Sqworl is a web application that provides a clean and simple way to visually bookmark multiple URLs. The link below is a 2 minute video that demonstrates how Sqworl works.
Sqworl Screencast from Caleb Brown on Vimeo.
With all the crazy rumors about delicious potentially going away, I have been looking for other options. Of course, I have been using diigo and like it, but is not quite in the same ballpark as delicious. I don’t think I would use Sqworl exactly the same way as I use delicious, but I can see some great potential for using Sqworl in the classroom. For example, whenever I show my pre-service teachers a new “tool”, I try to provide a list of resources from real classrooms where teachers are using that tool. Sqworl would work very nicely for that purpose.
K-12 teachers, think about how hard it is to get kids to correctly type in URLs into the browser, it is usually a pull your hair out moment most of the time. Wouldn’t it be nice if you would just needed them to do it once a day? And that could even be cut down. For teachers that use a classroom website, you just put the link to that days Sqworl and the kids just click on it, all the links you want them to visit right there in front of them.
As teachers we have to learn to work smarter, because we all know we are already working hard enough. Give Sqworl a try and let me know what you think in comments
Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers shared a presentation this morning. To read the whole story and learn how to export Firefox bookmarks and reuse them, CLICK HERE
Richard discusses the fact that teachers should switch over to using a Social Bookmarking service. I totally agree! Social Bookmarking means your Internet website Bookmarks or Favorites are saved in an account on the web. The advantage is you can access your bookmarks from any computer. And if you are teaching in a school district that makes you turn in your laptop for re-imaging every summer, this will save you. I use delicious and as well as Diigo. They are similar and yet have some different features.
I like delicious because it is quick and easy. I have “buttons” installed on my browser toolbar in Safari and Firefox. http://delicious.com/help/bookmarklets
For Firefox you can install the buttons when you create your account or even after the fact. To do so after the fact: Firefox Add-0ns https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3615/.
For Safari, you can install when you create your account or as a add-on http://safariaddons.com/en-US/safari/addon/39
Diigo buttons are also available for both as well as some other browsers. So, what is the difference between delicious and diigo. Personally, I like delicious for quick on the fly bookmarking.
But I do like Diigo for sharing. For example, I have all my students create a Diigo account and join the group K-State Pre-Service. Throughout the week , I bookmark the resources I stumble across and I tag them K-State Pre-Service in Diigo using the toolbar button (set your alert setting to weekly, the default is immediately). Then once a week, my students receive an email from me with all the resources from that week. They save and bookmark whatever is useful to them in their own delicious account.
I belong to about 20+ Diigo groups. I get those weekly emails from all the groups, usually on Sunday’s and find a ton of useful resources to use and share. http://groups.diigo.com/user/cyndidannerkuhn
The point is, I never have to worry about where my bookmarks are located. Plus they are organized. If you want a better explanation of Social Bookmarking, check out Social Bookmarking in Plain English by Common Craft: http://www.commoncraft.com/bookmarking-plain-english
Delicious: http://del.icio.us/cyndidannerkuhn
Diigo: http://www.diigo.com/profile/cyndidannerkuhn
By the way, I have my Diigo settings set so they automatically post to my delicious account. And when I post to Twitter, it automatically posts to both my diigo and delicious. Pretty handy!!
