Thing 19

Thing 19

By using social media such as Twitter, Facebook, or even Pinterest teachers can collaborate as one.  What I mean by this is that teachers can share information or even borrow new ideas, with social media there is a wide range of opportunities for teachers to communicate around the world.  I am a member of other social media besides Twitter and Facebook, I use Pinterest a lot to discover new ideas about how to teach a certain subject in a creative way.  I also looked at The Teacher's Guide to Social Media that was provided for us and discovered many helpful tips that I will be using in the future to make my profiles more private.

Thing 18

Thing 18

Twitter Hyperlink:

https://twitter.com/educ3040blogger

It is important that educators understand social media because classrooms are becoming more technology based.  Educators can also discover new teaching techniques, tips, and ideas by using social media to their advantage.  I am already a user on Twitter and created an alias profile for this specific classroom and have also attached a link to it (above), I know a lot about Twitter already so I did not learn anything new about it.  However, I did think it was neat that I could hashtag education and so many tweets, users, and pages popped up.  I never really thought about using Twitter as an application in the classroom but now I can see many uses for it, such as having my future students create a twitter page for an assigned project and gather information and tweet about it.

Thing 17

Thing 17

Instructions:

• Can you see the potential of this tool in the classroom?
• How can teacher take advantage of social bookmarking sites?  

Answer:

I see a lot of potential of using this tool in the classroom, it will help me when I am trying to pull up a site to show my students.  It will also help me categorize topics for certain lessons that I want to discuss or pull up on the computer.  The advantage of social bookmarking sites is that it allows for teachers to save time and be able to teach more.  I say this because many times teachers will try to show their students something and it takes them forever to find it or figure out how to use it, this way with Delicious, it simpler and less time consuming!

Thing 16

Thing 16

Instructions:

1.  Look at intro pages for the customized start page tools.  Choose one to create: add or delete and re-arrange the features and widgets on your new homepage.

2.  Create and online calendar or to do list using on of the tools about.

3.  Choose one other tool from the lists above to explore.

4.  Answer the following questions:

• Which start page did you choose?  Why did that one appeal to you?  Will you make it your permanent home page?
• How can the online calendars be useful to you?
• Did you find a tool that has some uses for you at the school or at home?
• Which tools would you recommend to others?

Answer:

I chose the start page "Remember the Milk."  This one appealed to me because I thought that it looked like it had the most options and it looked convenient as well.  One of my friends actually uses this start page and she really likes it (she is also super organized and has everything together all the time).  I don't believe I will make it my personal home page, this is because I really enjoy the Google home page; my computer also allows me to type into my web bar a question that will automatically send to Google Search.

Online calendars can be useful to me because it would allow me to see my schedule at any point in time, wherever I am at, this will benefit me in the future whenever I become a teacher because I know I will be super busy.

The one tool I really liked was the calendar, like I said before, I will be able to benefit from it because I have an extremely busy schedule and I can pull it up whenever I wanted to.

The tools I would recommend to others from this start page would be the study tool and the high priority tool!

Thing 15

Thing 15

Instructions:

Add or edit an entry in APSU 23 Things Sandbox wiki.

  -select your favorite curriculum ideas from your own blog

  -add pictures, change font, or format

Tell about your experience in your blog

  -How might you use a wiki?

  -What did you find interesting about the wiki concept?

Answer:

Anybody can use a wiki, whether it be personal, for business, or  for a classroom setting.  In my opinion I would use a wiki to be able to communicate with my classroom as well as their parents.  I discovered that you can create a space that allows you to create your own "personal teacher page" that allows you to post homework and projects, let your children submit their work, it also allows communication for the parents to contact me as a teacher.  This is a great way to get the parents involved with their students and become interactive with the teacher.

What I found interesting about wiki was the concept that the Texas School Libraries did with it.  The librarians created a wiki page that allows students, teachers, and parents to go and look at the library's data base, find certain books, and even has podcasts.  I believe that this would be a neat experience for a lot of students, especially if they are at home and want to show their parents the books that they are reading or have read.

Thing 14

Thing 14

Instructions:

• Discover a flowchart and experiment.
• Choose a tool that you find interesting.
• Discuss how you might use these tools in the future.

Answer:

The flowchart that I discovered was the bubbl.us website.  I thought that this was very interesting and even dabbled a little bit with the different options it offered.  I created a random flow chart that actually went with this class and put random tabs within the flow chart.  I could use these tools in the future by applying it in my classroom, I will be able to teach my students how to use these simple tools, that will allow them to better themselves in their studies.

Thing 13

Thing 13

Document for EDUC 3040 Thing 13

Instructions:

• Create a document, presentation, spreadsheet, or drawing on Google Drive.
• Discuss in the blog how students might collabortively use Google Drive.
• Compare Google Drive to another web-based application, Zoho.  Which do you prefer?  Why?

Answer:

I believe that Google Drive is an amazing tool to have available at the touch of a button.  It allows for anyone to save "work" whether it be a document, presentation, or a piece of artwork.  The advantages of Google Drive are unlimited.  Not only is this a plus for teachers, but it is also a plus for students, it allows them to communicate with the teacher and their classmates via the Internet.  Students will be able to work on materials at home as well as any where else that they may have Internet access.  This is also an advantage for students because for those who do not have Microsoft Word, will have a third party tool provided by Google Drive that will allow them to still to do their work, save it, and bring it up via the web.

I looked at Zoho and thought that it was an amazing application that could be used in any work field.  However, I still prefer Google Drive, this is only because I have an email with Google and it is easy access once I log in.  There are many exciting tools that Zoho provides such as: chats, projects, wiki, pulse, meeting, discussions, mail, docs, calendar, notebook, and writer.  I had a wonderful time exploring the benefits of both Google Drive and Zoho, and hope that you get a chance to explore it too!