Today I did sort of an experiment. I gave my kids a problem to solve: to create a model of a Fire Escape Route from my classroom. They could use one of three programs: Google Sketchup, Google Earth, and Dabbleboard.com for their modeling. They chose the latter.
When I asked them why most of them chose Dabbleboard, I got the required response: "it's just easy." Now, I'm not going to debate in this post whether the easiest tool is the best tool, but Dabbleboard is a pretty darn intuitive tool. When you are trying to engage young kids with technology, I think you want to show them tools where there's not a lot of hassle like sign up, and give them a tool that works right out of the box.
In Dabbleboard, you can just create.
Graphic Organizers and Embeds: In my practice, I do like the graphic organizer, and although I don't use an Interactive White Board very much, when I do, I love using layovers. Each Dabbleboard is embeddable, which is important because I want the Web to be more customizable. One day, it would be nice to embed just about any Web tool into your website, so that you can create a custom Online Learning Environment. Below is my Online Bullying Attribution Chart. Add to it, if you like.
Custom Links: Lastly, I like Dabbleboard because you can create a custom link to any Dabbleboard page, and you can share and chat with any of your collaborators. One of the frustrations I used to have using an IWB, was that many of our graphic organizers couldn't be saved as a link to the web. With Dabbleboard, that's no problem. For some students, of course, adding a chat can be disruptive, but as the owner of a board, you don't have to share the chat. Check out this example:
http://dabbleboard.com/draw/drezac/citizen
The easiest tool isn't always the best tool, but engaging a student sometimes is more important than slogging through a lesson. And for Tech Facilitators who are trying to engage teachers with Interactive White Boards, please show them Dabbleboard first.
