More Tools!

Wikispaces

How lucky are we to live in the information age? Wikis are available as a massive often worldwide collaboration project. I evaluated the most popular collaboration site - Wikipedia. Educators prefer that students not use Wikipedia because it is created and edited by the general public and therefore the information is not verified. However, researchers have found that it is over 99% accurate (Andrei, 2014).

Wikipedia

Tool:	1	2	3	4	5	Totals
Simplicity					X
Learning Support					X
Versatility/Adaptability			X
Safety/Security	X
Availability					X	19

This site is extremely simple to use, students need only enter the topic they would like information on into the search bar. It is far and wide the most extensive wiki available and is full of information on pretty much any topic you are covering. While the wealth of information makes it very versatile, it is not easily adaptable because it is primarily an information source, though older students could edit or create their own topics. It is free and available to anyone with internet access, however there are many inappropriate entries so it is only as safe and secure as your wifi filters.

Aggregators

How would you like someone to come into your house and organize all of your junk drawers for you? An aggregator is a web site or software that will do that with all of the information that you regularly pull off of the web. It can collect information from news sources, social media accounts, photo sharing site, or nearly anything else. I chose to evaluate Flipboard. This site will literally compile all of the info from your chosen categories and create your own personalized site - magazine style. It is a tool that is much more beneficial to 

Flipboard

Tool:	1	2	3	4	5	Totals
Simplicity			X
Learning Support			X
Versatility/Adaptability	X
Safety/Security			X
Availability					X	15

Flipboard is fairly easy to use, just create an account and choose which categories you would like to pull information. The biggest problem is that there is so much information it can take a while to set up and decide what is truly important to you. You can find a variety of information on nearly anything you wish, but it is just information and doesn't provide other options and I don't see it as a great tool for student use. This is another free tool available to anyone with internet, but like Wikipedia it is not created for kids and contains content that is not filtered.

Web Based Spreadsheets and Databases

Since its creation, I have often used Google Sheets. This is a great tool for collecting and organizing data. It can be used by teachers or students to record data from projects, experiments, grades and more.

Google Sheets

Tool:	1	2	3	4	5	Totals
Simplicity				X
Learning Support			X
Versatility/Adaptability				X
Safety/Security					X
Availability					X	21

Google Sheets can be learned very quickly, though it takes a little time to explore some of the more advanced features such as using formulas. It also has the ability to create calendars, lists, budgets and graphs. Each user must sign in with their own Google account, keeping all of their documents private, unless they wish to share them with others creating the ability to collaborate. Like other Google apps, Google Sheets is free to use and provides free storage to those with internet access.

Internet Search Tools

One of the most challenging tasks for a teacher is to help students become responsible digital citizens. More and more teachers are using project based learning in their classrooms which often requires internet research. The best tool I have seen to help students navigate this task is Kiddle. This website was created by Google, but it completely safe for students to use.

Kiddle

Tool:	1	2	3	4	5	Totals
Simplicity					X
Learning Support					X
Versatility/Adaptability			X
Safety/Security					X
Availability					X	23

As it was created for children, Kiddle is extremely simple to use. Students can research any topic and the search engine will return kid friendly and mostly educational sites. Like the other tools mentioned above, it is purely a resource to access information. This is one of the most secure sites that I have ever explored, if students attempt to access inappropriate information, whether by accident or on purpose, they will simply receive a message that says, "Oops, try again!".

Andrei, M. (2014, September 25). Study shows Wikipedia Accuracy is 99.5%. Retrieved from http://www.zmescience.com/science/study-wikipedia-25092014/