In my search for the perfect app to use in a classroom, I found Dipity, a timeline creator. Now, as one who loves backtracking and organizing, I was immediately in love with the idea of a virtual timeline; no more rulers on paper, erasing, squeezing dates and events between others as more is revealed through research. Finally an efficient, clean way to organize dates and events, with no borders to get in the way. Timelines are used throughout the schooling process, as we teach the ability to sequence events, understand cause and effect, and organize a lifeline. With Dipity students will be able to create a timeline infused with pictures, video, text descriptions, locations, and hyperlinks. An interactive and multimedia timeline at their disposal. How cool is that?
Here's an example, a timeline revolving around the earthquake in Haiti
The second app I went crazy for was Notely, which revolves around organization. It's really perfect for high school and college students who have a lot on their plate and need a bit of help laying it all out and making sure everything gets done. I would implement this into my classroom to teach students how simple and, in the long run, relaxing organizing your life can be, and how satisfying it is to click on the "done" box. You can add courses, keep a running list of your grades, AND to add to the awesome factor, you can download your "to-do" list to your iCal on the Mac. Awesome. There are many other factors involved as well, such as a place to submit questions, journals, a schedule creator, and anything you don't need to use can be moved off of your left-side dock to simplify things. While it would probably take a bit to set up and get a good feeling for it, I think in the long run it could really help students get their feet under them and lead a more productive life if they struggled with organization in the past.
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Hello Brittnay! DIPITY - That is VERY cool. I have a timeline due tomorrow for a paper I am writing for "History of Schooling in the US" So thanks! That is timely and very cool. I also love timelines and did fine this tool amazing. I think I like the graphic look of timelines. I checked out the Apple one and they do not yet have the ipad strangely! And of course the timeline of the earthquake is very informative. I think it is a awesome thing for kids to get a true sense of just how long we've been on the earth, how long somethings are around and how short some fads are around. I hope it provides some grounding to the past.
ReplyDeleteI also like the Notely. I love to organize and have never really had a problem with keeping a schedule myself, but I being this way, see how it is extremely helpful to learn this early on, more so now a days. I also thought it was cool to find out about the creator and that he was from England. I wondered about how things were spelled on the site "organise". It is also cool that it is also translated into French, German, Italian, Chinese and American English.
Good Ones!
What great tools you have found to use Web 2.0 apps in educational ways! Love the timeline and will definitely have my undergrads begin using Notely! Thanks Julianne for posting a thoughtful response!
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