Brains

Ok, so its not strictly course related but I've chosen brains because I've just added the Drench water advert to my delicious and I want everyone to watch it coz its fun!

Delicious

Having looked at Delicious during class I have to say I like it...but not alot. I think it has more use as a personal tool rather than for any use in the learning environment. I like the fact that all my bookmarks are there in one place though

Students could use this on their own initiative in their own time as they would have a shared interest i.e. the course. I dont think that this could be done directly in conjunction with the Department though as there is no way of monitoring it properly and some people, even now, are reluctant to share even their email address with other students on our course.

I can't really see it in the workplace.

As with other tools, there is a certain element of self-reliance and motivation in making sure that you keep up to date with all of them. Its up to you to add things to your Reader and keep your blog going (even when pushed for time) .

Blogging experience

I think that making your own blog has become a lot easier over the years- with free online sites like Blogger, you are given a choice of templates and can start right away. i think what puts some people off anything to do with webpages is the fact that they think it must be much harder than it is- writing in html etc. I did a module at University which was all webdesign and Dreamweaver etc and I am glad that its a lot easier now

RSS feeds/Readers

Well, I just finished adding my 5 rss feeds to my google reader. I can see the benefit of having them all in the same place as there is no need to visit all separate webpages just to see if there has been any updates. Definitely saves time. I think a Reader could be used with students to help them to store all recommended webpages for a certain course.

I've heard this one before

Just to let you know about the new blog I just saw:

http://garethf.blogspot.com/2006/09/vodka-scooter.html

I've heard the vodka scooter story many a time but I like the Obvious product placement theme thats going on in the blog

Google Tools (I appear to be unable to stop blogging)

IGoogle: To be honest- pretty useless...I like facilities that make my life easier and I'm pretty practical, so I don't need a 'How to of the day' or a list of what’s on You Tube.

I like the Calendar- the click and drag appointment creator is better than Outlook. Public Calendar could be used for some sort of collaborative purpose.

Loving Google Docs – the idea of collaborating on written work with other people who may be in other countries etc is really good. Lots of possibilities.

Liking Julie's style

For a very professional looking blog I'd suggest
http://juliessociology.blogspot.com/

Serious topic and blog used for very specific purposes. I like the side bar with separate sections and the balance of photos and information. It reminds me of an online newspaper layout. If your Dept had an offical page or whatever, this is what you may want it to look like.