IT Works!: October 2006

Open University launches OpenLearn

The Open University launched OpenLearn today. (Click the title -to take a look.) The latest in a series of prestigious educational institutions to offer open access to online educational resources.

Their learning platform is based on MOODLE too!

What do you think the increasing availability of informal educational opportunities means for traditional educational institutions?

Google Notebook and FURL - Online Research and Bookmarking

GOOGLE PULLING THE STRINGS (or pulling it all together?)

Bit of a quandary here; if a strength of the Internet is its 'democratised' content, the
long tail, its diversity etc why am I extolling the virtues of Google’s efforts to draw us into its seamless tapestry of useful services and digital domination!

Well, I find it very useful to have a view of my latest email, a search engines, my Google Groups, favourite feeds and Google Notebook all on one page and accessible from anywhere I have the Internet. The personalised view of Google’s home page allows a user to choose to view a personalised selection of content presented in 'blocks', and to arrange the chosen blocks on the page.

This content could be from Google, for example their web-based calendar, Google email, GoogleGroups or third party 'widgets' offering varying degrees of usefulness/amusement. These blocks can be added or deleted and moved around on the page at will.

One I find very useful is Google Notebook. It makes the processes of scanning web pages and saving notes for later very simple. Organising the notebook into sections, adding headings or creating multiple notebooks was a little clunky at first but worth the effort. Material can be moved around by 'drag and drop' making this a useful tool for organising web research.

Ease of access is the key here; with Furl (presents as a social bookmarking tool) I have a button on the toolbar and - except for extra clicks demanded by the 'popup blocker' – it works great. Furl archives a copy of the web page as seen and also notes the url. It files this information in folders the user can create and name.

I am finding Google Notebook complements Furl. It is even quicker to access with a right button click (or from the little blue notebook icon it installs in the browser toolbar) and allows me to select text/images on the page and file them with their source reference and any notes I wish to add. The latest innovation is the ability to share a notebook online, either making it public or available to specific people (with a Google account). Individuals can also be given the right to edit a notebook. Clippings are saved with their source appended to them, which is useful if you are doing any kind of web research. The screen capture above shows my notebooks with a view of the latest one I am using for a course. Note the little people icon next to H808 indicating this notebook is published, a useful way of sharing research efforts.

Not sure if I shall go on using both tools but at the moment I find I do.
Best points:
I especially like Furl’s ability to save the page I look at today – not just the URL.
I especially like the Notebook’s ability to print out my clippings and notes – still like my bits of paper!

Take a look and let me know what you think about these tools or if you have found something better!