Digital Tools for Busy Academics

The collaborative webAs the Internet has matured and become increasingly embedded in everyday life, it has made it easier than ever for users to create and edit content and to interact with others. Many web tools can be used for a variety of purposes including communication, collaborative working and resource discovery and sharing. WIKIs and Blogs are popular examples that enable users to contribute, create and share content.

Access to these tools and services is usually via a web browser e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Safari. A browser has the advantage of being an environment with which users are already familiar. An increasing number of web tools are also supported for use on mobile and tablet devices, such as Android phones, iPhones and iPads, through the provision of an App that can be downloaded or a mobile version of a website.

Why does it matter?In addition to the intrinsic benefits offered by the different tools outlined in this publication, an understanding of the use and application of digital tools for consumption and production of content and personal, academic and professional development, known as digital literacies, is now considered an essential aspect of 21st century graduate attributes and employability skills.

This guide has been produced to highlight a number of ‘free to use’ tools available via the Internet that can be used within teaching and learning

About this guideThis is a selection of popular ‘free

to use’ tools available via the

Internet that can be used with,

and by students, to support their

studies.

Many of these tools are

particularly useful for learners who

need to work collaboratively but

find it difficult to meet together

because of lack of time or because

they live or work long distances

from each other.

We have used a five point scale to give an indication of the

level of skill needed to use each application but please note

that more skill may be needed to set up before first use.

Basic Digital Skills

Competent User

Expert Skills

TEL Tools Digital Literacies E-Portfolio Podcasting

Personal Response Systems Computer Aided Assessment

Other guides to inspire and assist you with embedding technology in your teaching

TEL Tools Digital Literacies E-Portfolio Podcasting

Personal Response Systems Computer Aided Assessment

Communication StorageSkypeThis allows users to make video or audio calls to other Skype users over the Internet for free and for a small charge you can even have group calls. It also allows the sharing of screens so anything on a desktop, such as a presentation, can be broadcast. With broadband coverage improving over the last few years video calling through software such as Skype is a much more reliable experience.

www.skype.com

TwitterTwitter enables the posting of messages (Tweets) of no more than 140 characters. Subscribers can choose to ‘follow’ the Tweets of other users in order to keep up to date with news and developments, for example from a government department, a news provider, an expert in a particular field or you as a course tutor. Many events now adopt a “hashtag” (a keyword preceded by #) to identify related Tweets which allows a ‘back channel’ discussion and the sharing of useful web links with those participating physically or virtually.

www.twitter.com

FacebookFacebook is the social network of choice for a large number of online users. It offers the ability to create private groups for discussion, sharing of images, videos and lots more. There is plenty of evidence that students use it informally to work collaboratively. Using it as part of a course has yielded mixed results, so consider carefully how you want to use it, and implement appropriate account privacy.www.facebook.com

Cloud storage refers to the use of a web-based service

for storage of data rather than keeping it locally on

a computer or portable hard drive. Documents

kept this way are held on servers owned by third parties which could be

located anywhere in the world. This means that

an Internet connection is necessary to access them

but also that you can get your files using any device

with a web browser or appropriate App. A number of companies offer varying

amounts of free and paid for storage. and it is an

area predicted to expand enormously in the future.

DropboxOne of the first cloud

storage providers, Dropbox remains a popular choice.

Using an online account, it can automatically

syncronise files across all of your devices. It is easy to share specific files and folders with colleagues or

students. 2GB of storage is available free of charge

with more available for a small cost.

www.dropbox.com

CollaborationGoogle DocsGoogle Docs is a well established free online tool that allows people to work collaboratively on word processed documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms and drawings. Documents can be created or uploaded, edited online, shared with others and downloaded in a variety of formats including standard office formats and pdf. Sharing is enabled by emailing a link to others and can allow full editing or be restricted to viewing only. Two very useful features are that it tracks the changes that each individual makes to a document and it is possible to revert back to earlier versions.www.google.com/docs

SurveysYou can also use Google Docs to quickly and effectively create powerful surveys. When complete you can email out a link or even embed the form into a webpage. Once your data has been collected you are able to view a graphic summary incorporating graphs or the raw data in table format. This can then be downloaded in a number of standard formats including excel and .csv.

E-PortfolioBe sure to look at our TEL Tools and E-Portfolio guides to find out more onwww.technologyenhancedlearning.net

Publishing

Media

BLOGGINGBlogs are a well established means of publishing online and can be used for any form of writing such as a diary or as a place where reflection can be captured. Often they are written by a single individual with each entry open to comment by others. In an education context, it is not uncommon for blogs to be used as an e-Portfolio tool. A key element for this is the ability to maintain the blog for private use only, opt to share it with a tutor, mentor or peers or make it completely open to public scrutiny.

Some blogging technology allows the easy creation of both static webpages and blog posts. This enables the author to both disseminate and promote their activities whilst allowing readers to engage in discussion about the subject. Also this technology easily integrates into other social media. Below are some examples of popular websites which allow you to create a blog.

Wordpress and BloggerWordpress and Blogger are the most popular blogging platforms. For the purposes of running your own blog you can simply sign up for free on their websites in a couple of minutes.

www.wordpress.com

EdublogsEdublogs provide a hosting platform for students, staff and institutions. You can get a free Edublogs account.

www.edublogs.org

TumblrTumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking website. This service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog. Users can follow other users’ blogs, as well as make their blogs private.

www.tumblr.com

YouTubeThere are some excellent video clips on YouTube that

can be useful teaching aids. If you wish to publish your own video content this can be done quite simply and you can easily add closed captions (subtitles) to

your video in order to make it more accessible. www.youtube.com

FlickrFlickr is a social photo sharing website. It makes it simple to upload and share images or photos with others. Up to 200 images can be uploaded for free. A small annual fee is payable for unlimited storage.

It is possible to add a license to your photostream in order to protect your images.

www.flickr.com

ITunes UOur TEL Tools guide gives more information about ITunes U and other video resources

PresentationSlideshareSlideshare allows sharing of presentations, documents and pdf files either publicly or privately. Creating a slideshare account enables users to upload files, set restrictions on access and downloading and to comment on the presentations of others. Slideshare has the advantages that large downloads are avoided and content is accessible from any device with an Internet connection. www.slideshare.net

PreziPrezi is a tool that allows you create dynamic, animated presentations. You need to think carefully about the structure of your presentation but when done well presentations in Prezi really stand out. One thing to bear in mind is the accessibility of these presentations isn’t always as good as PowerPoint. www.prezi.com

Social BookmarkingSocial bookmarking is a web-based tool that allows users to organise and store file website links using keywords, known as Tags. The advantages are that bookmarks can be accessed from any device with a web browser. and that users can choose to share bookmarks with others, for example a programme cohort.

WordleWordle is a website that creates a word cloud from your document. The diagram indicates the relative frequency of words and you can control how many words are represented in the cloud. This can be a useful way to give a visual summary of a report or other piece of work. It is often used as part of a presentation or to assist in basic analysis of large documents. www.wordle.com

DiigoAn alternative, similar to Delicious but a little more complex as it also saves highlighted text and comments directly on to bookmarked web pages. www.diigo.com

DeliciousDelicious is a very simple to use bookmarking website. Existing bookmarks can easily be imported from a browser. There are plugins and apps available to make it easier still. www.delicious.com

DIGITALLITERACYWITHPLYMOUTHUNIVERSITY

If you would like to know more please contact

Technology Enhanced Learningtel@plymouth.ac.uk

01752 587 600

technologyenhancedlearning.net

Created by www.seedpod.org.uk Embedding Digital Literacies at Plymouth University

example of a Wordle diagram