After joining Delicious, I searched for posts relating to "educational technology". The top hits include: "TED: Ideas worth spreading" with over 30,000 saves; "HowStuffWorks with over 15,000 saves; and "Free Online Course Materials - MIT OpenCourseWare" with over 8,000 saves. Some of the tags that these three have in common are education, technology, and learning.
This tool would be useful if a student, parent or even a teacher was looking for opinions/ideas/experiences pertaining to a specific topic or event. I think something like Delicious is useful to anyone who uses the internet to search out other people's experiences, suggestions, information etc about anything of interest to the searcher. Students could use this for projects they're working on, teachers could use this to get ideas for curriculum or projects, and parents could use this to help them learn about topics their child is covering in order to better understand and be able to help their student with homework.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
Thing #16
For my start page, I chose iGoogle. I've mentioned before how much I love Google - and since I have a personal account with Google as well as as my 23 Things account, it seemed like a good idea to use it for this.
Once I chose iGoogle, I began editing my start page. I deleted a few of the gadgets that were already there - like DoppleMe and YouTube. I have no use for an avatar and I don't watch YouTube very often, so I figured I would make room for some other gadgets. I decided to add a calendar gadget, the inspirational quotes and pictures gadget (I love quotes and photography), the Facts gadget (I also love knowing useless information), Facebook for iGoogle, NYTimes.com - Top Stories gadget, Daily Literary Quote (quotes again), and Anderson Cooper 360 gadget. Wow - there are a LOT of gadgets. I finally had to stop myself from adding more or I'd never get this thing done!
As far as calendars go, I chose to explore Kiko - but received a "Forbidden" page when I tried to access it. Since that didn't pan out, I decided to explore the calendar offered by Backpack. However, once I made it to that page, it said I could sign up for a 30 day trial. I didn't want to create another account - I already have so many! I know I can utilize the calendar available through iGoogle, though. Online calendars are useful because they can be shared. As a teacher, I could create a calendar with important dates - homework due dates, tests, field trips, conferences, etc and share with parents.
To Do lists could be great tools for someone who would use them - but I am not the kind of person who would. I am quite the procrastinator, and therefore not a planner. Making a to do list actually sounds like a form of torture to me!
I feel like the most useful tool I discovered during this exercise was iGoogle. I love all the gadgets that are optional - I like that it has the calendar option, even a to do list option, weather, email, news, etc. There are a lot of options for personalizing the start page, not to mention all the extras that can be added. I'm not much of a planner, so the fact that all of this could be included in my homepage and would be accessible every time I launched the internet would be convenient - which I like!
Once I chose iGoogle, I began editing my start page. I deleted a few of the gadgets that were already there - like DoppleMe and YouTube. I have no use for an avatar and I don't watch YouTube very often, so I figured I would make room for some other gadgets. I decided to add a calendar gadget, the inspirational quotes and pictures gadget (I love quotes and photography), the Facts gadget (I also love knowing useless information), Facebook for iGoogle, NYTimes.com - Top Stories gadget, Daily Literary Quote (quotes again), and Anderson Cooper 360 gadget. Wow - there are a LOT of gadgets. I finally had to stop myself from adding more or I'd never get this thing done!
As far as calendars go, I chose to explore Kiko - but received a "Forbidden" page when I tried to access it. Since that didn't pan out, I decided to explore the calendar offered by Backpack. However, once I made it to that page, it said I could sign up for a 30 day trial. I didn't want to create another account - I already have so many! I know I can utilize the calendar available through iGoogle, though. Online calendars are useful because they can be shared. As a teacher, I could create a calendar with important dates - homework due dates, tests, field trips, conferences, etc and share with parents.
To Do lists could be great tools for someone who would use them - but I am not the kind of person who would. I am quite the procrastinator, and therefore not a planner. Making a to do list actually sounds like a form of torture to me!
I feel like the most useful tool I discovered during this exercise was iGoogle. I love all the gadgets that are optional - I like that it has the calendar option, even a to do list option, weather, email, news, etc. There are a lot of options for personalizing the start page, not to mention all the extras that can be added. I'm not much of a planner, so the fact that all of this could be included in my homepage and would be accessible every time I launched the internet would be convenient - which I like!
Thing #15
I skipped over this "Thing" because when I first attempted to complete it, I felt a little overwhelmed and confused. When I went back to finish it today, I didn't feel much better. Wikis are cool, but they are a little crazy - especially the APSU 23 Things Sandbox. I was really unsure what I was doing, but decided I had to finish this, so I attempted to edit it. I think I did it properly. I'm not sure why I feel confused by this "Thing", I guess because there were several steps to take before even being able to edit the page. I got through it, though!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Thing #14
I decided to explore Gliffy and bubbl.us because they appeared to be the most kid-friendly at first glance. Because my standard is second grade reading, I didn't want to choose the other two selections because the example flowchart and mindmap looked a little too advanced for seven year old kids.
I looked at the "Lady Gaga Adoption" example at the Gliffy website. It seemed pretty easy to add new bubbles or boxes and to add text to those boxes. I liked that the two examples on Gliffy were very different styles. The first example was more structured and formal, while the Lady Gaga example was a bit more casual.
I liked bubbl.us because it was easy to use - the directions for creating the mindmap were directly on the page! I also liked that it was colorful and easy to understand. I think second grade students would be able to read and understand a mindmap that was created with bubbl.us.
I looked at the "Lady Gaga Adoption" example at the Gliffy website. It seemed pretty easy to add new bubbles or boxes and to add text to those boxes. I liked that the two examples on Gliffy were very different styles. The first example was more structured and formal, while the Lady Gaga example was a bit more casual.
I liked bubbl.us because it was easy to use - the directions for creating the mindmap were directly on the page! I also liked that it was colorful and easy to understand. I think second grade students would be able to read and understand a mindmap that was created with bubbl.us.
Thing #13
At first, I was not at all pleased with exploring Zoho. I didn't see the point of yet another word processing program. I did like that it was set up similarly to Microsoft Word, which I am already familiar with. After reading about Zoho writer, I understood why - being able to keep your documents on and offline and having the ability to access documents from any location would be wonderful. Even as a college student, I've had moments of panic when I think I've made a mistake on a paper that I am getting ready to turn in and don't have time to go back home and correct the mistake. This would be the kind of issues professionals would encounter as well. Being able to access the documents from any computer would be fantastic!
Google docs seems just as useful as any word processing program I've ever used. At first glance it seems like a streamlined program. It's easy to see options for your document and to see how to edit and create a document. I'm a big fan of Google. I have a personal Gmail account, I love using Google for search tools, and I love that Google allows you to connect your smartphone to your computer and can keep all of your information, pictures, documents, emails, etc. in one place and easy to access.
Google docs seems just as useful as any word processing program I've ever used. At first glance it seems like a streamlined program. It's easy to see options for your document and to see how to edit and create a document. I'm a big fan of Google. I have a personal Gmail account, I love using Google for search tools, and I love that Google allows you to connect your smartphone to your computer and can keep all of your information, pictures, documents, emails, etc. in one place and easy to access.
I created the image above with Google docs drawing. Google docs is easy to use and easy to access. Overall, I liked both options but would probably use Google docs before I would use Zoho because I already have an account with Google.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Thing #12
Google, in my opinion, is the king of the internet. Google connects so many services - such as Gmail, Picasa, iGoogle, Google Alerts, Blogger.com, etc. I literally "Google" everything! Recipes, facts, weather, directions - you name it! I'd heard of Google Alerts, but never investigated it before. I think Google Alerts could be useful for a teacher because it would be an easy way to stay on top of education news, but it could also be a way to collect information about specific topics to present in the classroom. The Google calendar is also a terrific tool for educators. Teachers can put all homework, tests, and other important events on the calendar and share it with students and parents so that everyone knows what is due when!
Thing #11
The easiest method of finding blogs for me was to simply click on the link provided in the directions for Thing #11 (Edublog Award winners). Once I arrived at the Edublog site, I clicked on the links for the blog categories I was interested in. I chose to follow the award winners for Best Blog, Best Group Blog, and Best New Blog.
The only search method I used, other than browsing Edublog, was to go to Google Blog search. I typed in the suggested search and it came back with 629,000 results. On one hand, this is awesome - surely someone would be able to find a blog that interested them within those results: however, 629,000 results are a bit overwhelming. I didn't think this search method was particularly difficult or confusing, but could be time consuming.
I felt like every blog on the Edublog site would be useful - I followed the 2010 winners from several categories. With 629,000 results from such a specific search as "school library learning 2.0", it's a given that there will be many useful as well as interesting and unique results.
I liked that Dr. Wall showed us how to identify the RSS feed icon so that we'd know how to follow any blog or RSS feed that we come across. That makes following blogs really easy!
The only search method I used, other than browsing Edublog, was to go to Google Blog search. I typed in the suggested search and it came back with 629,000 results. On one hand, this is awesome - surely someone would be able to find a blog that interested them within those results: however, 629,000 results are a bit overwhelming. I didn't think this search method was particularly difficult or confusing, but could be time consuming.
I felt like every blog on the Edublog site would be useful - I followed the 2010 winners from several categories. With 629,000 results from such a specific search as "school library learning 2.0", it's a given that there will be many useful as well as interesting and unique results.
I liked that Dr. Wall showed us how to identify the RSS feed icon so that we'd know how to follow any blog or RSS feed that we come across. That makes following blogs really easy!
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