Three Web 2.0 Tools that can Enhance Teaching and Learning

Three Web 2.0 Tools that can Enhance Teaching and Learning

An exploration of easel.ly, themeefy, and diigo

easel.ly is an easy to use tool to create infographics. Here is a introductory video on how you can use easel.ly to make inforgraphics that can accompany any project. Note that while easel.ly supports chrome, firefox, and safari, it does not support internet explorer.

In this tool you can use free templates and images that are available or you can create your own. It has an easy drag and drop style that makes it comfortable for all users.

Easel.ly does not have same the multi-media aspect as others tools do; you cannot make movies or voice recordings in it. However, easel.ly can help students who are visual learners in classes where facts and statistics are prevalent. No artistic ability is required to operate this tool and it is a fun way to add to an otherwise dry presentation of facts.

You can use this tool in tandem with other tools for a presentation or project as a fun way to present statistics or facts. You could also use it on its own as an informative poster. 

From teh site you can either save your graphic to your own computer to use or you can share it on easel.ly. The site itself has rules around users online behaviour and copyright infringement outlined in its Terms of Use. 

Themeefy is a tool to create appealing looking online magazines. It allows for the incorporation of other media, such as videos, audio recordings, links to other sites, and images. The themeefy interface allows the user to simply type in a theme or topic and will then help you search and add resources into your Mag. You choose to have it search YouTube, the web, twitter, or add your own content.

Themeefy can be used to spice up any presentation of information. By integrating the different visual, audio, and text tools into the mag you can capture the interest of the audience better than with a traditional powerpoint. Additionally, having the students work independantly or collaboratively to assemble a Mag as an assigment is a good way to have them exploring online resources and presenting their learning however they can. 

Themeefy has privacy settings where the user can either share their creation to the whole community, or password protect it so that only those invited can view the content. 

Here are some videos that outline the various tools and uses of Themeefy.

Diigo is a free tool that helps aid internet research. In Diigo you can do many things from bookmark web pages and resources to highlight and stickynote important ideas. In Diigo you can collect a library of online resources for your projects. In addition, you can create and manage groups where the bookmarked information and sources are available to everyone within the group. 

This tool is not visually exciting and is one of the more complicated tools to use, however, I believe that it would be very useful. It is very text heavy so I would reccommend coupling Diigo with a speak to read program to widen accessablility. This tool will aid in the researching and organizational skills of the students as well as allow for collaboration and sharing of ideas. 

This video shows a more in-depth explaination of the tool.