Emerging Technology: Glogster
What is Glogster?
One technology that is new to education is Glogster. Glogster was founded in 2007. Glogster is an online poster that can be embedded in wikis and websites. This new Web 2.0 tool is also interactive. One can embed videos that play at the click of the mouse. Text can be added in unique frames. Audio can be added as well. Glogster is a new high-tech replacement (or alternative) to the traditional cardboard poster in which the student writes words, draws pictures, and pastes photographs (Dyck, B., 2009)
Problems or Challenges in Using Glogster
Glogster is a Web 2.0 tool and faces the same problems or challenges of many other free web-based tools. Slow internet connections or high volume on the website poses a problem for teachers and students. Those students who do not have access to the internet at home may demonstrate slower progress in completing their glogs. Since Glogster is still quite new, there’s still not a lot of technical support when a student (or teacher) has a problem.
I have found that there have been many times where a wonderful technology works most of the time and then the other times that same technology seems inundated with “gremlins”. Apparently, I have to perform the same action several times and then when I “hold my tongue just right” everything falls into place.
Glogster has many advantages. Glogster is free to use and now has the educational version called Glogster EDU. Since it’s a Web 2.0 tool, this technology is multi-platform (Windows and Macs) and so is more easily accessible since it’s on the web. Glogster’s use doesn’t have to be limited to the classroom setting since students may work on their glogs at home and at school. Wikis and blogs allow others to collaborate and comment on each other’s work and so does Glogster (Grant, L. 2010).
In creating a multimedia presentation for a literature study on Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, I embedded my Glogster page onto my Kidblog page. My students enjoyed watching the videos that I embedded onto the glog. I was also able to post some photos that represented the parts of the book that we had read. Hopefully, after the holidays, my flexible reading group (high reading level students from three different classes) will be able to create their own glogs when we meet again and finish the book.
Suggestions for Improving Glogster
Tenkely, K. (2009) hosts a newsletter/blog entitle I Learn Technology and writes a review of of Glogster. She describes several uses of this Web 2.0 tool and provides the viewer with links to see finished products. When looking at the comments on this page, one subscriber writes that inappropriate pictures have been posted by Glogster users, even in Glogster EDU. I’m not quite sure how one could totally avoid this problem unless Glogster did a better job at filtering what is posted on its site. Tenkely (2009) responded to the subscriber by proposing that the affected school system block glogster.com rather than glogster.edu.
Besides filtering inappropriate pictures, another improvement would be for Glogster to provide more technical support. It’s frustrating to use a tool and then to have something not work correctly. YouTube does provide some great tutorials but additional help is needed.
Sources:
Dyck, B. (2009). Hooked on Glogster: Posters 2.0. Retrieved December 19, 2010 from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/dyck/dyck037.shtml
Grant, L. (2010). Developing the home-school relationship using digital technologies. Retreived December 20, 2010 from http://www.futurelab.org.uk
Tenkely, K. (2009). Glogster. Retrieved December 21, 2010 from http://ilearntechnology.com/?p=601
