Phile ; a great crowdsourcing tool for educators

Phile is a very important web2.0 tool. It is the kind of application the 21st century teachers and students should be using to keep pace with the changing learning environments.
Phile ,as defined by its founders, is “ a service that lets groups work together to create an online guide to the things they love. Whether you are into gardening , horror movies, or rock climbing, Phile lets you get together with like minded people to turn your knowledge and opinions into your own lively and useful website.”

Who needs Phile ?

Well , since this post is included in this edublog  ,then it goes without saying that teachers , educators and students are the first ones concerned here . Anybody else can use it too , if you are a person who has a passion about a certain topic and you want to build a solid body of knowledge around it with everybody adding up to it then Phile is the solution. With Phile you can create an outstanding community of collaborators and learners through gathering information on a shared passion in one place.

What are the distinctive features of Phile ?

These are some of the features that make Phile one of the best web2.0 applications to opt for when creating a site about shared passionate topics. Phile lets you

• Structure your site to gather exactly the information that matters to your community.
• Phile keeps your site organized as people add to it .
• Phile adds to your site a social touch through using conversations and information sharing
• Information in a Phile site is organized into stacks and every stack is about a single topic

• Phile also provides you with forums for free form discussion
• Phile allows you to export all data from their site at any time to use in other platforms
• Phile is in beta period now and is completely free , however , there is a paid version with additional functionalities

If you want to learn more about Phile you can visit their About page

How can I get started using Phile ?

As I have said , Phile is a free service so all you need is to open your account there. Give your group a name and pick a starting template. You can customize your site using drag and drop. To learn more about creating and customizing a group watch this video

Tutorial on how to use Phile

Applications of Phile in education

There are many possibilities of using Phile in education

• Teachers can use it to collaborate and cooperate with each other through creating groups and sharing information
• Phile can be used as a directory of educational online conferences , webinars and virtual seminars.
• Using Phile , teachers can exchange videos, educative links, lesson plans, and websites in their area of specialty.
• Students can use it to create learning communities and groups about specific topic like for example : literature groups, games groups, grammar groups, etc.

If you want to see an example of a site created by Phile then check Ediform
That’s it about Phile : a great crowdsourcing tool for educators.
You might also like :

• Quicklyst : The teacher's dream tool
• LiveBinders; the educative tool teachers should be using
• 280Slides ; teacher's best presentation tool
• Typewith.me :a quick collaborative tool for educators
• AudioBoo; your audio alternative in education
• Rss in Education
• The21st century letter to educators
• Educational technology and ICT