Organic Learning

I’m currently developing a course for content developers on using Web 2.0 tools in Moodle. It’s important to not get too engrossed in the tools, but rather concentrate on the learning. But the tools make learning interactive and add such a rich environment to the online learning environment. Here are some of the tools I find embed very nicely into Moodle (as well as wikis, blogs, web pages, etc.)

Embeddable Applications

• Slideshow presentations – Google Presentations or SlideShare
• Multimedia Digital Storytelling/Video – Animoto, Voicethread,
• Interactive Timelines – ie Dipity, xTimeline, Mnemograph, TimeToast, or OurStory
• Maps – Google MyMaps
• Graphic Organizers – Bubbl.us or Gliffy
• Documents and Forms – Google Docs, Scribd’s iPaper, and/or Docstoc
• Collaborative Whiteboards – Twiddla, Sketchcast, Skrbl
• Screencasts – ScreenCastOMatic, Jing Project
• Audio Interaction – Gabcast, Gcast
• RSS – (Using the tag feature in Google Reader) – RSS to include feeds from blogs, news, social bookmark tags.
• Web Page Clips and Annotations – Clipmarks
• Quizzes – MyStudiyo, Quizzlet
• Backchannel – CoveritLive, GoogleDocs

Add to this the ability to embed rss feeds from blogs, news feeds, social bookmarks, videos, audio, and images and the learning environment becomes interactive and dynamic. Moodle also allows you to bring in any web page, so wikis, published Google Docs, and other online content can be brought in to the learning environment.

The wealth of learning resources makes designing the online learning environment rich and engaging.