Symbaloo: Personal information space; dashboard; start page
For any teacher of any subject matter, I would think a teacher would constantly be finding new information on the Internet to want to share with the students of the class. Possibly no better way to do this then to create a start page that can be viewed any where at any time with either a computer or a smart phone. Students too can also create their own start page. There are several start page companies on the Internet.
After reviewing three other start pages including iGoogle, Netvibes, and Protopage, I found Symbaloo the most adequate. It is fairly simple to set up. There is no cost. A person can create a themed tab at the top of the home page within Symbaloo. These tabs are called webmixes. Webmixes are a compilation of tiles. Each tlle represents a web page.
Hypothetically a teacher could create a webmix based upon a unit currently being studied by the class. Students could also add to that webmix as they find other web pages that pertain to the current unit. Webmixes could be created and saved for future review for upcoming quizzes and tests. It also would work if students are absent.
Personalizing the Symbaloo start page can also be done. Webmixes can include the news, sports, entertainment, etc. Getting students to create there own start page may be a challenge, but possibly encouraging students to do this and to keep updating can be done through participation points.
One major caveat though. When reading their content forum, one teacher expressed serious concern with inappropriate Google advertising to her 1st graders. A Symbaloo spokesperson stated there is not much they can do about the advertising done by Google, but he did suggest signing up for educator version of Symbaloo that is being developed where advertising can be controlled. (This educator version is not out yet, but Symbaloo encourages anyone in the education field to fill a contact form to be a part of the beta testing of this version. The following link takes you to that form.) http://service.symbaloo.com/index.php?p=business&app=ccs&module=pages§ion=pages&folder=en_US/business&page=contact.html
For any teacher of any subject matter, I would think a teacher would constantly be finding new information on the Internet to want to share with the students of the class. Possibly no better way to do this then to create a start page that can be viewed any where at any time with either a computer or a smart phone. Students too can also create their own start page. There are several start page companies on the Internet.
After reviewing three other start pages including iGoogle, Netvibes, and Protopage, I found Symbaloo the most adequate. It is fairly simple to set up. There is no cost. A person can create a themed tab at the top of the home page within Symbaloo. These tabs are called webmixes. Webmixes are a compilation of tiles. Each tlle represents a web page.
Hypothetically a teacher could create a webmix based upon a unit currently being studied by the class. Students could also add to that webmix as they find other web pages that pertain to the current unit. Webmixes could be created and saved for future review for upcoming quizzes and tests. It also would work if students are absent.
Personalizing the Symbaloo start page can also be done. Webmixes can include the news, sports, entertainment, etc. Getting students to create there own start page may be a challenge, but possibly encouraging students to do this and to keep updating can be done through participation points.
One major caveat though. When reading their content forum, one teacher expressed serious concern with inappropriate Google advertising to her 1st graders. A Symbaloo spokesperson stated there is not much they can do about the advertising done by Google, but he did suggest signing up for educator version of Symbaloo that is being developed where advertising can be controlled. (This educator version is not out yet, but Symbaloo encourages anyone in the education field to fill a contact form to be a part of the beta testing of this version. The following link takes you to that form.) http://service.symbaloo.com/index.php?p=business&app=ccs&module=pages§ion=pages&folder=en_US/business&page=contact.html