Thing 16: Organization and Productivity

I already use iGoogle for my home page and I really like it. I have added many widgets to it that I really like. I did not like PageFlakes better. Netvibes seems very different however. It seems like it can be used like GoogleReader. Except that it will show news feeds on a specific topic instead of from a specified news source or blog. AND you can add RSS feeds to it also! There is so much to explore about Netvibes! It would be great to use in class for researching a recent or current topic of interest. iGoogle would also be great in the classroom for quickly checking the temperature outside, or info from other widgets.

I also like Google Calendar. I use it already as well. It has everything I need, although it is simple. But I do like that 30 Boxes has a separate to-do list so that tasks do not have to be date-specific. And it can be shared, unlike Google's calendar, which would be great for project and assignment due dates as well as other predetermined school or classroom dates.

I also researched Engrade. It seems to be a great gradebook tool. Students and parents can log into it as often as they'd like making it very nice. It also has a calendar feature where tests or other assignments cld be posted and checked by students and parents. There is a place to enter comments for students to view about themselves when they log in. It also will keep track of attendance and you can mark a grade as an excused absence, or missing. It has many excellent features.

Each of these would be useful at home and at school. I would recommend them to others.