Thing #18

Twitter

Facebook is very familiar to me because I first created an account when I was still in high school around four years ago. Although some of the updates can be frustrating, this is an amazing social networking site and I admit that I may be addicted to it. I already had the College of Education page added, which was a great idea to stay informed and find contacts.

Considering I (and probably the majority of the world) already have a Facebook account, I decided to create a Twitter account, and I provided the link above. I did understand the purpose and how to use the site beforehand, but for some reason I never created an account before. I think waited to use Twitter because I'm already addicted to Facebook and, with my busy lifestyle, I knew I would do the same with Twitter. I would spend all of my time online and I'd never get anything done! Overall, I see the great appeal of social networking sites. You can become indirectly involved in the lives of friends, loved ones, celebrities, politicians, companies, and so much more. This is an excellent way of keeping in touch in a simple, quick way.

Teachers need to become informed of social networking sites because they can provide resources, such as inspiration for lesson plans and suggestions for managing a classroom. You can also pose your own questions and thoughts, and feed off of each other. Social networking sites help to keep you informed on current events, such as in the educational field. Also, your students will most likely be heavily involved in these sites and shape their lives around them. Staying informed can help a teacher understand the view of their students and teach them the educational uses of the sites.

Thing #17

Finding the exact and most appropriate online resource that you need for a class can be difficult - the internet is just so enormous! Even typing a topic into a search engine can produce hundreds of results, and not all of them are worthy material. Sorting materials for just the right resource can be tiring, and this is where social bookmarking comes into play. Sites such as Delicious provide a way for people to add and list the best resources on a topic, making it simple for others to find what they need. This can be used in an educational situation because teachers can find appropriate materials for their classes, and even provide their own lists for students to view when searching. Instead of spending hours sorting through a search engine and only finding a handful of good results, you can use social bookmarking sites to find just what you need, instantly.

Thing #16

• I decided to visit my iGoogle account again for this project, and it is my favorite to use because it incorporates extremely convenient displays that range from calendars, weather, news postings, games, and much more! The site is also educational because it provides gadgets such as "word of the day" that strengthens vocabulary and "this day in history" that provides historical facts. I might consider using this as my permanent home page.
• Once again, I turned to Google for creating a calendar because I already have an account and some of the other sites seemed confusing to me. Online calendars can be useful because they are easily accessible wherever you are, and you don't have to worry about forgetting it at home! Teachers can not only have an account for personal use, but they can also create and share an account with their students who can access it at home. Parents can also view the calendar and keep tabs on their child's homework. Online calendars have many different functions and are easy to use.
• Finally, I used the Remember the Milk website to create my online to-do list. I decided to use this website not just because of it's simple and attractive layout, but also because of the iPhone App! I can create my list online and send it to my phone for when I'm on the go - so useful! Right now I am planning my wedding for this summer, so this tool will definitely come in handy! I can set reminders, send and share tasks, and prioritize my lists. Overall, this online tool is tremendously helpful and can be applied to school life and personal life!

Thing #15

Already having experience with a Wiki page, I understand how useful this tool can be. In high school, I was involved in a photography class and the teacher created a Wiki page for the class. Basic information of the class was found on the main page along with upcoming projects and contests. Each member of the class also had their own page where they could upload their photos and others could edit and leave comments. Not only was the page informative, but it was also interactive. I would absolutely use this tool and share it with my students and colleagues.

Thing #14

Flow charts are fun graphics to use inside the classroom and can help catch the attention of students. The flexibility of flow charts can help them be used in many different ways. Web based tools which help you create flow charts can be extremely useful, and two of my favorites to use are Bubbl.us and Flowchart.com. I found these sites to be the easiest when creating a flow chart because they were simple yet still offered several creative options, (such as color... I like lots and lots of color!) Mindmeister was interesting, and I could see how a mind map could be used with students for writing exercises and brainstorming. I will definitely keep these sites in mind when I teach.

Thing #13

Alright, guys... Zoho is a pretty cool site! I am, however, reluctant to admit that the site confused me at first and it took me a while to understand how everything worked. But once I figured everything out, I was able to create and save a document that I can access later. I understand the many conveniences of using Zoho, however I'm not sure if I will continue to use it because of how confusing the layout of the site is.

     Compared to Zoho, I liked Google Docs much better. I could easily figure out how to create documents and save them onto my computer. (I uploaded a picture of my Siberian Husky named Ivan and created a fun little document.) Overall, I can appreciate the functions of both sites because it can be very useful to save and edit documents without purchasing an expensive program such as Microsoft Office. (This could have been useful right after I bought my new MacBook Pro and couldn't afford such programs!) I could also refer this to my students, because they could use these tools to work on documents in school and still access them at home.