Circle of Friends
I am hearing the song “Circle of Friends” by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians.
I have just reviewed a very cool tool called Ta-Da List. Ok… This is the coolest little online tool I have seen in a while. It does one thing– but it does it well.
Ta-da List allows you to create a checklist of things. It could be things that you have to pick up at the grocery store. It could also be things that students should be doing in the classroom… You can share the lists. You can view the lists online– including mobile devices!
Think about it: you are the yearbook teacher. You have a student editor who “manages” the yearbook team members. While the yearbook is hard work, there is a great deal of individual work on the part of the students; students working on different parts of the yearbook at the same time. How do you keep track?
- Have an overall high level plan- perhaps create the “mega”-ta-da list.
- Then, have the student editor who breaks out that list into to miniature ta-da lists for each of the students on the team.
- As students finish their tasks, they check-off that they are done.
- As major components of the yearbook are completed, the editor checks those off the mega-ta-da list.
- As time goes on, you, your student and anyone else that you invite (parents, school administrators) can see exactly how much has been contributed over the course of the semester by each student.
In the past I have had students keep track of their progess in a forum in our Moodle site. But, this is simpler both to access and to read through. Excellent!
For other cool online tools for the classroom and some quick reviews, see “Web 2.0 Tool Reviews“.
