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Thursday, March 10, 2011

iGoogle as a educational/organizational tool - revisited

I love iGoogle. It is my main start up page and I use it to stay organized. I have my Google Bookmarks, Google Reader feed, Google Notebook, Google Tasks, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Finance stock prices, EvernoteGoogle Docs, Google Voice, Contacts, Weather, and Google Translate and Twitter Gadget all on my iGoogle page. This allows me to quickly select web pages from my bookmarks, check my email and calendar, review notes and tasks, access my Evernote notebooks, check Twitter, check my Google Voice, and access my Google Docs all from one page. I can even post to this blog from it.

A lot of information is available to me at a glance. Throughout the day, I am able to keep informed and organized because I don't have to look all over the place. Everything is right in front of me.

I also think that iGoogle is a great tool for students. They can do everything I listed above, keeping their assignments, resources, and calendar all on one page for easy viewing and access. No more forgetting about things. Everything is right there for them. There is even a Facebook gadget. This means that they can be socializing on the same page that has their homework and notes.

Colleagues always ask me how I stay so connected and organized and iGoogle is my answer. Students of mine who use it have said that they love it and it makes them less likely to forget about assignments and upcoming tests.

It is easy to set up. All you need is a Google account and you are on your way. Go to Google's home page and click in the upper right hand corner on "iGoogle". Select a theme, and then start adding the gadgets that you want. Click and drag to move the gadgets around. It is really that simple.

Try it out and share your ideas with others.

Share your iGoogle gadgets that you love.

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