My experience with creating a CITEd Toolkit was frustrating. That may have something to do with me not being in the target demographic for the site. I tried to think of it as a resource that I could share with future colleagues (I currently do not have any colleagues that I could share it with), but even then I found it to be very limiting. At first, I went through the site looking for resources that I recognized and would feel comfortable recommending to others. I found only one. Then, I thought of other resources that I would like to include, but they were not available. So, I went through all of the roles and any category that I felt might be relevant to my goals. I feel like most of the resources were geared toward K-12, so they were not appropriate for me.
While I can see CITEd's potential, I can't help but wonder if it is early in its development. I think that there are better ways to share resources with colleagues that allow for much more flexibility. I am reminded of a social bookmarking tool that I once used. I am also thinking about how I could list links to resources on my website in the future and how that would allow me to choose resources that are much more relevant to my experience.
In thinking about how my toolkit might differ if I were sending it to an administrator as opposed to a technophobic teacher, I think that I might create a different toolkit for each of those scenarios. In considering the website again, maybe creating a list of links for each would be appropriate. Overall, I think the concept is great, and I can see the value in that concept, but for me it is not really relevant. There are some alternatives that could serve the same purpose, though.
Maria, I understand you frustration with the site. At first, I thought the idea was great. However, the resources could be better. I think opening the site to allow users to contribute would be helpful. I keep a library at www. diigo.com. I like that all my resources are in one place and I can share the link with others. I wish the site would allow the user to organize their links in folders instead of just keeping a chronological list of when he links were added. Also, Diigo just added advertisements right smack in the middle of the user’s list of resources. That angered me a little. Even though, when you start teaching again I would use this digital library to keep your resources in one place. I use it all the time and find it helpful.
ReplyDeleteHi Maria, I also thought it seemed to be in its earlier phases and I also felt that it might be trying to market sites. Some of the sites I went to, like the Intel site, made me feel like their ultimate goal was to get me to buy something.
ReplyDeleteI use Symbaloo as a social bookmarking tool and I think it's absolutely wonderful. We can be easily overwhelmed by having too many sites but I think Symbaloo organizes them in a very logical and visually appealing way. You can also connect to other people on it so you are linked to what they deem important as well.