STUMBLEUPON
Overall Rating
3/5
StumbleUpon is a Web 2.0 search engine. It is Web 2.0 because StumbleUpon's search algorithms are based on the user's profile, and on the user's interactions with other users. StumbleUpon can simply be used to find interesting websites, but it also enables users to recommend sites to be included in the StumbleUpon database, and to write reviews and share interesting websites with friends. The ability of "Stumblers" to give feedback on a webpage helps other Stumblers to navigate to webpages they are interested in.
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StumbleUpon interface
StumbleUpon interest list
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Rating: 3/5
Reviewed by: Karen Schneider on 05/16/2013
Description
StumbleUpon is a web search engine that lets you search and find other sites based on interests that you have. It touts itself as a discovery engine. When you first register you select your interests from a group of preset categories. This process helps build your profile in order for the site to find things that you would want to know about and connect you to other users with similar interests. When you find a website you like you click on the I like it button in the upper right-hand and it will save it for you. It utilizes social networking principles to create networks of users with the same interests. Based on the selection of people in the same network, others will stumble upon recommended sites. The site also chooses channels for the interests that you select; these are websites that pop up on your home page so that you can follow the content on these sites. It will also contact to the Facebook and other social networking sites of people with similar interests.
Required resources and skills for using StumbleUpon
A decent computer with a web browser and a good internet connection. An email account is required to sign up for the free account to use the tool. It would be useful to have an idea of what you want to search and some keywords for it.
How to use StumbleUpon in a teaching environment
After logging on several times the only way that I thought it could be used as an educational resource is to use it search for information on a subject and find other people interested in the same subject. I would ask students to use it to collect data from websites to put together a presentation on a specific subject. I wanted to see how easy it would be to use, so I planned to put together a quick few slides in PowerPoint on different types of intrauterine devices (IUD) from a sites found on StumbleUpon. After logging on, I put intrauterine device in the explore an interest slot in the upper right-hand corner and hit the Stumble button (upper left hand corner). The first website it showed me was the Wikipedia page for NuvaRing, a contraception, but not an IUD. This was very disappointing, so I continued to stumble and on about the fifth try found my way to a webpage on IUDs.
Advantages and Disadvantages of using StumbleUpon
Examples and External Resources
5 Ways To Use StumbleUpon In Education uploaded on 05/16/2013
http://edudemic.com/2012/04/5-ways-teachers-can-use-stumbleupon/
How to Use StumbleUpon by Mike Alf uploaded on 05/16/2013
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