Technologies

T echnologies

Wolfram Alpha : Wolfram Alpha is a online research program created by Mathmatica. Wolfram Alpha is very user friendly and easy to use, despite the technology level of the user. This website allows the user to enter anything they want into a "search bar." Once the user enters in a word, the program will search and find informaion and statistics based off that word. In experimenting with this technology I searched several words and came up with several interesting statistics. Another possible use for this program is to solve math problems. As an extension of Mathmatica, Woflram Alpha is very capable of solving math problems of a variety of ranges. If you would like enhanced features, you can pay for the pro version of Wolfram Alpha.

As a whole this program was easy to use, although very limited in its use. This is a great place for gathering basic background knowledge. For more information: Wolfram Alpha

Free Summarizer is a tool where you can enter text to create a quick summary. As far as Dewey's inquiry, construction, communication and expression, I am not sure that this site aligns with any of them. It may, however, appeal to the students' desire to take short cuts. I can see this being helpful in several ways. First, you can use it as an example of why taking a short cut will not help you in the end. Along with that, you can show that not all tools on the internet are helpful. Also, it could be used as an example of how to not write a summary. Both examples entered into this site were trimmed into summaries that were at best incoherent and at worse, utter nonsense. For more information and sample summaries, please go to the Free Summarizer page.

 Xtimeline is a timeline creation software that allows the user to make timelines that are interactive while also creating a network where you can search, create lists and pick favorites among timelines on the website. The creators note that "the ability of these timelines to entertain and educate convinced us that other people would enjoy our timeline as much as we do." Overall, I think the xtimeline tool could be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. I saw examples of teachers creating study guides for students and also saw student work to incorporate ideas from class. The interface is very simple (to an almost boring degree) so this is not a tool to expand creativity and design aspirations. There are extensions to the basic timeline including using pictures and video, but the tools are not incredibly intuitive and would require teaching from an instructor. The website aims to create an interactive learning environment by allowing you to "favorite" videos, add friends and comment on any timeline, but as I looked through the most viewed of the week and month, very few had any visitors at all. As a timeline tool, xtimeline is ok, not excellent. As a social media outlet, xtimeline is not worth the time of adding friends and trying to make contacts.

For more detailed information, please see the wiki page entitled xtimeline.  

==== DeweyDigger is a search engine of search engines on your topic. It is an online research tool that categorizes the web according to the Dewey Decimal System. The opening page has a shifting slideshow for each of the 100s. Across the top is a menu bar with each of the 100s listed. Selecting one of these tabs gives a very detailed breakdown of each topic. You initiate a search by clicking on a category which then takes you to a detailed listing of subcategories. You also have the option of choosing randomly from among the slide shows. You are then presented a word cloud of optional subtopics to further narrow the main topic which finally leads to 27 search engines with your pre-selected topic. ====

For more detailed information, please see the wiki page entitled DeweyDigger.