Week 6: Activity 1

How does del.icio.us differ from Aggregator? How does del.icious differ from other search engines?

---A question from Maya---

I have been thinking about Google Reader and Del.icio.us. My understanding is, Del.icio.us is more like a "multi search engine", like "Dogpile" Fei introduced in class. If you search by Del.icio.us, you can only find the "category" instead of "detailed information" (like "Is ... harmful for teeth?").
While Google Reader is something like you order magazines and they will be "delivered" to your home when there are some new released. And again, Google Reader only offer you a big "category" of the information you have chosen.
Neither Del.icio.us nor Google Reader can offer detailed information like Google.

Am I correct about these notions? Please let me know if I have misconceptions. I would like to know your thoughts.

Week 6: Activity 2

Read the following two articles, and discuss how social bookmarking can be used in professional development and teaching.

Ÿ 7 Things You Should Know about Social Bookmarking - EDUCAUSE

Ÿ Sites to See: Social Bookmarking - Education World

Other references

Ÿ Social Bookmarking Showdown

Ÿ What is “folksonomies”

Week 4: Searching for Resources on the Internet

1 Search Tools

The following six search tools belong to three different categories. Can you group them?

• Google
• Librarians' Index to the Internet
• Dogpile
• AltaVista
• Yahoo Directory
• Ixquick

2 Study the URLs

• http://www.nytimes.com/pages/technology/index.html
• http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.htm
  

3 How much do you know about Google Search?

• Will Google return only pages that match all your search terms?
• Will Google return pages that match your search terms exactly?
• Will Google return pages that match variants of your search terms?
• Is there any word Google will ignore during search?
• Is there a limit to the number of queries?
• Does the distance between the two queries matter? ( eg. [ snake in the grass ], [ snake grass ])
• Does the order of query matter?Is Google case sensitive?

4 Do you know the function of these operators?

• Quoted Phrases
• The + Operator
• The – Operator
• The ~ Operator
• The OR and | Operators
• The .. Operator
• The * Operator

5 Searching with key words

Find documents on the web that provide the answers to the following questions. What’s your level of comfort with the referring site(s) and why? Is it true that if you touch a cold halogen light bulb with clean fingers, you will shorten its lifespan?

1. Are 75% of Americans chronically dehydrated? Find opposing points of view.
2. Are you less likely to get dental cavities if you drink fluoridated water?
3. Is clumping kitty litter a major health hazard to cats?
4. What are the benefits and drawbacks of a flu (influenza) shot?
5. Does microwaving food in plastic containers or plastic cling wrap release harmful chemicals into the food? Check whether this is an urban legend.

Week 4: Evaluating Web Pages

Read Evaluating Web Pages

Read Nell’s WWWDOT approach on ANGEL site

Evaluate the following sites:

a. All the following sites are about Immigration.

Please evaluate these sites and think about how you decide whether the site is good or not.

a) http://www.historychannel.com/ellisisland/index2.html

b) http://www.aiisf.org/

c) http://www.msu.edu/course/mc/112/1920s/Immigration/Jamiespage.html

d) http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/introduction.html

e) http://www.ellisisland.com/ellis_home.html

f) http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/Immigration/index.html

g) http://immigration.about.com/

h) http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/index.htm

i) http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/explore/population5.html

b. Three websites on Underground Railroad:

Website A: http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/ugrr/home.html

Website B: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/

Website C: http://www2.lhric.org/POCANTICO/TUBMAN/timeline2/timeline.htm

Sell your blog ideas!

Read the article The Educated Blogger by David Huffaker, and think about the educational implications of blogs through the following group work.

Sell Your Blog Ideas!

Seller: try your best to persuade others to use blogs in your classrooms

• Explain what teachers/students can do with the blogs…(find and explain in detail at least three specific ways of using blogs)
  
• Explain the advantages of using blogs…
• Find out one particular blog to support your arguments, and talk about how this blog can be further improved.
  
  • You can find some examples from http://del.icio.us/CEP416Resources/blog
    
  • You can also search for blogs at: www.technorati.com or http://blogsearch.google.com/)

Consumer: try hard to avoid using blogs in your classrooms

• Better or alternative approaches?
• The disadvantages of using blogs?

Group 1: Teacher's Online Journal – created and maintained by the teacher himself/herself
Group 2: Student Blog – created and maintained by individual student
Group 3: Classroom/Student Group Bog – created and maintained either by the teacher or by a group of students

Tips
How to Persuade

Comparing Blogs and Websites

Directions: Below are 8 links to sites found on the web. As you look at each site, classify each site as either a website or a blog. When you have finished classifying each site, go back and create two lists that outlines the key features of both websites and blogs. That is, what are the defining characteristics of each that allowed you to classify each of the 8 sites as either a website or a blog?

A. http://www.educ.msu.edu/

B. http://www.mackenty.org/index.php/site/index/

C. http://www.assortedstuff.com/

D. http://technosavvy.org/

E. http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/

F. http://okemos.k12.mi.us/users/garcia/index.html

G. http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/

H. http://elps.k12.mi.us/education/school/school.php?sectionid=2

So to review:

1. Classify each site as either a) a website or b) a blog and

2. Make separate lists of the key characteristics of websites and blogs. You will report back to the class on your work, so be sure to take notes.