Sometimes there is so much to look at it’s hard to focus. This is an image from Grey Mountain looking SE on a perfect winters day. ©Richard M. Galloway
How to keep on top of information overload
One of the things I have really enjoyed over the last six months has been reading about current educational issues, and in this respect the www is a blessing. Of course the reasons for it being such a blessing also means it is a curse, namely that there is so much information out there.
During my practicum I was reminded how teaching is an all consuming affair. After all the planning is done, the extra curricular activities delivered and your family considered there is little time for anything else. So keeping up with the news, for me, fell by the wayside, even with the best intentions.
Let us pretend though that there is time to peruse the news. What is the best way for keeping on top of it when there is so much information out there? There are a lot of tools for helping to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to finding, organizing and reading news of any sort. These are the one’s I use.
Feedly is what I use to manage the blogs / websites I like to keep up with on a regular basis. It’s very straight forward to set up and easy to use. It’s also free, although there is a paid version which offers more functionality if you need it.
Pocket is an app I have just started using in the last month. Now I am using it, I can’t think what I did before I discovered this app. Basically it’s a way of saving articles you come across to read later. You can add to it from your devices and computers. When I come across articles that I don’t have time to read, or would like to keep for reference, then I add them to my Pocket. It is super easy to use. Again, it is a free app with a paid upgrade.
Flipboard is something I have been using for a while. I am sure I have only scratched the surface of what it’s capable of. However, I use it to share all the educational stories I think worth reading – which is to say the ones I have read and found either useful and or interesting. You can get to those stories here or in the sidebar.
Paper.il is something a little different and is an app I have just started using. (Which is short for I am learning how to get the most from it.) This is a platform for sharing information from lots of different sources. These are generally the same ones I use for finding information for my Flipboard content but have not had time to curate.
There you have it. I have spent a lot of time using different apps to manage my reading online and these, in my mind, are the best of them
So if you don’t have time to find your own content then please feel free to sign up for my Daily Digest or return here to my blog to read what I have come across in my internet perambulations concerning all things educational. If you have any app you couldn’t live without then please feel free to share in the comments below.
