning
 * Establishes and shares with instructor and one other teacher social bookmarking list or group with at least two bookmarks that will be used in the classroom ||

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Diigo:
Diigo is a free bookmarking service that allows you to save, tag, highlight, and share bookmarks. It's a great service that is extremely helpful in organizing information. If I find a website or article I find informative or helpful I will save it to my Diigo account. By giving a description and specific tag to the bookmark, I can easily find it later when I want to revisit that topic. For example, say I'm researching resources to use in my evolution unit. I find a great website I want to use so I bookmark the site and give it specific tags such as "evolution", "animation". etc. Additionally, Diigo has plugins/extensions (programs that stay in your toolbar) for most internet browsers that make it really easy to tag a website. Below is a video from Diigo and a screenshot from my Diigo account.

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Del.ico.us:
Del.ico.us, as described by Common Craft's Social Bookmarking video, is another type of bookmarking program similar to Diigo. Although I have not used it I believe it is just as functional as Diigo in it's ability to help you collect, organize, and share bookmarks.

=__**Organizing Information:**__=

Pocket (Formally Read it Later)
Pocket, started as an iPad app that has now transitioned to android and iOS apps as well as a web based tool. The idea behind the "app" is, when you find something on the internet you want to keep, maybe you can't read it at the moment, you can save it to your "Pocket" and read it later. Items saved can be articles, pictures or videos and tags can be added to each item. This is one of my favorite tools to temporarily keep something until I can read through it later.

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Pinterest
Pinterest is a web based program that allows users to save "things you love." It has become extremely popular in the last 6 months and is a great way to save a visualize content you wish to save through a digital pinboard.
 * Four ways to use Pinterest in Education

RSS (Really Simple Syndication):
While reading most websites or blogs you may have noticed a small white and orange logo, seen in the Common Craft video below. This is the logo used to add the website's RSS feed to your account. Simply put, and best explained by Common Craft, RSS is a means to bring new information you are interested to a central location. Rather than spending time visiting multiple websites a RSS Reader will gather and present the information for you. It is a huge time saver! There are a number of programs that serve as RSS readers, a list can be found here, but my personal preference is Google; again one less program to worry about. Using Google Reader you can organize your feeds by topic and create lists based on your preference.

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Evernote
Evernote is also a program that started as an iPad/iPhone app that has now transitioned to a web based tool. Like others, it allows users to save notes, ideas, and links to the cloud and access the information anywhere (iOS device, computer, Andrioid, etc). One of the distinguishing factors of Evernote is that it allows users to record audio notes, create separate "notebooks" that can be shared with other users, and items can be tagged for easy searching. It's an awesome tool!
 * Getting Started with Evernote
 * Evernote for Schools

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Google Calendar
Google Calendar is also part of the Google Apps Suite and can be used to create an online calendar. A few of the best things about Google Calendar: you can share one or multiple calendars with other people, you can add your calendar to your website, you can add links to your calendar events. I use Google Calendar as a class calendar and have a separate schedule and homework calendar that are embedded on my website. It helps students to know what we will be doing and what they may have missed if absent.

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 * Creating Google Calendars
 * Google's Calendar Tutorial
 * How to embed links in a Google Calendar event
 * Add multiple Google Calendars to iPhone

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Twitter is an interesting program. Users can share anything with their followers in 140 characters (letters or symbols) or less. Some educators love it, others despise it. Regardless, it is a great way to share a small amount of information very quickly.

Some information/articles on Twitter in Education:
 * Why Twitter is a Teacher's Best Tool
 * 5 Ways Twitter has Changed Education
 * Twitter Use in the Classroom
 * How to use Twitter (and why it's not a waste of time)

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//Please embed or post a link to your Social Media assignment with your name here://