MERLOT Exploration

I just registered for MERLOT, and found it overwhelming how many resources, applications, and educational software there was available. Everything is peer reviewed and commented on, making it easier to find the most useful resources for your particular area or subject of interest. One subject area that I have found myself more and more fascinated with are Web 2.0 applications. These applications are the future of computing due to their cloud computing compatibility, ease of collaboration over time zones and nations, and ease of storage and accessibility. I found an extremely useful resource on MERLOT that was given a distinguished award by them. It is a collection of Web 2.0 technologies on a page entitled Web 2.0 Technologies: Cool Tools for School. App's are broken up into categories and given small review snippets on how they work. I explored these lists for a while, and they are HUGE! With so many resources in one place, this website is sure to become a Web 2.0 bible for me once I start my job this August. My following review is based on this website.

The url is: http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/

The MERLOT page is at: http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=353806

Quality of Content

 This site has a tremendous amount of content that is well organized and constantly updated due to the fact that it is a wiki site with many contributors. It has apps for every conceivable subject area for thousands of different uses. The focus is on educational Web 2.0 applications, so the uses for education are far-reaching. Any kind of teacher at nearly any grade level could find some use for some of these applications. The presentation applications are very precisely detailed to their possible uses. The writing app's are great for students trying to improve their writing or getting their writing reviewed and edited by educators and professionals. I could go on and on, but this site has too many resources to write about.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching-Learning Tool

 Teachers could use this resource to design completely new lesson plans that revolve around these very powerful Web 2.0 technologies. Whether it be presentations, collaborative projects, or homework assignments, the sky is the limit to what can be done with all of these great tools. Students could also use this site to find different applications and approaches to doing a project, like perhaps doing a Prezi presentation instead of a powerpoint presentation, or creating interactive maps for geography and history classes. A teacher could give the kids a very open-ended project and give it to the student the url to this website and have them learn these tools themselves to create a totally new type of project.

Ease of Use

This site is very easy to use. The organization is very simplistic and straight-forward. If you want your kids to do something with music, click on the music link for a list of Web 2.0 app's relating to music. The write-ups for the app's are well done and give a brief yet informative description of what the program can do and the audience that it would be useful for. It is obviously a very flexible resource.