Web Tools for Teaching and Learning
Glossary and Resources:
Blog
A blog, short for weblog, is a website of chronologically ordered
entries. New posts are displayed at the top of the blog, while older
posts move down and are archived. Posts are keyword searchable. Blogs
began as software designed to make it easier to keep an online
journal. Blogs can include text, images, links, and can be opened
for comments by others. If commenting is enable the blog can then act
as an asynchronous discussion forum.
Image Collections
Options for storing and delivering images range from your
personal
computer to institutional repositories to image services outside UVM.
- On your own computer, products like iPhoto for Macintosh or
Picaso for Windows are easy to use ways to store and organize your
images. If these are on a laptop, you can bring the laptop with you for
display in any classroom that has projection capabilities.
- You can store and display images from your web space or from your
blog, though this option does not provide robust tools for organizing
and sorting.
- Flickr is a public image hosting service that provides you with a
web page, easy upload and organization of your images, tagging
(providing identifying keywords) for future searching, and easy
connections to your blog. http://www.flickr.com/
- ContentDM is a UVM-hosted image collection database for storing
large collections. Keywords, tags, and descriptive information are
stored with the images. http://contentdm.uvm.edu
- dSpace is a UVM-hosted open source program for large image and
document collections (institutional repository). It also stores
descriptive information for searching and information purposes: http://badger.uvm.edu/dspace
Internet Messaging (IM)
IM is a synchronous communication tool between two individuals. Users
chat with "buddies" via typing. Also available are chat rooms, where
more than two people can communicate simultaneously.
Listserv
Listservs are e-mail based asynchronous online discussion groups. Users
subscribe to the list, then send and receive all postings to that list
as e-mail to be read and responded to at their leisure.
Podcasting
According to EDUCAUSE, podcasting refers to "any software and hardware
combination that
permits automatic downloading of audio files to an MP3 player for
listening at the user's convenience." A number of methods exist for
creating and delivering audio material. Podcasting, with its focus on
delivering audio to MP3 players, is fairly easy to undertake.
- EDUCAUSE on podcasting
http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7003
Sharepoint
Sharepoint is Microsoft's content management system. It allows groups
to set up a centralized, password protected space for document sharing.
Documents can be stored, downloaded and edited, then uploaded for
continued sharing.
- Sharepoint at UVM
http://sharepoint.uvm.edu
Social Bookmarking
In answer to the continued problem of finding, then losing,
bookmarks on the web, several groups have developed social bookmarking
tools. These web sites allow you to store your bookmarks centrally so
that you always have access to them. In addition, they let you tag your
bookmarks with keywords so you can find them later and they allow you
to search other people's bookmarks based on keywords. In essence, the
people saving and tagging bookmarks are creating a loose-knit taxonomy,
or "folksonomy" of keywords related to web site contents.
Web
Space/Web Pages
Every member of the UVM community is given space on our server
and set-up with a folder named public_html for materials accessible on
the web. You can store any kind of computer file: documents, PowerPoint
presentations, audio files, images, etc. You can also create HTML
files/web pages and make them available. You can create password
protected sub-folders to limit access to the materials by name/password
or by UVM address.
WebCT
WebCT is a collection of web tools for course management that are
gathered together to provide a single interface for the student.
Included are syllabus tool, content module tools, quizzes and surveys,
a gradebook, synchronous and asynchronous communication tools, and
course e-mail. The WebCT web sites are course-based, that is, each
course has it's own distinct WebCT course site.
Wikis
Wikis are web spaces that allow multiple editing of common documents.
The most famous is WikiPedia, the wiki encyclopedia. We have not yet
chosen or installed a centrally managed wiki at UVM, however, some
people have installed their own in their zoo space. There are also free
public wikis available if you would like to experiment.
General "Teaching with Technology" Resources
Compiled by: hope.greenberg@uvm.edu, Academic Computing, 30 March
2006