iGoogle – the best thing since sliced bread

iGoogle gives user their own personalised space on the web. All you need is a Google or GMail account, login and you can start customizing your space. The real power of iGoogles comes in the form of Gadgets (widgets). The beauty of these little babies is that anyone can make them, not just Google. So at present you have thousands of really well made gadgets to choose from. Your iGoogle page is made up of them. You can add as many or as few as you want.
One will let you see if you have any new emails in your GMail account. The Facebook widget will keep you abreast of all your friends movements. Google Calendar will let you know if you have an important meeting coming up today. The beauty of this is that you don’t have to load 3 or more seperate web pages. It’s all accessed from the most used page on the internet: Google.
Not only can you add as many gadgets as you want, you can also create multiple pages in the form of Tabs. With my students I ask them that their first page be productivity/school related widgets. Another is where all their games are. Another for social networking etc.

In terms or the king of all education gadgets, it has got to be the Google Reader gadget. Google Reader allows you to manage all your RSS subscriptions in one central place. The gadget will display new post as they are released by the authors. The beauty of this is I can instantly see and read students class work and homework. I know who has completed a task every time i want to perform a google search. Which is about eleventy billion times a day. Also it keeps me abreast with all the goings on in the world.

~ by eliotbaring on June 24, 2008.