Friday, October 18, 2019

Wakelet, a Cool Tool

This week's module had a vast amount of tools and resources to explore. I played around and explored many different one's that were in listed under Resources to Explore for Blog #6 in Module 8 for SLIS 761. After viewing the various blogs, sites, and YouTube's Tech Fifteen channel of Dr. Heather Moorefield-Lang, I finally decided on Wakelet for this week's blog. While I loved exploring many sites (especially Digital Public Library of America and Knowt) and ended up being convinced by Dr. Moorefield-Lang that I needed the Google Keep app immediately, I ultimately chose Wakelet because I wanted to explore a tool I was unfamiliar with that I could use as a platform for my digital curation assignment. I was planning on using Google Docs since I use everything Google at work, but Wakelet popped up a few times in our resources and was listed as one AASL's Best Websites for Teaching in Learning 2019, I thought it may be a more interesting way to curate my findings. I also think that I need to try new things in tech since I want to become a school librarian. Richard Byrne has a great introduction video on using Wakelet that I included below. Wakelet is a free resource, which makes it even better!


Joining Wakelet is simple. Once you go to the home page of Wakelet, you can click one of the tabs across the tops (I selected the For Educator tab) or just click the Sign up, it's free! green tab in the center of the page. Once I clicked on the Educator tab, I signed up via Google. You have the option to sign up via Google, Microsoft, Facebook, or by email. Once you are in, the site prompts you to select a minimum of two images/topics that interest you. Once that is done, you continue and are ready to create a collection. Step by step visuals of this process are displayed below. 

Step One:

Step Two:


Step Three:



Wakelet is also a wonderful free resource to use within a school. As Richard Byrne pointed out in his video, you can add collaborators to a collection of your choice. If you are a librarian and are collaborating with teachers on a research topic or project for students, this would be a great way for everyone to share findings and resources. Wakelet is available as an app as well, so you can always have access at your fingertips. The librarian and teacher can then share the resources with students via the link. If your school district's technology department allows it, you could create collaborative student Wakelet pages where you are the head administrator. Students could collaborate on an assignment, while you would have access to monitor their progress and give feedback. By the teacher creating the Wakelet for the students and adding them as collaborators, she has the ability to make sure the page is closed to the public and being used with fidelity. As a teacher, it would allow me to see the process students use when completing an assignment and how I could conference with them about their work and collaborative abilities. I feel that Wakelet can be a useful tool for librarians, teachers, and students by allowing them another way to work collaboratively via a digital platform. 

Resources

"Best Digital Tools for Teaching & Learning", American Library Association, October 29,             2014.http://www.ala.org/aasl/awards/best (Accessed October 18, 2019) Document ID:                                           68ad61df-  576d-3054- e54d-91a5471bc18c
Byrne, R. (2007, January). Free Technology for Teachers. Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://www.freetech4teachers.com/

Byrne. (2019). How to get started using wakelet. Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59_2iSENXEQ&feature=youtu.be&disable_polymer=true

Digital Public Library of America. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2019, from https://dp.la/

Heir, T., Dr. (2016). A Summary of the Evidence on Inclusive Education. Retrieved from https://alana.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/A_Summary_of_the_evidence_on_inclusive_education.pdf

Moorefield-Lang. (2018). TechFifteen. Retrieved October 14, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/user/TechFifteen

3 comments:

  1. I had not heard of Wakelet prior to this semester, but I started using it a month ago and I love it. I used it to pull resources together for this week’s blog post, as well as my final project in an education class. I’m planning on using it for the upcoming curation assignment. I use both the web version and the app, and I like that you can add a shortcut on the tool bar on the web version to add that resource to your page rather than having to copy and paste. I like that you mentioned seeing students’ process in completing assignments - I hadn’t thought about using it that way. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Oh wow! This looks like a great tool for curation projects like we were reading about a couple modules ago. Not to mention a great way to curate and share resources for a research project, like you explained. I love that it has practical uses for students AND teachers. Thanks for sharing this!

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  3. Great information! I have never heard of Wakelet up until this course. I have gone back and forth with this as my curation project and found it to be a great tool to share information back and forth. I love the steps you created to show how easy it can be to use.

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SLIS 761 Semester Reflection