I am an Assistant Professor of
Educational Technology at Oklahoma State University. My
research interests include the integration of technology
into teaching and learning (specifically the effects of Web
2.0 technologies) process, reduction of computer anxiety,
and the validation of instructional design theories. My blog can be found ateffectivedesign.org
Facebook
- Still, by far, the undisputed number one. Last
year I wrote: “I’ve posted about my
love of Facebook before. But look, we teach
these technology integration classes and we tell our
students to find out what their students have and
work from there. Well, where are my college
undergrads? Facebook. Since I’ve started requiring
my undergrads to add me as a friend, I’ve had more
communication with my undergrads. It’s been crazy,
actually. Students who NEVER would have gotten a
hold of me before, are now writing on my wall just
to say, ‘Hey Dr. Curry! What’s up?’ I love it.”
Wikispaces -
New to the list. I’ve started using wikispaces with
both grads and undergrads to promote community
knowledge building. They’re eating it up. Plus, it
helps that it’s FREE!
Voicethread
- Again, new, and FREE. I’ve had students
creating and commenting on each others’
projects. Nice work, easy tool, good fun.
Google - Same as last year: “I’m talking just the
search engine itself here. They must have the
greatest bots in their servers, because is there
anything you can’t find on Google? Seriously.
When was the last time you heard someone say,
‘Yeah, well, I yahoo’ed it last night . . .’ or
‘I ask.com’ed it last night . . ..’ But what
about, ‘I Googled it last night . . ..’ Enough
said.
del.icio.us
- Again, same as last year (but with updated
stats!): “I’ve posted about
my use of del.icio.us bookmarks as well, and
I keep going. Now, I don’t use them as much as
my friends
Trey
Martindale (who, as of this post has 1400+
bookmarks) and
Chris Duke
(currently 1400+ bookmarks), but I do use them.
I currently manage two accounts. One is for my
personal
use, and the other is a set of links for our
EDTC 3123
(pre-service teacher technology) course.”
Desire2Learn
- This one ought to be interesting with the
new
BlackBoard is a legal monopoly ruling. Last
year I wrote: “So, yeah.
Oklahoma State just migrated to D2L last
Spring semester, and let’s just say the
transition hasn’t been an easy one. However, the
tool does have an impact on my students’
learning so I’ll list it. If anyone wants my
take on D2L, you can ask me and maybe I’ll post
about it.”
MyLabSchool
- This one is new, and I’m LOVING it.
MyLabSchool is something we have our students
buy with the textbook (Teaching
and Learning with Technology) we use in the
undergrad course. It has an EXCELLENT lesson
plan builder, and even better Skillsbuilders
(job aids to teach the tools). Totally worth
every penny.
Meebo - Another new one. It’s an all in one,
web-based IM client. I have my AIM, GTalk,
Yahoo! IM, and MSN IM, all open at once. It’s
proved to be very convenient. (But I need to
remember to log in more often!)
Garage Band
- Back again. Last year I said: “Quite simply,
I use Garage Band to record the podcasts I use
for my classes. For my undergrads, I record
podcasts to cover the basic chapter concepts and
to give the online students the passwords to the
quizzes. They have to listen to the podcasts to
be able to take the reading quizzes. For the
grads, I use them in somewhat the same way, but
mainly to drive discussion on theory articles. I
have found them extremely useful, and Garage
Band is what gets me there. You can find them on
our department website.”
iTunes - This one goes with GarageBand. Last year I
explained: “We set up an iTunes account for the
students to be able to download the podcasts.
Search for EdTech@OSU.”
What are your
Top 10 Tools for learning? Let us know and help us to build
the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008
