Diigo VS Scoop.it

Diigo is a social bookmarking website which allows signed-up users to bookmark and tag web-pages. Scoop.it is a social network community where users can get contents and keep them, as well as share your ideas. Here, I would like to compare these two useful web tools.

First of all, they have some similar functions. Like both of them allow use to use multiple tags. Also, their users can copy and paste from original article to appear in comments about site. In addition, they both provide following service, which means users can follow each others to know others' updates. And, they provide users with some Apps.

Of course, there are still some differences between these two tools. Firstly, Diigo users can highlight text in saved articles, which cannot be achieved through Scoop.it. Secondly, on your Diigo site, others can post comments, but Scoop.it does not have this function.

In summary, both of them are useful web tools. Diigo is better for managing websites and contents, and Scoop.it is wonderful with smart search. I think I will use both of them for their different conveniences.

USE IT OR LOSE IT?

       "In education the use it or lose it may mean, if you don't use technology for learning, you may lose relevance. An educator must be relevant." The words are from the video Educational Change Challenge, which impressed me a lot. Indeed, nowadays, education cannot be carried out without technology. Like teachers use Powerpoint, projector to lecture, students send their homework by emails, and both teachers and students use all kinds of technology tools in their teaching and studying, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Endnote, Photoshop,etc. Also, we search information from the internet, google, Wikipedia, Youtube, etc. Take this online course as an example, we do everything through computer. Therefore, I cannot image the education without technology in modern time. 

Classroom of tomorrow： The  video shows us some common technology tools we use in our class,  like iPad, smartphone, tablets. However, this phenomenon may only appears in advanced areas, I mean in most rural areas or poor areas, teachers and students don't have much access to these technology tools. However, we know, realizing IT-enabled classroom is the trend of education development. Therefore, I believe, classroom of tomorrow should be IT-enabled, which means teachers and students fully make use of information and technology to have classes.

Sharing and refining

Actually, I have never used blog before, but I used to visit other's blogs a lot, like some food blogs, fashion blogs, etc. These bloggers share their experiences, skills, ideas in their blogs, and the people who are interested in the contents can get informations and give feedback through blogs, and then the bloggers can communication with their audiences and develop their blogs. Therefore, in my opinion, the main function of blog is providing a place where people can share and refine their ideas.

As a future English teacher, I think I can use blog for my professional development in the following two aspects. First of all, I will use it as a public diary to record my teaching activities, like the objectives of my classes, the problems I meet during the process of lecturing, the students' reaction in the class and my understandings or findings of some teaching issues. As " seven reasons teachers should blog" says, blogging causes teachers to reflect. Through recoding, I can have a better idea about what happens in my class and areas for improvement. Absolutely, only recoding is not enough to realize reflection, we need valuable feedback, which can also be get from blogging, such as reviews from my peers and my students.

Besides, I can use blog as a platform where I can communicate with my students. In my opinion, some students prefer indirect communication with their teachers, like using e-mails. And blog is a more interesting and effective tool for exchange. I can build a blog for my class and circle all my students in. Then, I can post all related materials on the blog, such as class assignments, useful resources. Besides, my students can tell me their queries, and give me their advices and share their ideas with the whole class. In this way, we can know each other better and make our class more effective.

According to ISTE standards, student blogging meets the following one:
communication and collaboration.
ISTE NETS Student Standard 2007

Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:

a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. c. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures. d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.