Kim’s Ventures in Educational Technology

Alas, I have finally written the last part of this four part mini-series on awesome technology tools that you can use in the classroom or create instructional materials for use with your students. This blog post features the recently discovered website, www.jogtheweb.com. A few weeks ago as I was reading the plurks of my professional learning network at plurk.com, someone plurked about a track created at jogtheweb.com so I decided to venture to the site and see what jogtheweb was all about.

Jogtheweb started in 2007 and allows users to create a ‘track’ at the website. Details and comments about the websites featured in a track are displayed as the user jogs along the track of websites. Tracks are generally created around a theme, skill or features of a specific website. Two tracks are featured below:
Exploring New Worlds by ProfB
Web 2.0 by Yennyg

Source: Jogtheweb.com

The image to the right shows a basic track. Viewers ‘jog’ along the track from website to website with a description of each part of the track displayed. At jogtheweb.com a variety of tracks have been created. Many have been created for educational purposes so you may want to look the tracks in case one has already

Source: View of a track at Jogtheweb.com

been created on your topic. One user in my PLN created one about the features of her district intranet and where to find district resources. I created one on technology tools that can be used in the classroom and once finished I will send the link out via Twitter and Plurk. Next time you are searching for a creative way to display content or technical information, consider creating a track at Jogtheweb.com. I think you will find this a great resource to add to your technology toolbox.

As I stated in the previous two parts of this four part series on instructional technology tools that can be used in the classroom to enrich learning, I actively participate in a personal professional learning network using Plurk and Twitter. Through these two web services I have learned copious amounts of information, training and resources in the past six or seven months than I have in just about all 19 years of teaching. It is amazing and I wanted to share some of the tools that I deem extremely useful to enrich learning in the classroom.

The third tool I want to share is Dabbleboard. I have written about this unique tool before but I wanted to share it again with you. At first glance, Dabbleboard looks like a limited version of Inspiration or CMAP. While that may be partially true, the biggest asset of Dabbleboard is the ability to collaborate and share a diagram with a team of students. Students can be at different computers, different locations, and work on the diagram at different times. Dabbleboard diagrams are shared by the use of an invite via email and now a URL generated by the site. Several enhancements were made with the most recent release.

Within the Dabbleboard layout, any previous diagrams created are stored in the library and can be reused and imported into new diagrams. When I logged into Dabbleboard, the diagram that I originally created back in July was automatically loaded for me. I can continue with that or begin a new diagram.

Dabbleboard is an excellent way to brainstorm story maps for digital storytelling, generate a hypothesis to test as part of the scientific process or create a flowchart depicting a process or steps of a group project. You can create a template for students to access with the capability of adding weblinks, images, and sharing with others in real time. New features have recently been added such as rotating or flipping images and auto detection of shapes drawn by hand to create resizable, neatly drawn objects.

To the right is the original diagram I created in July. If you click on the thumbnail image, it will take you to the public link of the diagram. Take a few moments and experiment with the diagram and move items, change colors, etc. to see the full capabilities of Dabbleboard. Dabble with Dabbleboard!