Post date: Jun 6, 2016 3:49:36 AM
I heard about this nifty tool during a Kathy Schrock presentation at EduTech. IF This Then That allows you to create "recipes" to connect your commonly used apps together. For example, you might make it so that your washing machine sends an alert to your phone when it has 10mins remaining. Or perhaps you want your lights to flash when your doorbell rings. IFTTT takes advantage of the Internet of Things to deliver useful alerts.
In an educational context, here is how I'm using it. I have always 'liked' things on Twitter when I want to look at them later. I then have to scroll through my liked feed and click on the links. This list can get pretty long. However, through the nifty use of IFTTT, I can have it so that each 'liked' tweet appears as a row on a spreadsheet in my Google Drive. From here, I can harness the power of Sheets to sort the data, add additional notes, or even use Add-Ons like FormMule to email myself or others handy reminders or tips. This means I'm much more likely to follow up on the new tips I find via Twitter and allows me to really harness the power of Twitter as a Professional Learning tool.
Note for Librarians: If you do a Twitter wrap-up or Resource of the Week email - this is a super nifty way to aggregate that data and automate your process!
Note for Teachers teaching Digital Technologies Curriculum: What an ideal way to teach the concept of conditionals!
Note for Teachers embracing the ICT General Capability: What a great way to have students create data and generate their own lists and content!
Make sure you check it out! And don't get scared - it's really not that complex!