elementary and secondary webmixes,
I added a few new ones. It is so easy
to link webmixes together. You just
create a tile in one webmix to link
to another. I created the Van Meter
Elementary Technology Symbaloo
webmix for all of the resources we use
during technology and library time
each week. I just tell students, “Go to
the hot-pink technology tile in our
elementary Symbaloo,” and they know
exactly what to do.
The elementary students helped me
create the Van Meter Favorite Authors
webmix. We are also creating webmixes for special events, such as holidays,
9/11, and Veteran’s Day.
It is so easy to create a new webmix
and add to it. I just stay logged in to
Symbaloo on my laptop, so I am always ready to add something new or
share a webmix with someone else.
Recently the fifth grade teachers
asked me how they could share a
little toolbox of web 2.0 tools so
their students could choose from
the resources they’d already learn-
ed about. I created the fifth grade
Symbaloo webmix, which includes
Piktochart, Animoto, Smore, and
PicMonkey. The teachers were
thrilled, and so were the students.
There’s a Symbaloo App for That
My students and teachers also love
the SymbalooEDU iPhone app. Synchronization with the web version allows users to have easy access to their
settings without having to create a
new account.
The creators of Symbaloo are dedi-
cated to making this tool even better.
Symbaloo CEO Klaas Lameijer said,
“After these first steps in making tiles
intelligent, we are now shifting our fo-
cus to making the navigation smarter
and more interactive through voice
recognition.”
Symbaloo is not just for teachers.
My 7-year-old, Hagan, loves using
Symbaloo on his iPod touch and my
iPhone. We have created a webmix of
his favorite sites, so now he can get to
these anywhere by using the app.
—Shannon McClintock Miller is the district
teacher librarian and technology specialist at Van
Meter School in Iowa, USA. Find her on Twitter
@shannonmmiller and blogging at
Van Meter Library Voice (vanmeterlibrary
voice.blogspot.com).
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