Glogster

Glogster is an interactive, digital poster-making tool.  As part of a unit on 20th century American authors and themes, I created a Glog to introduce 11th grade English students to the Beat authors of the 1950's.  I envisioned that I would create an introductory Glog on each of the notable literary styles of the 20th century for this unit.  The idea was to create an interactive document that could alternately serve as a study guide.  I included video, pictures, short blurbs of information regarding the three primary authors introduced, links, and an introduction the historical setting of beatnik literature.

Glogster provides templates, backgrounds, decorative images, animated images and interactive tools to allow users to create highly expressive, digital posters.  Although it seems to be very popular amongst teenagers as a kind of social networking site, upon which children may share their own creative expressions, limited educator accounts are available without charge, full educator accounts are available for a fee.  I simply signed up for a free, regular account, and thus far, I have found that it is satisfactory.

As a Web 2.0 tool, Glogster is highly user friendly.  When you want to add a feature to the Glog, you simply click on the feature that you want to add, located at the top of the page on a toolbar.  Glog seamlessly searches YouTube and connects with Facebook, which results in significant convenience in the addition of elements such as video.  Although I am still learning how to use the tool, I appreciate the ability to add clever visual elements, such as animated pictures.  While too many of these elements may easily become distracting for students, if these tools are used properly they may help engage learners.  Having the ability to use these elements may also encourage students to create their own Glogs for their own school presentations. 

Another element of Glogs that I feel is particularly useful for educators is the ability to add elements which engage many different types of learners.  Because of the ability to include sound, text, videos, and images, educators can create presentations that address the specific needs and learning styles of their students.  Furthermore, Glogs are stored online.  If students need time to look over the information again in preparation for a test, they may easily access their teacher's presentation with simple link.  Because of their accessibility, Glogs can be highly effective study tools.  Most importantly, they are truly fun to create and view.  I anticipate using Glogs for many units in the future.