Technology+Toolbox

**ED 538** **Renée Compton** In evaluating the use of online tools for instruction and learning, I developed 5 criteria. Ease of use encompasses both the ability to navigate the tool by teacher and student, and the ability to utilize it using multiple platforms, e.g., Mac and Windows operating systems. The tools efficiency is assessed by its ability to save time over traditional methods. Effectiveness and improvement denotes the tool’s ability to do what it is advertised to do, its novel functionality--in other words, it can do something that cannot be done with paper and pencil. Cost effectiveness is deemed highest if the tool is truly open source without fees or corporate sponsorship. Lastly, security is evaluated by the ability to limit access and save work in a secure environment. Criteria 1. Ease of use - easily accessible on multiple platforms, intuitive to use. 2. Efficient - Saves time for instructor and student or does not take more time than traditional methods. 3. Effectiveness/Improvement - Does what it purports to do and application is an improvement and not redundant of traditional methods. 4. Cost Effectiveness- Free or minimal cost, little or no corporate advertising. 5. Security - Password protected and ability to limit users/viewers, backed up by a server, easily saved.
 * Tool Box Critique**


 * Criteria || Strongly Agree || Agree || Neutral || Disagree || Strongly Disagree ||
 * Ease of Use ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Efficiency ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Effectiveness/Improvement over traditional methods ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Cost Effectiveness ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Security ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||

**Aggregators: GOOGLE READER** Comments: This tool is intuitive to set up, requires no prior knowledge of RSS feeds and is free. It has a good help section an easy to use search tool. It may take some time to narrow searches and get the specific content desired.
 * ** Criteria ** || **Strongly Agree** || **Agree** || **Neutral** || **Disagree** || **Strongly Disagree** ||
 * ** Ease of Use ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Efficiency ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Effectiveness/Improvement over traditional methods ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Cost Effectiveness ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Security ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||

**Social Bookmarking: DELICIOUS** Comments: This social bookmarking tool can be used to track, tag and share bookmarks. Delicious is free and has a good help section. I see delicious as a good way to track searches on a specific topic, especially for research. Students can share their searches with each other or with the instructor.
 * ** Criteria ** || **Strongly Agree** || **Agree** || **Neutral** || **Disagree** || **Strongly Disagree** ||
 * ** Ease of Use ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Efficiency ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Effectiveness/Improvement over traditional methods ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Cost Effectiveness ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Security ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||

**Search Tools: TECHNORATI** Comments: Technorati is a search tool for the blogosphere that is free. There are advertisers but on the positive side, technorati does not sell registered users information to other entities and registration is optional (but a registered user is offered more features). The tool is easy to use and searching for blogs in specific areas of interest yields good results.
 * ** Criteria ** || **Strongly Agree** || **Agree** || **Neutral** || **Disagree** || **Strongly Disagree** ||
 * ** Ease of Use ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Efficiency ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Effectiveness/Improvement over traditional methods ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Cost Effectiveness ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Security ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||

**Web Start: NETVIBES** Comments: Netvibes is a webstart page that can be customized to view the content that you want to on your start up page. The service is free and there is a premium version that one can upgrade to. I really like this tool because all the content you want is easily accessible on one page. Many different widgets can be added and multiple RSS feeds can be added to the page. You can also utilize more than one dashboard for different subjects. I did not come across any ads on this site. There are so many options that it is a little overwhelming.
 * ** Criteria ** || **Strongly Agree** || **Agree** || **Neutral** || **Disagree** || **Strongly Disagree** ||
 * ** Ease of Use ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Efficiency ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Effectiveness/Improvement over traditional methods ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Cost Effectiveness ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Security ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||

**Web Blogs: EDUBLOG** Comments: Edublogs provides a free basic blogging site but in order to password protect your blog--so that students only can see it for example, you have to upgrade to the premium level which is about $50/year. You also have to put up with some ads if you don’t upgrade to premium. The tool isn’t too difficult to use but you do have to poke around to figure it out. It is possible to make it looked very produced and not raw so that can be a positive or negative depending on what your the goal is. Students don’t need an e-mail address to have an edublog but for the instructor to have full flexibility, a campus blog is needed which means your institution has to buy into it.
 * ** Criteria ** || **Strongly Agree** || **Agree** || **Neutral** || **Disagree** || **Strongly Disagree** ||
 * ** Ease of Use ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Efficiency ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Effectiveness/Improvement over traditional methods ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Cost Effectiveness ** ||  ||   || **x** ||   ||   ||
 * ** Security ** ||  ||   || **x** ||   ||   ||

**Wiki Spaces: PB WIKI** Comments: PbWiki is free and there are no advertisers on the site. The creator of a workspace can invite others to edit, write, read or have access to only certain pages. The tool makes it relatively easy for a workgroup to have access to the same document. I don’t think it is that intuitive to use but it is secure and users can set up to receive notifications when changes have been made to a workspace.
 * ** Criteria ** || **Strongly Agree** || **Agree** || **Neutral** || **Disagree** || **Strongly Disagree** ||
 * ** Ease of Use ** ||  ||   || **x** ||   ||   ||
 * ** Efficiency ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Effectiveness/Improvement over traditional methods ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Cost Effectiveness ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Security ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||

**Web Based Word Processing: GOOGLE DOCS** Comments: Google docs platform is set up very similarly to MS Office Suite with a word processing, presentation and spreadsheet application. It is password protected and others can be invited to read or edit a document. You can publish the document to the web or link to it very easily. The document autosaves and you can track the changes of other editors of a document. This is a great tool that is easy to use but will apparently be replaced by Google Drive soon.
 * ** Criteria ** || **Strongly Agree** || **Agree** || **Neutral** || **Disagree** || **Strongly Disagree** ||
 * ** Ease of Use ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Efficiency ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Effectiveness/Improvement over traditional methods ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Cost Effectiveness ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Security ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||

**Web Based Spread Sheets: GOOGLE DOCS** Comments: Google docs platform is set up very similarly to MS Office Suite with a word processing, presentation and spreadsheet application. It is password protected and others can be invited to read or edit a document. You can publish the document to the web or link to it very easily. The document autosaves and you can track the changes of other editors of a document. This is a great tool that is easy to use but will apparently be replaced by Google Drive soon.
 * ** Criteria ** || **Strongly Agree** || **Agree** || **Neutral** || **Disagree** || **Strongly Disagree** ||
 * ** Ease of Use ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Efficiency ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Effectiveness/Improvement over traditional methods ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Cost Effectiveness ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Security ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||

**Assessments, Surveys and Polls: RUBISTAR** Comments: Rubistar is a free tool that does have fairly non-intrusive ads. This tool allows you to create rubrics or use rubrics on the site that others have made public. You can choose to keep rubrics private or public and there it is password protected.
 * ** Criteria ** || **Strongly Agree** || **Agree** || **Neutral** || **Disagree** || **Strongly Disagree** ||
 * ** Ease of Use ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Efficiency ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Effectiveness/Improvement over traditional methods ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Cost Effectiveness ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Security ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||

**Podcasting and Screencasting: QUICKTIME** Comments: Quicktime is an Apple product that is available for Mac and PC and is a free download. It is very easy to use but does not offer a storage area in the cloud for files nor is there a mechanism to convert file types.
 * ** Criteria ** || **Strongly Agree** || **Agree** || **Neutral** || **Disagree** || **Strongly Disagree** ||
 * ** Ease of Use ** ||  ||   || **x** ||   ||   ||
 * ** Efficiency ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Effectiveness/Improvement over traditional methods ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Cost Effectiveness ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Security ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||

**Video: YOU TUBE** Comments: It is very easy to upload and share videos on YouTube and link them to social media such as twitter or facebook. It is password protected and privacy settings can be set so that only people who have your e-mail address can view video. Ads can be eliminated on videos you post in the setting section as well. If you just want to view videos, chances are you’ll put up with a lot of ads.
 * ** Criteria ** || **Strongly Agree** || **Agree** || **Neutral** || **Disagree** || **Strongly Disagree** ||
 * ** Ease of Use ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Efficiency ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Effectiveness/Improvement over traditional methods ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Cost Effectiveness ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Security ** || **x** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||

** Photo and Drawing: IPHOTO ** Comments: Iphoto is an Apple product and cannot be run on a PC platform. It is easy to use to manipulate photos but does not have extensive editing options. It is possible to make slideshows, cards, calendars, etc., from iphoto and it is free, but it it seems best suited for the casual home user.
 * ** Criteria ** || **Strongly Agree** || **Agree** || **Neutral** || **Disagree** || **Strongly Disagree** ||
 * ** Ease of Use ** ||  ||   || **x** ||   ||   ||
 * ** Efficiency ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Effectiveness/Improvement over traditional methods ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Cost Effectiveness ** ||  || **x** ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** Security ** ||  ||   || **x** ||   ||   ||

**Summary:** There are a plethora of digital tools available to assist with acquiring useable content, creating and sharing information. Many of the open source tools are good but I've found that there is a limit to how much you can do with them. Proprietary tools are often better in my estimation but of course, cost money.