100 Web Tools to Enhance Collaboration (Part 1) by Ozge Karaoglu

Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask 1. What can the URL tell you? Techniques for Web Evaluation : 1. Before you leave the list of search results -- before you click and get interested in anything written on the page -- glean all you can from the URLs of each page. 2. 2. 1. INSTRUCTIONS for Truncating back a URL: In the top Location Box, delete the end characters of the URL stopping just before each / (leave the slash). Continue this process, one slash (/) at a time, until you reach the first single / which is preceded by the domain name portion. 3. Check the date on all the pages on the site. 3. 1. What kinds of publications or sites are they? Are they real? 3. Expect a journal article, newspaper article, and some other publications that are recent to come from the original publisher IF the publication is available on the web. Look at the bottom of such articles for copyright information or permissions to reproduce. 4. 1. a. Type or paste the URL into alexa.com's search box. b. 1. 2. 5. 1. 2. WHY?

Will Google Buzz Change the Social Media Game? Update 2: Buzz has gotten off to a great start in terms of attracting users. Google said in a blog post yesterday that over 9 million posts and comments had been created, and they were seeing over 200 posts per minute. Both numbers have likely grown since then. In the post, Google addresses some of the privacy concerns people have been having, and improvements they’re making based on user feedback. Update: Google has uploaded the entire Google Buzz launch event. If you are interested in seeing the new product unveiled, you can watch it below: Article starts: Google held a press event to announce the most "buzzed" topic of the week - Google Buzz. Do you think Google could make an impact on social media with this release? Editor’s Note: The bulk of this article was written before the announcement was made and has been adjusted to reflect the announcement itself, after liveblogging the press event. Google says Buzz has five key elements: 1. 1. Search Implications Competition Related Articles:

Teaching for the 21st Century:How to Lear "Class, it's time for your test on our study of Africa. Number a paper from 1 to 50. I am projecting a map of Africa on the screen. For number 1, write the name of the country and its capital. Do the same thing for each of the other numbers. That was how my junior high school social studies teacher in Lawrence, Kansas, tested my knowledge of Africa in the early 1960s. I don't remember learning a lot about the people in these places and how South Africa might differ from Egypt, being at opposite ends of the continent. A few years later, I read some books by Alan Paton, the South African author of Cry, the Beloved Country (Scribners, 1948). Today, if I were teaching that social studies class, I would want to challenge my students to use 21st century thinking techniques and the technology at their fingertips. The Evolving Encyclopedia When I was a student, we used encyclopedias in the library. Some educators prohibit their students from looking at Wikipedia. Global Information Sources

Creating a Web App from Scratch – Part 1 of 8: Basic Idea and De Today we begin Part 1 of an 8-Part series on building a web application from absolute scratch to a complete product. I am going to kick things off by introducing the idea, and then I will be handling the design, UI, and general front-end stuff. We are going to be going back and forth from here over to my friend Jason Lengstorf's site Copter Labs. Jason will be handling the back-end stuff like application planning and database stuff. It's Easy, Right? What we're going to create is a "list app". First of all, it needs to work and it needs to work well. Through this whole 8-part series, we are going to create an app that hopefully does all these things pretty well. The Big Idea This "list app" is going to be called Colored Lists. Sketch It Out No need to get fancy right away. Looks like a list to me. Early UI Planning Click-to-editDrag and dropTwo-click deleteAutomatic saving (after any action) All this stuff basically adds up to a whole bunch of AJAX. The Screens "Features" Moving On Share On

Digital Storytelling Across the Curriculum Find content’s deeper meaning “By telling thoughtful stories, we clarify our own thinking about what we have learned to share with others in a profound way that sticks with us over time.”—Annette Simmons, The Story Factor In an age of mathematical, logical, and scientific thinking, storytelling is often considered appropriate only for language arts projects for young learners. However, in today’s information-loaded world, storytelling is being rediscovered as an effective tool for helping us make sense of this data barrage. According to the brain research explored by Roger Shanks, storytelling provides a memory structure and depth of context that engages learners in a sense-making of facts. The digital storytelling process helps us transform isolated facts into illuminated, enduring understandings. Storytelling Builds 21st-Century Skills Building 21st-Century Skills The final narrative script is next recorded as a voiceover for the story. Storytelling enables innovation and creativity. 1.

21 Ways Volunteers Can Help with Your Website | Talance Friendly [Photo credit: AVP Volunteer 2 by yuan2003, on Flickr] As any charitable organization knows, volunteers are superstars. They give love and expertise and don’t ask for a dime in return. They can be especially helpful if your organization has a website. [BTW, did you read Engaging Volunteers in Your Marketing Efforts or Volunteers and Website Management?] Anything we missed? Tags: maintenance, nonprofit, project management, volunteer National Educational Technology Stand Abstract This paper presents the findings from the third survey administration of a longitudinal study that explores the beliefs, practices, and efficacy of social studies faculty members from across the United States in terms of instructional technology use. The findings of this study demonstrate that familiarity with the National Educational Technology Standards, as well as confidence with technology, are related to the frequency and type of technology that social studies faculty members utilize in their courses. This survey is particularly significant because it reports on the field’s beliefs and practices over time, and results can influence policy, funding, and future research. Citation Friedman, A., Bolick, C., Berson, M. & Porfeli, E. (2009). OpenURL Keywords

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