As I said in my very first post, a whole four posts ago,  I tend to ignore new, trendy web-based stuff until I’m clubbed over the head with it. On the off chance that there are other tech savvy Luddites out there, I thought I’d put together a collection of my latest discoveries in list format, because as we all know – everybody loves lists.

So, without little further ado, and in no particular order:

#5: Twitter (and Tweetdeck)

Ridiculous, isn’t it? Someone plugging Twitter a good eighteen months too late. “And the last horse finally crosses the finishing line,” they all say, but the hell with you. It’s great, and if you don’t know why, try it out. Once you get past the idea of people posting world-changing events like below, you’ll see the possibility for sharing ideas is enormous.

#4: Etherpad

Etherpad is a really handy website that allows up to 8 people to edit a document at once, and see their changes reflected in real time. To create a new pad, just type http://etherpad.com/makeupapadname, and it will automatically set up  a pad for you. Drawbacks: no rich formatting, no moderation control, needs direction or patience once two people start editing the same section, but very small cons for an awfully large pro. I used this on an Inset day for colleagues to get to grips with putting levels into pupil speak.

#3: Google Docs

I’m not one for hyperbole unless something is just so cool that it makes me want to whittle out a megaphone from a tree stump, but Google Docs really has changed the way I mark coursework and give kids feedback. Combined with our VLE for comments, I use a Google Docs spreadsheet to traffic light coursework, ensuring that everything has been done. Okay, we’re doing OCR Nationals, and it might not work so well for other courses/subjects, but it’s been a godsend for me this year.

Obviously it comes with the standard spreadsheet fare of conditional formatting & IF statements, which makes visualising progress much easier. Also, being able to publish as a webpage the kids can all access is a huge plus; it’s now common practice for early arrivals to start my lessons by checking their feedback & progress using the spreadsheet.

Doing this means we’re covering the inevitable joining of dots that comes with a course like the Nationals, and leaves me with plenty of time to do something radical like… teach.

These spreadsheets are available for use here.

#2: Wordpress

I decided when I felt the urge to get a personal website/blog going again that I’d use Joomla to power it, but there was far more to that than I needed, and stripping it down to the bare bones for a site as simple as this would have been more trouble than it was worth.

Wordpress on the other hand is eminently usable. From installation through to adding plugins, I actually don’t have to do anything. I’ve had Filezilla open maybe twice to FTP some images up, and that was mainly because the theme I chose was a bit slapdash. Since its early days as a bare bones blog engine, Wordpress is now a fully fledged CMS, capable of powering any number of sites. I tend not to gush about companies online, but sweet voodoo Jesus it’s good. With the number of addons also available, I’ve decided to use it to power my new model assignment website, Some Rights Reserved. The Flash video player & MP3 embedding addon make it a simple task of content creation, rather than having to wrangle the medium into shape first.

#1: Hmm… could only think of four

Anticlimactic, I know, but people expect a nice round number to start out… starting with four would have been disappointing for all concerned. Who knows, maybe I’ll stumble upon something else that everyone knows about and tell you about it later.

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