Our new eWorkspace has loads of applications that you can use in class with your students. From sharing resources to one to one communication, eWorkspace allows us to easily connect with our students in a closed environment.

While there are many applications on eWorkspace, this post will give you a brief description of the following tools: Blog, FAQs, Forum, Media Gallery, ProjectSpace, Wiki and Quiz.

Blog

A blog is an online journal that adds your most recent thoughts to the top of the list (and pushes previous thoughts down in doing so). Tim the Librarian is a blog so, as you can see, the most recent thing that I have added (this post) is on top and my previous posts follow on below.

Teachers and students can create their own blogs where they can create posts and comments, they can also comment on the blog posts of others.

FAQ

The FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) application allows teachers to create a list of questions and their answers.

Students cannot add to or edit content created in this application.

Forum

A forum is a place where a topic (called a ‘Thread’) is created in order to be discussed. This can be used to post questions and receive answers (i.e. How do I get my chicken to lay eggs) or to hold a discussion on a particular topic (i.e. Why do chickens exist?).

Forums can be created by teachers and students. Anyone has the ability to reply to a thread once it has been created and respondents can reply to the thread in general or to individual replies.

Media Gallery

A media gallery is a place where you and your students can share image, audio and video resources.

Galleries can be set up and added to by both teachers and students. Preferences can be set on each gallery to allow others to view the collection and edit/contribute to the collection.

ProjectSpace

ProjectSpace lets you create an online space for selected students to share resources and communicate with each other about a project that they are working on as a group.

Teachers and students can add resources uploaded from their drives and create and contribute to discussions about the project.

Wiki

A wiki is an online database much like what we normally call a website. It has links to pages within the wiki and allows you and other users to create pages, link pages and comment on them.

Students and teachers can create wikis, add pages to them and contribute to each others.

Quiz

The quiz application allows teachers to create tests for the students to take online. These tests can involve essay style or multiple choice questions and eWorkspace gives you a great deal of control over the way that it administers this test (when the kids can take it, what they can see, whether they can see or take the whole test in one go, etc.).

Only teachers can set up and edit tests for the students to take.

Please contribute to the discussion below about how you have used these tools in the classroom.

Happy exploring!