About Me
- Sue Parler
- New Jersey, United States
- I'm currently in my 32nd year teaching at DePaul Catholic HS in Wayne, NJ. I teach Game Design, Cryptology, and Spanish -- yes, it's an odd mix -- even I admit it. I am the IT Coordinator at DePaul Catholic as well, which means I manage the network, the student information system, the website, and the 900+ computers in the building. Yep, keeps me busy.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
BP5_Dipity
Dipity, a very cool tool.
OK, this tool has so much potential, it's scary. Yes, it's a timeline tool -- but not just any timeline tool. It's the coolest timeline tool you'll ever see -- and it's free. I played around with it using my Action Research project timeline.
It couldn't be easier to add an event. Add text, images, links, audio and video with this user-friendly, minimal-learning-curve interface.
You have the opportunity to set viewing permissions for your timeline as well. If you would prefer to keep your timeline private, as I did with my AR timeline, you can. You can make it public, or restrict it to specific users.
Once you've built the timeline, you can view it in multiple ways. There's the timeline, flipbook, and list views as seen here:
So you don't work with timelines, huh? What about documenting an ongoing project? One of my teammates is doing a study of an ecosystem over time. His main focus is to use iMovie as his documentation device. But Dipity could work for adding additional research to his project. Or it could be what ties the whole project together.
If you teach math and have your students involved in an authentic teaching/learning project, this is a great way to have them document the steps they took to problem solve whatever the issue was.
Certainly the uses in history are obvious, but how about linking that with literature? We teach US 1 and American Lit to our sophomores -- what a great collaborative project to timeline the history AND literature of that time.
When I teach reflexive verbs to my Spanish students, I often have them write 15-20 sentences taking me through a day in their life (I wake up, I get, up, I brush my teeth, etc.). Well, throw out the paper and pencil this time -- how great would it be to have them write a little, speak a little, add a photo or two, and add a video. I just planned out my multimedia project for that chapter. This is awesome!
OK, so yes, I'm excited about the possibilities, but I have to stop playing with Dipity so I can go play with other Web 2.0 tools I've discovered this week. TTFN.
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3 comments:
Dipity sounds like just the tool I need to stay organized with my ARP. I love the fact that you can add text, audio, images, links and movies. I could definately see my students using this to work on sequencing events like you mentioned. Great find!
This sounds like a great tool to use in my classroom. I always have my students do timelines/plot lines in my class. Even though I try to make the activity creative and engaging, it usually ends up looking like a first grade art project. They tend to focus on the drawing rather than the content. With this program, they have no choice but to focus on the content. They will also get to use some important multimedia skills when they search for audio, video, and graphics. I could have my students use this program to keep a running record as they read a novel. The final product would be a great study guide for the final novel test. I would probably have some students read the novel simply because they would get to "play" with the computers at the end of each section. Overall, this is a very cool tool.
Sue, I think I have seen too many of your videos, I have heard the expression and emotion in your voice as I read your writing it is scary. This web 2.0 tool sounds very powerful and versatile. A great review for a great looking tool.
Karl Peterson
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