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. 

Thing #12

Again, Google leaves me surprised! I had no idea that so many tools were available through Google and that you could create and customize your own. I decided to create an iGoogle Homepage where I chose my own gadgets and interests to have available and posted on my page. I can keep up to date on what I am interested in, create and follow a checklist, add games, and many other fun and interesting things. I believe this could be useful in the classroom because either you can create a page for the entire class and make it available to all of your students. It can be also be used for students to create their own and offer a way for them to learn organization skills.

Next, I decided to create a Google Calendar, which was a very useful tool because it was simple and easy to use. Again, this could be used for the entire class as a way for students to keep up with a teacher's assignments. Students can also access it at home to view your lesson plans and discover what they missed in class. Additionally, they can create their own which will also help them to develop organizational skills.

Thing #11

...and technology gets even cooler! I have been so surprised by most of the "things" we have learned in this course so far, especially because I didn't know half of them existed! I didn't realize how advanced some Web 2.0 tools are and how extremely useful they are. The blog search tools used for this exercise definitely fit into that category.

I'm not sure what method I used for searching- I guess I was straightforward and typed in keywords of what I was looking for, then scanned through the results to see what popped up. Overall, I really enjoyed using the Google Blog Search because it was very simple and easy to use. It has an air of familiarity (the same design as the Google homepage we all know and love) and I can see myself using it again. I was able to browse each category that I searched and easily found what I was looking for. Although Topix was an interesting tool because it searched for newsfeeds pertaining to your topic, I found it to be the most confusing. The results from this search engine were scattered, meaning they seemed sort of random. (I searched "siberian husky" and received for-sale dog postings. Google Blog Search was a better fit because it provided interesting information and fun pictures.)

Overall, I found the most affective way to search for a specific topic would be to search for different keywords to receive broader results. Instead of just searching for "siberian husky," I tried searching for "husky," "snow dog," "sled dog," and other keywords. I found this to be the best way to search for a wider range of material.

I am attaching Gone to the Snow Dogs, one of my cool finds. They have an awesome (and adorable) video of huskies on their page!