Big Tent

Assignment #3Ed 4767

Big Tent

Tool Description:

Big Tent is an online social networking tool that combines social networking features with management tools. It is a platform available for family-friendly organizations.

Big Tent members can create, and join, groups. Within groups you can create subgroups, start discussion forums, add events to an interactive calendar, and share photos and files.

It is a free, private, and secure website that requires login for access.

www.bigtent.com

Big Tent

Classroom Implications:

I found out this site was used quite often by PAT committees. I think this is a wonderful idea as teachers and schools could post upcoming deadlines and useful information all in one place. If a parent or student needed to know something about the school, they could find everything in one central location which is very convenient. This is helpful in keeping parents informed, while at the same time catering to varying schedules of families.

I really liked the interactive calendar which can be updated and shared with members of the group. This would be great for homework due dates, and upcoming activities.

This site could be used in a way similar to how we use Moodle. Students and teachers can upload files, and participate in discussion forums.

Big Tent

Pros: Free! Website is easy to navigate as there are headings for every part of the site. Many useful features that seem to all function well. Members can participate in forums on the site or reply through email. Admins can determine the members access level to the site. Easy to use.

Cons: To be honest I couldn’t find very many bad points to this website. The only troubles I experienced were when I tried to sign up for the site, it seemed to glitch and wouldn’t allow me to access the signup page. Eventually it did work, but it took a few minutes.

Big Tent

Concluding Opinion:

I actually really like the idea of using this site for PAT, or parent-teacher relations. It is a great site because it is free, easy to use, and private. Students could also benefit from the interactive calendar and discussion forums. I would be interested in trying this tool out in a classroom, and discovering all of the purposes a site like this could serve.