Netvibes in the Classroom

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1 OpenStax-CNX module: m Netvibes in the Classroom * Evelyn Jessie This work is produced by OpenStax-CNX and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0 Netvibes in the Classroom Save 30 minutes of your time every day. Module by: Gabby Brooks & Evelyn Jessie * Version 1.2: Nov 24, :18 am

2 OpenStax-CNX module: m Figure 1 Summary: People often say that necessity is the mother of invention. With the world seeming to move faster than ever, it seems that the needs for organization and a little extra time each day drove technician Tariq Krim to create a handy technological tool to fulll each of those needs in He created Netvibes; an aggregator that allows users to create personalized homepages and public pages including their favorite widgets, websites, blogs, accounts, social networks, search engines, instant messengers, photos, videos, podcasts, and everything else they enjoy on the web. Whether teachers choose to include these tools on their own pages for handy reminders, weather updates, or other helpful notices; choose to create a page for their class or school that parents and students can use to access homework, stay on top of assignments, check grades, look at websites for extra credit, or nd other helpful information; or choose to create a page for daily class lessons or other daily, weekly, or monthly uses, it is clear that Netvibes has found a place in the classroom and, based on its usefulness, may be in some for years to come. Tech Module: Netvibes in the Classroom Introduction Having oces in Paris, London, and San Francisco, Netvibes is often considered a widget platform used by thousands of publishers and a global community of users who have personalized their Netvibes page according to their location (local content is available for each user) and interests (news, business, sports,

3 OpenStax-CNX module: m TV, movies, music, tools, technology, fun/games, lifestyle shopping, and travel). Netvibes 101 You must rst sign up for a Netvibes account at 1. It's quick, easy, and absolutely free! You simply click on Sign up, enter your local content, click on your interests (of news, business, sports, TV, movies, music, tools, technology, fun/games, lifestyle shopping, and travel-you can choose more than one to be included on your customized pages), and click show me my page! Once you have a page, there are many ways to make your Netvibes page your own. Individuals can personalize the title of their public and private pages by single clicking on type your page title here on each page (meaning you can have one title for your private page and a dierent title for your public page). By clicking on the down arrow to the right of the tab you can personalize the tab, change the number of columns (1-4), add an icon listed, share your page, send things from your private page to your universe and vice versa, or delete/archive the tab. To add another tab, just click on the plus sign to the right of the tabs. To change the theme of your overall Netvibes pages, click on settings and change the theme. Notice that you can change the top and bottom of your Netvibes page using the listed themes, or you can customize your theme. Based on your motivations for having and using Netvibes, you can add as many widgets as you would like, manually moving widgets from spot to spot to keep your widgets in an order that works for you. There are many types of widgets that you can integrate into you public or private pages. Some common widgets include weather reports, an wizard (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!, AOL,.Mac, Wanadoo, Free, Neuf, etc.), webnotes to keep personal notes, reminders, or a welcome on your page, an online calendar, a to-do list for organizational purposes, bookmarks of your favorite sites, and/or links to websites that you nd interesting or fun. Figure 2 1

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5 OpenStax-CNX module: m Figure 4 Beyond the common widgets, there are several others. Search widgets help search the web from your private page. Multi-Web searches allow you to explore and compare searches from global and local providers. Blog searches nd blogs using keywords. Maps searches locate any place and compare results of multiple map providers. Video searches keep track of interesting videos from sources like youtube, myspace, and dailymotion. Image searches search recent photos on blogs and social networks and from major photo services like ickr, Google, and Yahoo! You can also do Podcast searches and compare prices with shopping searches.

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8 OpenStax-CNX module: m Figure 7 Don't forget your social networks! Having trouble balancing your Myspace time with your Facebook time? Or, your Twitter time with your Flickr time? Access both (and teachers this could be on your private page) through embedded widgets, and get updates from all in one place! Additionally, you can watch auctions and feedbacks on Ebay, keep track of current local news through a Craigslist widget, access Dig, Google, and/or Yahoo news, check out AOL videos, share and retrieve photos through Box.net, obtain the latest web information including statistics and trac rankings of your favorite websites from an Alexa widget, or access your favorite bookmarks from any computer with the delicious widget. Yes, once you place these things on your universe, you can sign in to access them from any computer with an internet connection.

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12 OpenStax-CNX module: m Figure 11 Through nance widgets you can keep a close eye on that money you've invested in the stock market. You can check out your favorite radio stations through a Webradio widget. You can use UK TV Guide to watch HD TV shows, news and video clips with widgets like ones from NBC or CBS. You can embed webpages, HTML code, images, ash animation or games, or you can develop your own widgets using the Netvibes open widget: dev.netvibes.com. The possibilities for widgets are seemingly endless! Use RSS feeds (located on most webpages) to embed pages onto your Netvibes pages to get updates! Figure 12 Finally-get Netvibes on your mobile or iphone! 2 Take a tour of Netvibes! 3 Netvibes privacy policy:

13 OpenStax-CNX module: m Teachers wanting to use blocked Youtube: 5 Netvibes in the Classroom! 6 Netvibes in the Classroom Figure 13 As you can tell from the wide variety of widgets on can embed, there are many uses for Netvibes in the classroom! Whether a teacher is staying on top of his or her schedule through Netvibes reminders, bookmarking key pages or lessons to be shared or printed, or shopping for classroom or experiment supplies online, there are many ways that teachers might nd private pages particularly useful. Using their public pages for parents and families, teachers can embed widgets on their pages for parents to use with students completing homework (this assumes the school has provided laptops as some counties have) or extra practice problems, post school supplies lists early so parents can start shopping before the

14 OpenStax-CNX module: m rush, show parents what the students are learning in class, or list extra credit opportunities. Though these are some basic ideas, there are many ways that teachers can communicate with parents and families through Netvibes; and they can do so to t their classroom (as you will read about under the Mr. Tonk's Classroom widget). Using their public pages in the classroom is also key, for you can select the widgets to reect your classroom needs. If you are studying weather, you can keep students updated on local weather using the weather widget. If you are teaching students about the zoo, you can access zoo footage. If you wanted to teach about the stock market, you could have students divide into teams, buy stock, and track their stock using the online stock tracking widget. Since you can bookmark your favorite sites, you can bookmark any topic related websites to show students. Additionally, there are lesson planning widgets you can add that provide lesson plans for certain subjects and specic topics. Figure 14 For teachers involved in afterschool activities, Netvibes is a great way to list club updates for students, parents, and families, or reminders of upcoming meetings, events, trips, or conferences. Notable Examples Schools and school divisions can use widgets to provide news, information, and updates just as the University of North Carolina did, noting upcoming conferences, media center or library information, and

15 OpenStax-CNX module: m whatever other updates the school thinks individuals might nd helpful. 7 Similarly, Mr. Tonks designed a website for his class and their families. (His widget, however, takes a while to load.) 8 Teachers can become part of a teaching community and blog (posting questions/answers to questions, teacher tips, or lesson ideas) using the TeacherLingo widget. 9 As teacher Mila Saint Anne recommended, teachers can access maps for lessons using Netvibes (perhaps for history or science lessons) ): 11 Since teachers are always looking for lesson plan ideas, they can keep up with new ideas using Netvibes Pros and Cons of Netvibes: Pros: *There are a variety of widgets to choose from that could be used for many purposes (with respect to yourself, parents, and students). *You can access your Netvibes account from any computer. *You can organize your private page and public page as needed. *It takes seconds to setup an account and start personalizing! Cons: *Some widgets take longer than others to add to your page. *Links on your page can expire without your knowledge. *Too many widgets on your private page could overwhelm your students. Tips for Teachers: 1. Make sure you know whether you are working from your private or public page. It will indicate in the top left-hand corner which page you're completing. Keep in mind that your public page is accessible to the public. 2. Make sure your links link to accessible pages, so you don't have to waste class time searching for another page of the same value. 3. Minimize your widgets to a certain extent. You don't want students to be distracted by tons of dierent widgets on your public page if you are simply checking the widget for updates (as in the weather example). 4. Make your pages your own! Customize your public page for your audience (be creative!), and your private page according to your personal preferences. 5. Read helpful blogs about Netvibes! ( 13 ) Images Bibliography: Netvibes.com (2008). Retrieved November 18,