E-Portfolio #6 - LiveBinders

 

           LiveBinders is a free online tool and an awesome way for educators to organize their sources in one, easily accessible place. The concept is to create a 3-ring binder of information in which students and fellow colleagues can access from anywhere. Even if a user chooses not to share their binders, it is still a great tool to use for personal information. In reality, binders usually have divider tabs. LiveBinders also have tabs and sub-tabs to organize information by subject. The tab titles are able to change and they also move forward or back to a different location without losing its contents. Just like a bookcase, you can create different shelves for your binders. This will help you keep even more organized.

            In my example, I have started creating two binders in which I will add to as I find sources that I would like to use and/or remember are available. There are many ways to add to each binder. A bookmarking tool is available and will automatically add pages directly to your binder without you having to open the website. You can also enter a URL and the tool will save it to the binder page. You can also upload files and add text to your pages. In the details section, you can change the title of your binder, the description tags, categories, and the cover of the binder. The binder can be set as public or private. You can explore other people’s binders if the creators have set them as public binders.

            Sharing your binder is easy and you can do it in so many ways. Binders can be shared through linking or embedding, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google +1, and Plurk. You can also place LiveBinders on your desktop, and even download an application on you iPad.

            Although you can view and explore each website within the tool, one downfall that I have noticed is that the tabs take up the space in which you see the websites. If there are multiple tabs, your viewing space is very limited. In this situation, it would probably be a good idea to open the web page in a different window rather than explore it in LiveBinders.

            My favorite thing about LiveBinders is that you can create collaborative binders. Multiple people can add to the binder as needed. This makes for a perfect project and collaborative experience when distance is involved. The possibilities are endless with LiveBinders!