Like Wikis, http://www.livebinders.com/ allows teachers to coordinate and collect information, files, and websites into one location for easy access at home and school. Unlike Wikis, LiveBinders do not allow students to alter information already placed there. I recently discovered this little treasure and have put it to use in my classroom.
In my school, we do not allow students to randomly surf the Internet, "Googling" for websites. We provide our students with pre-screened websites for their use. While there are several ways to accomplish this from dropping links into a document and uploading it to a shared folder to handing lists of web addresses to students for manual entry, none of the historically utilized tools really meet 21st Century standards.
LiveBinders allows users to create virtual three-ring binders of information, files, and websites in easy-click tabs and sub-tabs. Once students the correct LiveBinder, they have a sort of closed-circuit web browser at their disposal where websites are "Live" from the tabs on the screen. Teachers can also add media, text, and files to tabs.
This technology means that students can conduct research, pursue WebQuests, and explore new concepts on their own in school or at home, without having to look for a needle in a haystack. I am still exploring the possible uses of LiveBinders, but I can envision future "Live" bibliographies and Webquests created by students to demonstrate their learning and understanding. This resource could be the beginning of student presentations that go beyond research papers, posters, and PowerPoint presentations.
You can view a basic LiveBinder I created to help my students research ocean exploration technology by going to http://www.livebinder.com/ and searching for the binder entitled townsendhcms. The site also features binders of all kinds. Move over, Bookmarks. A new era has begun.
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