Thing #6: Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

There are some great tools out there!

I chose an organization Web 2.0 tool called Backpack. It claims to bring back a new form of Intranet on the Internet and from what I can tell, it does exactly that. With Backpack you can create groups and then share information within the group. You can easily share things like documents, calendars, presentations and much more. This would be a great tool for anyone in charge of keeping a group of people simultaneously informed. There is no limit to what types of groups you can create.

I can see that this would have many uses for teachers in the classroom. This would be a great tool for keeping and sharing things like a class calendar, syllabus, lab notes, project directions, test reviews and just about anything for your students. There is even an option for sending text reminders to the individual member cell phones for upcoming tasks. Wouldn't it be great to text your students to remind them of an upcoming test or project due date?

I am also pretty excited about Backpack personally. As a mom of three boys that love sports and are very involved in them, I plan to try this out with our family. Both sets of grandparents live in town and are always very interested to know the details of practices or games. I am going to put our schedules on a calendar that we can all access. This will be something my husband and I can also use to help us be on the same calendar with family events. We sometimes have mishaps in scheduling because an event gets on one calendar, but not all. Not only will it be on a calendar that we can both easily access(instead of the one on the refrigerator), we can use the text reminders to keep us on track. I am hopeful!!

Check it out at http://www.backpackit.com/