Blog Post 5

Diigo looks to be a very interesting and useful tool for teachers.  I can see it being used for teacher/student interactions also, but the inter-teacher communication aspect seems like it would be incredibly handy.  The ability to share links and annotations between your peers without sending each individual contact a link and notes is great.  The main thing I see as being an issue with this is simple overload.  If you have a large group, many links could get lost if there is a large influx of posts at the same time.  Aside from that minor niggle, I think this is one of the better applications I've seen for the dissemination of information between teachers.

Blogging so far has been okay.  It’s not a true blogging experience, mainly because we have topics to talk about in each one, so it’s not free-form rambling of the type of most blogs I pay attention to.  Still, writing off the top of my head is one aspect of school I never struggled with.  Term papers, essays, whatever, just go from base knowledge and then go back for sources is necessary.  I’m good at it, and writing is something I should probably do more of.  As for what I’ve learned from it, aside from how to use this particular blogging site, not too much.  I mean, I’m learning the systems we use, and learning about the problems and issues that we need to discuss in class, but as far as blogging goes, I’ve done it before, there’s not a whole lot of new stuff coming in here.

The Map As History website is a useful site for a social studies teacher.  The website itself is not the prettiest site ever made, but it has a list of historical maps with included videos that explain the progress of the map through time.  This could be a useful resource for teachers to present a basic rundown of different periods of history before using class time to go more in depth.  The maps update as the video presents new features and the timeline advances so the students will be able to see the procession of time, a topic that is difficult for many students to grasp when simply reading text or listening to a lecture.  In an ideal world, the maps would be truly interactive, with the teacher able to control the progression, but this is still an excellent resource.  You are able to get a subscription to the site as an individual or as a school.  They provide a list of all the available maps and have a list of all contributing authors.  The site is fully functional and recommended by a couple of groups, including the French Ministry of Education.

https://www.the-map-as-history.com/