LiveBinders: The Beginning

We have always started our collaborative projects with a retreat (usually a day at the beach or park).  The retreat usually ends with a project and a plan to meet again.  Following the retreat that inspired PrAACtical AAC, we were spending hours upon hours on the computer searching   We were using pen and paper to write down urls to sites we wanted to share.  We couldn’t believe the great information that was available.  So when Carole told me to sit down and said “you have to look at what I found, it’s called LiveBinders“. I can still remember the exact moment.   It was like on T.V…..  the sun started shining through the window of my living room and music started playing.  We  couldn’t believe there was a site that was easy to use, would organize all the work we had done, let us look at and use other binders, let us share information, and was free.  Livebinders became our first curation site (even before we knew the word curation). Although it was our first, we continue to use it in our classes, for our families, in intervention and even with our own children to help them with their homework (when we didn’t know the topics).

Livebinders is set up like a virtual 3 ring binder.  It actually looks like and functions like a traditional 3 ring binder with tabs and sub tabs.  You can add web pages, videos from you-tube and images from Flickr.  You can even create virtual book shelves and give public or private access.  We have totally stopped gathering and printing out papers to sit on our continually over stuffed book shelves. We love that you can view and copy (when approved in settings) LiveBinders on topics of interest.  When we first found LiveBinders, we used it for ALL of our curations (it was the only curation site we knew), but now we tend to use it to organize long-term very specific resources. We also use the public LiveBinders to learn about web tools, social media, and other topics on our PLN’s.

Here are some of the LiveBinders we use:
The ones marked with asterisks are those that we curate.

1. AAC and Visual Supports
2. All About Creative Commons and Copyright
3. An Educators Guide to Twitter
4. Apps for Kids with Autism
5. Assistive Technology Blogs
6. Assistive Technology: What Every Educator Needs to Know
7. Choice Boards *
8. Curriculum 21- Common Core Crosswalks
9. Free technology Tools for teachers
10. Infographic Information*
11. iPads in the Content Areas
12. iPads in Schools
13. Google+ for Educators
14. Livebinders-Talk it up SLP*
15. Resources for the Inclusive Classroom
16. Resources for Preschool Teachers and Special Providers
17. Social Scripts
18. Special Needs AT Blogs
19. Tools for Building Your Personal Learning Network
20. Visual Schedules*