Thing 22: Create a Resource Guide

Okay, so obviously I am a serious procrastinator this year.  I'm trying to catch up though.  I just spent some time looking through this lesson and especially the Resources.  Here are my thoughts.  I had never really explored LibGuides.  I've used the CapRegion BOCES LibGuide to locate information, but I never explored it from a creator side before.  I had no idea it would be expensive.  They won't even tell you the price without emailing them from what I can tell.  I'm not going to invest time and energy in a free trial on a site that I can't afford to continue.  Call me cheap, but I'm not getting tied to a large expense when I'm not sure it will work for me.  I have some websites that I pay out of pocket, but they are ones that I am sure are sufficiently valuable to be worth the expense.  I can't tell with this, so I am just not going there.  I think that it might be a useful service, but there has to be something free I can use.  My website is free.  GoogleDocs is free.  My school isn't paying for one of these services and if they had money for me to spend I'd rather get more databases than just WorldBookonline!

Next, I looked into Listly.  I looked at some of the examples and everything seemed to claim to be Best of... I'm not sure that anything I create would be the best of anything.  I'm just interested in grouping some resources together that are useful for a particular project or topic in education.  When I create lists on my website or send info out via email, I am not claiming to have found the best, just some useful sites.  I think that I could locate some useful sites by exploring Listly, but it seems way more social media oriented than I am in regard to this assignment.


Scoop.it! doesn't seem to want to show you what it is without signing you up for a free trial.  I couldn't locate a place to see examples.  I get too much email as it is on too many accounts.  I'm not signing up for another account even it it is free if I can't even see an example.  They seem to have the opposite problem from LibGuides.  Scoop.it! is more than willing to tell you how much it costs.  They just won't let you see what it is!  It also seems to be very business-related, not as education-oriented.

Diigo Groups looks like it has useful content, but my users by and large are not so connected.  So many of our kids do not have that much access.  I'm in an elementary school.  I think that I could pick up some useful resources from visiting this site again, but I don't think that I will be creating a Diigo Group any time soon.  Maybe if I was in the high school...

I've seen Smore before, but as with LibGuides,  I'm not going to invest time and energy in a free trial on a site that I can't afford to continue.  I know again with the money.  At least they tell you up front how much it costs.  I know it isn't that much, but I can print from software that I already own!

Tackk seems the best option of those that are here.  I've looked at some of the examples and they look interesting.  There seem to be quite a few that are education-oriented, but not just looking for the most social media hits.  I've looked at a few from @emilybredberg that seem interesting.  She has an interesting, simple bibliography Tackk, as well as one on Using Online Images.  I could create these and link to them from my webpage.Here is my trial Tackk: https://tackk.com/7upth5

I think that it is an interesting site.  Still, I'm not sure what the advantage is over my GoogleSites page.It doesn't seem that much easier for my purposes.  For instance, I'd love to shrink the size of the opening graphic, but I'm not sure how.  When I tried, I just deleted it entirely and had to add it back in!.  I also can't find a real UNDO command.  I made the mistake of hitting back and almost lost all of my work!!  Scary.

Since the project is basically over for this year, I don't have any reaction from my target audience at this point.  I will try to have one of my regulars check out Tackk to see what her 6th grade reaction is to the site.  Maybe she will be more enamored than I am.  At this point, even for students, I think that I would encourage them to use the Google products before Tackk because it will give them experience for furture assignments and possibly their careers.