Chapter 6: Engaging Leaners with Digital Tools

Q: What is information management and digital content?

Digital content in schools is educational information conveyed to students using technology. Digital content mainly refers to information from the internet. Using digital content allows the teacher to access ways of conveying curriculum content to every type of learner in a more streamlined, interesting, and efficient manner.

Information Management in schools refers to the way information is stored and organized. Teachers use programs and the internet to teach and to track things such as grades and assignments. This information is also stored digitally. This would be information management.

 Tech Tool : Goodreads

When I am looking for a new book, I browse the shop on my Nook Simple Touch. I love how convenient it is for me to find a new book without leaving my house, especially when I finish a book at midnight and eager to begin another before going to sleep. The one thing I miss about hardcopy books however is browsing the shelves of a bookstore. Reading lists of titles based on loose genres is not the same as standing in front of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy shelf in the store and scanning the covers and seeing the new releases .

Goodreads helps to bridge that gap between the old way and the new way of reading. When I read, I become wrapped up a specific  subgenre for a few books at a time and crave more of the same until I get it out of my system. While my Nook makes suggestions based of my reading history, Goodreads allows me to browse specific book sub genres along with making recommendations based on my favorite books. Goodreads also has an online community that helps to substitute for speaking to a bookstore employee about recommendations and upcoming releases.

Sign up is not required to browse Goodreads, but if you do sign up then you can catalog what books you have already read, are currently reading, and have lined up to read next.  Your books are arranged on ‘shelves’ where you can arrange them any way you like and can see the cover of the books. You can also share your shelves with friends so they can see what your reading.

I can also choose to add a widget to my blog or website to display my books and reviews. If I need to have a physical list of my books, I can export my shelves to a spreadsheet for a printable list.

 

Summary
Digital content and information management are essential to teachers is they want to be organized. Along with information management bookmarking tools can be used to organize websites and virtual teaching tools. They also allow teachers to share the suggested educational websites with their students in a way that is easy to access from  any device with internet access.

Along with storing their favorite websites online, teachers can access curriculum standards and curriculum based lesson plans online.

Webquests are great ways for teachers to put their lessons online in an organized and interactive way. These can also be shared with other teachers.

Educational websites allow students to learn in their own way and at their own pace.