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Curating Resources with Symbaloo

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Symbaloo is a bookmarking website where you can collect website links in one place.  By doing this you are creating what they call a webmix. You can share your webmixes through a shared link or embedding them into a website. You can also search other people's webmixes to find resources they have collected.

Symbaloo is great if you want to curate a list of websites for your students. I start by creating a general Symbaloo for my class that has links to websites they might need all year.  These include links to the school library catalog,  resources they may need such as the Purdue OWL Writing Center, and websites we use frequently like Kahoot.  I then post the link to the Symbaloo in my Google Classroom "Classroom Materials" topic. Symbaloo even has a "Share to Google Classroom" button in their sharing options.

I also really like Symbaloo when doing major projects.  I will create a Symbaloo specifically for research projects that include some websites for them to get started and tools for them to use while creating their project.  I then post that link along with the project instructions in Google Classroom.  This gives them a jumping-off point, and I can ensure they have reliable sources to start their projects with. 
Example Symbaloo
Another option for using Symbaloo is for professional development. If you are training teachers, you can create a Symbaloo with links and resources with teachers.  If you or your district decides to go with Symbaloo Pro, you can add collaborates on to web mixes.  Creating a collaborative webmix would allow teachers to share new resources and tools with each other easily. Tiles can be moved around, regrouped, and color-coded to make it easy for teachers to find the resources they need. 

Something, I recently discovered is that Symbaloo now has Symbaloo Learning Paths. These learning paths allow you to create a self-paced assignment for students that navigates them through different websites and activities. You can also go through their library of already created learning paths and use those with your students as well.  They are a lot like WebQuest, but students have all the links they need in one place.  You can also embed questions and activities for them to do within the learning path. I will be exploring this tool more because I think it could be wonderful for online or blended learning. 

What online tools do you use to help your student? What kind of links would you include on your Symbaloo? Leave your answers in the comments below. 

I will be presenting during the ELA Success Summit on August 4th - 6th. This is a digital summit that you can attend from the comfort of your own home. To enroll or learn more about the sessions you can go to https://www.elasuccesssummit.com/

ELA Success Summit

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