Class Three Assignment 1: Final Semester Project Plan

For this assignment you should begin to develop your plan for the final semester project. At this stage, you should begin to compile a list of needs for your project and if possible, how you initially think you will try to address those needs.

You should also prepare a list of questions you have about the project and any of its components to discuss with Dr. Robin during a scheduled telephone call before our next face-to-face class meeting on July 7.

Class Two Assignment

For this week's assignment, we will try to evaluate several social bookmarking resources specifically designed for education. Please find the site adjacent to your name and create an account for that site and begin using it to see how it works.

1. 2collab - Amanda
   http://www.2collab.com/
   

2. CiteULike - David
   http://www.citeulike.org/
   

3. Connotea - Matt
   www.connotea.org
   

4. H20 Playlist - Sineenart
   http://h2obeta.law.harvard.edu/home.do;jsessionid=1FEE54417D18F6236032AA7BA0FF7FC6
   

5. LibraryThing - Freddie
   http://www.librarything.com/
   

6. Scholar - Shawn
   http://www.scholar.com

Once you have evaluated the site, post a comment in which you discuss the following:

• Who created and maintains the site?
• Who is the intended audience?
• How does the site work? Are there any special features that make it different from the social bookmarking sites we explored in this week's class? Please elaborate.
• Does the site have useful help files, FAQs or other materials (such as videos or other tutorials) to help new users learn how the site works? And, if so, are these materials helpful?
• Do you think the site you evaluated would be useful for yourself, other students and/or instructors? Please discuss why or why not?
• Is there anything else you would like to add about this site?

Important Note: There are many other social bookmarking sites that deal with education that are not listed above. One such site is edutagger (http://www.edutagger.com) that describes itself as a "K-12 Social Bookmarking" site. You may evaluate a different site than the one that was originally assigned to you as long as you make sure that the new site was designed, or is being used within an educational context.

Weblog History

In my misguided research to answer complete the assinment from week 1, I found the following essay which was very interesting.

http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html

Class One Assignment

For this week's assignment, conduct some research on the web to see if you can find at least one good example of how a blog is successfully being used in an educational manner. Once you have selected the blog (or blogs), discuss the following:

• Who created the blog?
• What is its purpose?
• Who are the participants?
• What do you think are some of the characteristics of the blog that make it successful?
• Are there any characteristics of the blog that you feel could be used for a blog we might add to any of the websites we discussed in this week's class? Please elaborate.
• Is there anything else you would like to add about the blog (or blogs) you found?

Welcome to the CUIN 7376 Course Blog

This blog will be used by students and the instructor of CUIN 7376: Design of Online Educational Resources II a graduate course at the University of Houston.