But what about my 1st semester students? Shouldn't they get a feel for uploading samples of their work? Granted, first semester students probably won't have portfolio-ready work, but they will have projects and assignments from some of their courses.
According to Wiki, "Glogster is a social network that allows users to create free interactive posters, or glogs. A glog, short for graphical blog, is an interactive multimedia image. It looks like a poster, but readers can interact with the content."
I decided to give Glogster a try and see if it would be a FUN, easy-to-use option for my students.
Once I created my free account, I was taken to my Glogster Dashboard where I could create my profile, manage my 'glogs', and interact with others.
To begin a new Glog, I had to choose between portrait or landscape orientation.
Layout/Media Options:
Glogster gives you a ton of preset design components to start with. The component categories are: Text, Graphics, Image, Wall, Audio, and Video.
Text - Adding text is as easy as clicking "Use It" from the Text section. Once you add your type to your Glog, you can choose from a number of fonts, change the color, size, and alignment. Downside? You don't have a lot of fonts to choose from and you're not able to control kerning & leading. For a typographic nutcase like me, this is a major issue. I also noticed that Glogster would change my fonts upon saving and reopening.
Graphics - This section allows you to add clip art to your design. They have a nice categorized section and some of the graphics are even animated. One on your page, you can resize and rotate the graphics. You can also make them hyperlinks and add drop shadows. Downside? I wish they would allow you to change the color of the graphics. I also noticed they don't have basic solid shapes (squares, circles, and such. You may have to upload them yourself.)
Image - Glogster allows you to upload images to your layout. A nice feature is the ability to also search for images across your Facebook, Flickr, and Picassa accounts by signing in. There is also a Google search built in for images. Downside? None.
Wall - This section is where you can customize the background of your Glog. You can go as subtle as a solid color or choose from a selection of themed and abstract backgrounds.
Audio - You can upload audio in a number of popular formats. You can even choose from a variety of playback players to control the music on your page.
Video - Really make your Glog entertaining by adding video from your computer. It can also add video from YouTube or Vimeo. Once you choose a video, it can be customized with a video player to match the style of your layout. Downside? Searching for a video from YouTube was very glitchy. When searching with keywords, the screen would just freeze. I eventually had success when I realized you could also add video by providing the web URL.
Grab - Some of the content categories had a 'grab' feature which connected to my Mac's built-in camera. I could capture a photo or video and add it directly to my Glog.
Social/Sharing - Once your Glog is done, you're able to share it with the world with a link or directly to Facebook & Twitter. Glogster also has a built-in community where you can add friends and comment on each other's work. Glogs can also be tagged for easy searching.
Overall:
Glogster has established quite a following. They've even expanded into the education industry with the addition of Glogster EDU for educators. Glogster's support is comprehensive. There is a FAQ as well as a user-run community support forum for help and issues. My one big caveat with Glogster is really an unbelievable omission on their part: NO UNDO. That's correct. If you make a change in your layout, and you want to undo the change, you can't. That is almost a deal breaker for me. Other than that, Glogster is a great way for students to create interactive posters!
Here's my creation on Glogster.
Enter Glogster.com
According to Wiki, "Glogster is a social network that allows users to create free interactive posters, or glogs. A glog, short for graphical blog, is an interactive multimedia image. It looks like a poster, but readers can interact with the content."I decided to give Glogster a try and see if it would be a FUN, easy-to-use option for my students.
Once I created my free account, I was taken to my Glogster Dashboard where I could create my profile, manage my 'glogs', and interact with others.
To begin a new Glog, I had to choose between portrait or landscape orientation.
Layout/Media Options:
Text - Adding text is as easy as clicking "Use It" from the Text section. Once you add your type to your Glog, you can choose from a number of fonts, change the color, size, and alignment. Downside? You don't have a lot of fonts to choose from and you're not able to control kerning & leading. For a typographic nutcase like me, this is a major issue. I also noticed that Glogster would change my fonts upon saving and reopening.
Image - Glogster allows you to upload images to your layout. A nice feature is the ability to also search for images across your Facebook, Flickr, and Picassa accounts by signing in. There is also a Google search built in for images. Downside? None.
Wall - This section is where you can customize the background of your Glog. You can go as subtle as a solid color or choose from a selection of themed and abstract backgrounds.
Video - Really make your Glog entertaining by adding video from your computer. It can also add video from YouTube or Vimeo. Once you choose a video, it can be customized with a video player to match the style of your layout. Downside? Searching for a video from YouTube was very glitchy. When searching with keywords, the screen would just freeze. I eventually had success when I realized you could also add video by providing the web URL.
Social/Sharing - Once your Glog is done, you're able to share it with the world with a link or directly to Facebook & Twitter. Glogster also has a built-in community where you can add friends and comment on each other's work. Glogs can also be tagged for easy searching.
Overall:
Glogster has established quite a following. They've even expanded into the education industry with the addition of Glogster EDU for educators. Glogster's support is comprehensive. There is a FAQ as well as a user-run community support forum for help and issues. My one big caveat with Glogster is really an unbelievable omission on their part: NO UNDO. That's correct. If you make a change in your layout, and you want to undo the change, you can't. That is almost a deal breaker for me. Other than that, Glogster is a great way for students to create interactive posters!
Here's my creation on Glogster.
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