Cool Tool for School

Greetings everyone! I was recently given the task to explore the internet for a “cool tool for school”, the next best tool to use in the classroom if you will. During my search I didn’t just want to find something that was interesting or useful, I wanted to find something that really wowed me, something that had the x-factor. After viewing some pretty cool and helpful tools I finally found the one tool I thought was perfect, a tool I would actually use. What is this AWESOME tool you ask? Well let me inform you, it’s called Glogster. Glogster is a form of social networking that allows its users to create FREE (everybody loves free stuff, and if you don’t you’re lying to yourself) interactive posters called glogs. Glogs look like posters, but readers can interact with the content. Creating a glog is super easy too. All you have to do is click and drag to add information to your glog. Users can add text, photos, videos, graphics, sounds, drawings, data attachments and more! You can view two example glogs for two different subject matters by clicking on this link and this link, which I highly suggest doing, so you can view the remarkable potential Glogster provides. Some of you may be thinking, why is Glogster beneficial and how can Glogster be used in the classroom? Luckily for you, I’m going to explain just that. Are you tired of constantly having to make hand-drawn posters—the ones that can easily look messy or get destroyed? Do you wish you could apply your 21^st century technological knowledge to schooling? Then Glogster is the tool for you! Glogster is a great tool because it applies to any content area. It can be used for any subject! Glogster can be used in the classroom for collaboration and higher level thinking. Students would be able to create glogs on a topic they feel very comfortable and knowledge able in, and share what they know. Since different students would be making glogs on different topics, Glogster could be used as a search engine within the classroom. Students could go to a peer’s glog and learn new and exciting information they didn’t know before or didn’t quite understand. Glogster is also useful because it provides a way for students to get information in a different format. A fellow peer may be able to provide the information in a clear way so that a student struggling on something may be able to understand. Glogster turns students from passive learners to active learners and is very beneficial for students who are visual learners. Lastly, Glogster could be used as a source to get homework assignments and to check to see what is being asked of them. When it comes to setbacks, Glogster doesn’t really have any—if it did, I wouldn’t have picked it as a “cool tool for school”. The only setback Glogster may have is the same with any other multimedia tool, internet connection problems. Other than that Glogster is a wonderful tool that has so much potential to help students richen their knowledge!

Here is a pitcure of what a glog looks like:

A Basic Glog Example