Web 2.0 Assignment Eurekha!: Edu Glogster

Evaluation of Edu Glogster
Rahul Ram

With the arrival of the 21st century and the introduction of various types of technology, there has been a rapid movement in every industry to acclimatize with the changing world. The education system is not immune to these changes either. Traditional methods o teaching and learning have now been forgone for the more ‘current’ modern educational pedagogical approaches. Given the increase in the popularity of the computer and later on, the internet, educational technologists made it their mission to facilitate learning through these mediums as well. Thus, came about the birth of Web 2.0 tools. These internet based tools opened up a whole new dimension to what we now refer to as modern education.

One such tool that, rather infectiously caught on with the youth of today, was Glogster. Glogster was a tool through which users could create interactive posters or glogs that contained multimedia extensions to express themselves. Glogs were seen as cool, ‘hip’ tools whereas blogs (a more textual based method of expressing oneself – which ironically enough, is also a web 2.0 tool!) were considered ‘boring and uncreative remnants of the past’. Capitalizing on the popularity of glogs, the team at Glogster developed Edu Glogster, a tool that specifically targeted students and teachers.

Edu Glogster membership requires one to register with a valid email address with Google. Once you begin registering, the site prompts you to choose what type of account you would like to create.

The three account options differ in their accessibility to all the different resources and their cost. The Basic Teacher account is free but limited to only 50 students. It also only limits glog creation to multimedia files and does not allow unlimited future updates. The multi license Premium School account allows for an unlimited amount of students to be added. It costs two dollars (American) per student per year, which I feel is a reasonable fee for such an innovative and useful tool. There are also no limitations to this account type and so I would highly recommend this tool to all schools who intend to exploit the imaginations of their students. The third choice is a Premium Teacher account. Access to this account costs 99 dollars (American). The difference between the two premium accounts is that student sharing among teachers is not enabled in the Premium Teacher account.

Once you join the site, you are asked to update your profile so that those viewing it can get to know you a bit better. This is the social aspect of the site. Students and other teachers will be able to access your profile and in doing so, be able to get to know you better and as such, a better student-teacher and teacher-teacher relationship will be built.

The dashboard gives you an overview of all the glogs you have created as well as popular glogs that you might be interested in. It also contains all your messages and links to updating the account to either premium versions.

Creating glogs is entertaining as well as a fun way of remembering content learnt in a classroom. Research has shown that students learn better since they take the time and effort into making the glogs as creative as possible and thus are able to remember information through this visual tool. While making Glogs, users are confronted with a wide range of creative options. They can chose to use pictures and various decorations to change the way the entire blog looks

The educational implications of this tool are many. Through the use of this tool teachers can encourage creative learning and more efficient retention of information learned in class. Additionally, through the premium accounts, teachers can give assignments and then check up on the progress of each individual student. Moreover, through teacher-teacher interactions on the site, teachers can get more ideas on better teaching approaches and on more creative tasks that challenge the student. Also, with the wide range of glogs available under each subject category, teachers can pick and utilize these in their classes to pique interest.
A further advantage of the tool is its collaboration with other Web 2.0 tools. Edu Glogster is partnered with Edumodo, TinyPic, SchoolTube, TeacherTube as well as Wikispaces. This is advantageous because through these partnerships, students have a wider range of resource that will help make comprehension of school material easier.
However, with its many advantages, there are also disadvantages. Firstly, although one may consider using this tool only for elder students, it is actually recommended that it be used for all students no matter their age. In my opinion, all students could benefit from this tool. Younger students may use this under very strict supervision, or teachers can use it in the classroom to present to younger students. Also, students need to have guidelines to follow so that they know not to use this inappropriately. With specified guidelines, students are more likely to utilize the tool effectively and thus not lose such an exhilarating and innovative opportunity to learn more effectively.