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TeachersFirst Edge review: For moderately adventurous technology users. Use this free application to create an online bulletin board that you can use to display information for any subject. Easily create an account and build a new notice-board. The results look like this sample .
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In the Classroom:
Skills needed: Understanding for using this site is very basic. The tool does not show which work is attributable to which student, however. You may want to require that students initial their contributions in order to get credit. Check your school policies on whether student work may be displayed online. Creating an account does require an email account, and students can use existing google and yahoo accounts to register. Check your school policies about accessing/sharing student email on school computers. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how. You may allow students to self-register, but be sure to keep a written record of their passwords for when they “forget.” It may be worth your time to do advanced registration for your younger students.
Safety/security concerns: Projects can be public or private. Check your school policy for posting student work online. Written permission is always a good idea. When wanting students to post to the wall, you will have to make the setting for comment open to the public. Many school policies prohibit such interaction, so be sure to check your school policy. You will want to discuss these features in the context of Internet Safety or establish specific written class rules and consequences for interacting with outsiders that may post on the wall while it is public. Making the setting private again is recommended to prohibit content being replaced by classmate “vandalism.”
How to use: Click on "Build a Wall" and individualize with options you easily see such as uploading an image, choosing colors, adding a title and subtitle, creating a password, and decisions on who can see/add to the wall. Once the settings are finished, click "Done," check your email for your password and begin adding to your wall. Our editors found that the email notification was a bit slow, so set up your account in advance! Add sticky notes with messages to your wall. Videos and websites can also be added. Currently the only settings for contributing to the wall include just the creator or everyone. It is possible to open the wall to contribution from all in order for your classes to contribute then reset it to just the creator when they are done. Not done? No problem. Click edit to go back at any time to make changes.
Possible uses: Use as a place to put web quest links and information. By leaving the wall open to comments, solicit input, discussions, or viewpoints from students. Assign a student project where students choose their theme and design a wall around it. For example, have students create a wall about their summer vacation. They can include pictures, audio or video, links, and other information to display. Use as a new format for book reports. Do your students have favorites such as music or sports? Create a wall around these favorites or hobbies. Use a wall for grammar or vocabulary words. Create walls for debates or viewpoints. Post assignments, reminders, or study skills on a wall. Do you use student scribes or reporters? Use the wallwisher site to create a wall with the goings- on in class. Embed your walls in a blog, wiki or website so that it is easily found. See a similar tool (and more ideas to use either tool) in the TeachersFirst review of Stixy here. Decide which one you prefer! Unfortunately, the Wallwisher embedded viewer is very small but can be scrolled in both directions. See it below:
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