A-Z Tools & Technologies: Learnist

What is it?

Learnist is a social learning network similar to Pinterest where you can create boards (Learnboards): collections of articles, images and videos that help you to learn about any subject from Art to Zoology and share it with others. From informal to formal learning you can learn topics and skills and save and share everything you learn from around the web.
‘Share What You Know’ Learnist

How does it work?

In order to start curating learning and teaching material and see what others are interested in and learning you will need to set up an account. Here is the link to the sign up page: https://learni.st/signup
You may use your existing facebook or twitter accounts or use your email to set up your Learnist account.
Once you have an account you may browse either by category or you may use search to find material on a given topic. You can either create your Learnboards or reading lists.
In order to create your first Learnboard you need to go through a user profile set up first. Click on create a board and follow the instructions.
I have found that it is much easier to curate content if you use Chrome and download the chrome extension for Learnist than with IE. Read more on using Chrome on the Learnist board: ‘How to Use the Chrome Extension for Learnist’ http://learni.st/users/Learnist.Content/boards/105511-how-to-use-the-chrome-extension-for-learnist
Here is an article on changes to the site ‘Learnist Refreshes ‘Pinterest For Education’ Site To Add Reading Lists And Improve Board Creation’ http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/20/learnist-refreshes-website/
An article on iPhone Learnist app – ‘The Learnist App Brings its Crowd-sourced Collection of Information to your iPhone’: http://www.tuaw.com/2014/03/05/the-learnist-app-brings-its-crowd-sourced-collection-of-informat/

What are the implications for Teaching, Learning and Assessment?

‘Learnist: A Helpful Tool on the Road to Inquiry’ http://www.edutopia.org/blog/learnist-in-the-classroom-hauna-zaich
Hauna Zaich in her review of the tool on Edutopia shares her ideas on using Learnist in the classroom.  She calls the tool revolutionary. She highlights the benefits of the technology not only in organising collections of websites and online resources to enhance learning experience but also in incorporating Learnist in teaching others in an inspiring way. She used Learnist for her flipped classroom lessons and she gives examples of the Learnboards she created for her students to teach grammar.
Here is summary of the main features that Learnist offers:

• Users can create Learnboards around topics and skills
• Users can view and follow Learnboards generated by other users
• Users can create different boards and invite others to collaborate on them
• The application lets you add images, videos, and text to your boards
• Users can save reading lists so that they can come back to their learning

Further reading

Learnist Frequently Asked Questions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19qiXhrBqgqHm06uw6nIvA8VxnZBz0zMcnhFjbC7phcA/pub
‘How to Use Learnist to Effectively Organise Your Learning & Teaching’ from makeuseof: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-use-learnist-to-effectively-organize-your-learning-teaching/
‘Learnist Named App of the Month’ https://medium.com/learnist-news/learnist-named-app-of-the-month-2480aa960042
‘Featured Contributors on Learnist’ http://learni.st/users/Learnist.Content/boards/99946-featured-contributors-on-learnist
Learnist review by TeachHub.com

‘Learnist Reviews & Reactions’ Learnboard: http://learni.st/users/Learnist.Help/boards/1678-learnist-reviews-reactions
Would you call this tool revolutionary and use it to publish your curriculum?
Agnieszka