June 4th, 2013- Week 5

Internet Resource Evaluation

1.         Gliffy

a.      Gliffy could be used by teachers as a way to teach a complicated subject or encourage “thinking/thought” maps. For instance, and English teacher could teach the students how to brainstorm with one of these diagrams. Another option would be good for science teachers when they are trying to teach the students how things happen like the water cycle, plants lifecycle, etc. You can also use it to explain to people what steps to take when trying to do something, for instance like making a diagram! Businesses could also use this program in order to be able to show their merchandise, or layouts, etc.

b.      Easy to use. I would say you still have to be someone that is familiar with working with diagrams or programs like Prezi, PowerPoint. It seems pretty easy to use since it offers you multiple layouts, options of diagrams that might go best with your subject or your topic of focus. You can drag the shapes and objects that you want to have on your diagram, download pictures you want added, etc.

c.       I didn’t see any cost when first going to the website. Free trial and no cost to be able to make your diagrams. But if you want to save a diagram you have to register and the basic standard package is $4.95 and the Gliffy Pro is $9.95 which they recommend for large organizations. With the standard you have limited amounts of diagrams you can make, Pro allows you unlimited. You can get a free 30 day Pro trial.

d.      Design is flexible because it allows you to make your own diagram if you want or layout. You can also use one that is premade for you. You can upload any images you want to the diagram. You can make changes to backgrounds, shapes, colors, sequence.

e.      Security is good because you can choose if you want to have your diagrams be private or public. You do have to sign up like everything else.

f.        You can add your own media to the diagram by putting your own pictures into the diagram. Unsure if you would be able to upload music, but I imagine you could. There is an option to search for images they have in their library.

2.      Popplet

a.      Popplet could be used more as a sort of social media. You can have an idea, or create an album or something. This could be used by students or teachers to display pictures of a project or a trip. Families could use this to document vacations, important things in their family like baptisms, etc. Communities could use this to display images of their business and also schools could use this as a sort of media Year Book. Students could use this as a brainstorm kind of like gliffy, but more simple because it creates a sort of “web”.

b.      It is very easy to use, I don’t think that young children could use this but probably from 4^th grade and up with some instruction by professors the students would be able to manage and learn how to use it in a basic way.  It tells you how to use it, to add a popplet click twice, colors you can choose, draw or upload an image. Very easy to sign up and I think this would be good for young students to use or teacher to teach a concept. Also provides you with good examples of popplets (ex. Facts about the Earth).

c.       You can get it free if you keep it to 5 popplets for a month, or you can upgrade and pay. But it’s free to sign up! It’s only $3 if you want to sign up and you get unlimited, which isn’t too bad of a cost if you really make it worth it!

d.      Design is simple, colorful and flows very good! I liked it more than Gliffy because it is something that you can share on Social Media, tells you what to upload and if you want to draw. It’s not complicated for people that are technically challenged, etc. You can either make one that is more complicated/complex, or you can keep it very simple with the spiderweb layout.

e.      Security seems good, because you can choose if you want to share your popplet on a social media page. Doesn’t automatically sync anything to your social media pages. There are some public, but it seems as though you choose if you want it to be public or not, not automatically public.

f.        You can correct your mistakes easily and change the colors to things. If you want to delete a popplet it is very simple or change what you put in that box, you have the option to clear it if needed.

3.       Slate

a.      Slate could be used by teachers also in the classroom and also by older students. It is a bit more advanced than the Popplet but it is good at teaching diagrams, or presentations. Also a good alternative to Prezi. I don’t think it is as useful for people that are in families, communities, etc. Maybe organizations could use this to display their work or their purpose or for work presentations.

b.      It is similar to Popplet, you choose your own color scheme and one thing I liked was you could “embed an image” and in this you could search the internet without having to search images, save to computer than upload, and I think that is a nice thing I enjoy. It is easy to use because it tells you the steps to do, but there are less examples. You can have your own profile, but I didn’t make one.

c.       Cost is free to sign up and I didn’t see any cost to post the Slates or create your own profile.

d.      Design is a bit more basic in my opinion compared to the others. But you still have a little less/more complicated way to make changes or change mistakes. It  has less “attractiveness” to the

e.      Security is very good. It sh0ows you the option to make your profile public or keep it private.  And I liked that it assumed you wanted to keep your profile private, when many assume you don’t. You can choose to post your Slates.

f.        I didn’t find it as easy to correct your mistakes. But it is manageable.

Final Thoughts: I really liked Popplet. I think if I had to use any of these 3 it would be this one! Maybe because it is so basic and it allows for you to make albums, post to your social media pages, etc. I really liked it because it is something that you can teacher younger children. I feel as though slate is something that you can use if you are more advanced, along with Gliffy. Gliffy is something that allows you to enhance, your business, organization, and make something more complicated. I really did like Gliffy, but I know it might be a challenge for me to get it going and to work with it but I like that many of the layout options are already available to you.  I think with Popplet I would be able to make simpler options for my students ( more pictures, images, etc).