I was hesitant with Gliffy because I wasn’t too sure how to use it at first. I didn’t know you had to drag the shapes over to the page that you wanted to use; I kept clicking on them hoping they would pop up on the screen. I also wasn’t too sure of how to connect the shapes at first. It took me a little while of playing around with the tool before I got used to it. After I finally got the hang of Gliffy, I thought it was a great tool. I think that students would enjoy using it in the classroom. It could be used for brainstorming before writing an essay or starting a project. I also think that if students do use Gliffy to make concept maps, it would be extremely helpful to the teacher because of the neatness. Some students don’t have the best hand writing and it can be hard for teachers to decipher what they wrote. Using Gliffy will definitely help out with that. Since it is typed, the teacher won’t have any problem reading what the student wrote!
Here is a great picture of flowchart that was made with Gliffy. Imagine what you could make!
Just like Gliffy, I had a hard time figuring out how to use Wikispaces at first. I kept trying to search around for other people’s pages but I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting any search results. Finally I figured out what I was doing wrong and ended up finding a plethora of great Wikispaces. Making my own Wikispace wasn’t too hard, but I think I had an easy time making my page because I went through the tutorial of how to make one. That was extremely helpful! I think that using a Wikispace as a teacher would be very helpful. One reason is because teachers can find a lot of interesting information on different Wikispaces. I believe that the Wikispace i created will be helpful for many people. I made mine on rubrics, which I feel is a very important aspect of grading that all teachers need to use. Take a look at my Wikispace at http://rubrics4u.wikispaces.com/. Teachers can also use them for homework assignments or explaining upcoming projects. A Wikispace can also be a page of resources for students. With enough creativity, a Wikispace can turn into pretty much anything! I think it would be cool to have students make their own Wikispace on specific topics and then share them with their classmates.
Web 2.0 tools are extremely useful for both students and teachers. I think that the Web 2.0 tools and other multimedia elements can go hand in hand. You can use video clips or graphics on a Wikispace or you can use your Gliffy products on a multimedia presentation such as PowerPoint. With a creative mind I’m sure you can come up with a ton of ideas of using Web 2.0 tools and other multimedia elements together to create a great lesson or activity for students.
3 comments:
AnnMarie,
I'm glad I'm not the only one that had trouble with Gliffy at first. I tried clicking on the images as well and was frustrated at first when I couldn't get them to appear. It didn't take me long before I started dragging them across the screen. I have to admit I had to follow the tutorial on Wikispaces too. I guess I'm not alone in my frustrations.
Without having the opportunity to see anyone else's Gliffy map (as no one had yet posted theirs), I didn't see all of the potential it had. Some of the students made some really colorful and creative concept maps like the one you posted on your blog.
I think you make a really great point about how helpful this Web 2.0 tool could be for teachers. I teach college students, and I struggle over trying to read their handwriting at times. I think the students could also find Gliffy helpful. Gliffy allows you to move items around the screen more easily than if done with pencil and paper. This would allow students to move the items around as many times as they'd like.
Jennifer
I am also glad to hear that I was not the only one who had problems with it. Gliffy was kind of confusing. I had previous experience with wikispaces, my organic chem teacher uses it for class. Gliffy was something that I am still having trouble with.
I guess we all had some trouble figuring out how to use gliffy! I don't feel so bad anymore! I guess we aren't such digital natives after all! I tried using the tutorial but it made me more frustrated. I eventually figured the basics out, but I'm sure I have more to learn.
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