Simple things to remember:

Tools work best when…

1. getting students ‘logged in’ is simple and efficient – look for systems that allow you to cut and paste a list of email addresses into the application which will then generate invitation emails to students; after that, the system will manage their login and identity issues for you. (example – listphile)
2. the tool is simple to start using, even if it takes time to come to become proficient: catch the students interest in the first few minutes of use (and don’t make the task too complex, initially). (example – slinkset)
3. the tool comes with good support and help which explains how to use it – look at the help files, FAQs and the like; even better tools are good when they have a short video showing how they work. (example – wiggio)
4. the tool enables you to output, publish or save any data that you put into the system, especially if you want to link it with other applications: you are not limited just to that tool (example – mind42)
5. you use them yourself and can show students what you have done with them – model the tools, as well as directing students in their use (example – my use of posterous to explain knowledge network learning)
6. the tools’ relative simplicity matches what you want to achieve with them – the more complex, the more flexible; the more simple, the easier to apply directly, giving you a clear way of calculating the outcome of the time and outcome equation (compare manyeyes and wordle)
7. there is some specific, key affordance which recommends them over alternatives and gives you something which can be exploited to really enhance the use of them in flexible ways (example – todaysmeet can draw in twitter streams)
8. scholarly affordances are in-built, where you want to emphasise a particular kind of activity or work that is specific to professional knowledge work expectations, though such affordances have to be exploited explicitly, not just assumed (example – the ‘source’ requirement for entries to xtimeline)
9. you set up a specific, bounded activity to be completed using the tool with a clear guide for students as to how long it should take, what it is worth (either in the sense of marks or other measures of value), and what a successful finished product looks like
10. you don’t worry too much about imponderable and unlikely dramas – it is much more likely your students will fail to exploit the chance to learn because they are distracted, busy, unsure, or just not ‘sold’ on the idea than because some application will suddenly stop working – relax and get on with it.