Thing # 17

Social bookmarking is a great way to stay up-to-date on information relative to what ever topic it is you are interested in.  The first time I was introduced the social bookmarking was when I signed up for Diigo at the beginning of this semester.  I had absolutely no idea what the term "social bookmarking" meant let alone how it can be used.

Now that I an educated on what social bookmarking is, I can now use it effectively and to my benefit.  There is an obvious connection between social bookmarking and the classroom--sharing amongst other teachers!  This is a fantastic way to share useful sites, projects, teaching methods, and much more between different.  A teacher who teaches in Tennessee could have a really great lesson on volcanoes and be able to share that idea/lesson with another teacher who teaches in Nebraska!  It's a great way to be able to have the best information and receive it quickly.

When I typed "educational technology" in the search bar on the Delicious site, literally thousands of links came up.  Then to the right of the screen I noticed that you can narrow your search to something more specific like "science" or "brainpop."  This allows you to find what you are looking for more quickly.  Overall, I think sites like this and Diigo  are great ways to stay connected and relevant to the teaching community.

Thing # 16

For my start page I chose iGoogle, simply because I am more familiar with Google than any of the other choices.  I also thought that iGoogle was a little easier to personalize than the other sites.  I actually did set this page as my home page on my computer!  I thought that it was more visually appealing than my previous home page, and thought it would be a good idea to try it out for a few days to see how I liked it.

The online calendars can be extremely useful!  I know that many times when I want to write something down in my planner, I don't have it with me!  However, with an online calendar, I can upload my calendar from wherever I am and add to my calendar.  This also gives me the opportunity to check my calendar whenever I need to.

My favorite online to-do list was Remember the Milk.  This is probably because the title was the most interesting and the site was visually appealing.  I really like that you can load your list to your smart phone and have it with you when you shop.  I love this idea!

I think that the online calendars could definitely be used in the classroom--not for the student's benefitm but the teachers.  This would be a great way for him/her to stay more organized without having to keep track of a hard copy of their calendar.

Thing # 15

I have always felt weary of Wikis.  When you're in school, the teachers alway tell you not to use Wikipeida as a source when writing a paper; therefore, I have always had a negative connotation towards the term "Wiki."

However, after doing this exercise, I have discovered that Wikis are not always a bad thing.  When used in the right context Wikis can be beneficial when learning new things.  Collaborative work is a great way to study new topics and having a wiki page aids this effort.  I posted my mashup from Thing #8 on the APSU sandbox and I was impressed at how easy it way to go through that process.  I also enjoyed that I was able to look at what my other classmates are working on without having to go to each person's individual page--everything was right there on one page and made it very simple to look through.

I now know that Wikis are a great tool! 

Thing # 14

Flowcharts and mind maps are great tools in the education realm.  They are a great way to write your ideas down in a way that makes sense to you.  I chose to use Gliffy and bubbl.us as my flowchart and mind map sites.  Personally, I liked the bubbl.us stie to be easier to use.  I found it to be easier to navigate, and I have discovered that I like mind maps better than I like flowcharts.  Here is what I created on bubbl.us:

I thought this was user friendly and very simple to navigate.  I honestly did not even look at the mindmeister site because bubbl.us looked so much more appealing to me. 

These are definitely great tools to use in the classroom because it would be very easy to show a student either site I selected, teach them how to use it, and let them get to work.  Students could easily get their ideas written down and I think it could very much help them to stay organized, especially in something like writing a paper.

Thing # 13

I found the Zoho website to be quite interesting.  I loved that there were so many options such as the writing tool, a calendar, and a planner.  I found the writer tool to be great.  It seems so much like Microsoft word; that made it very easy to navigate.  I also enjoyed the calendar because, as I have said in a previous post, I'm all about organization.  The calendar seemed very well laid out and simple to follow. 

The drawing to the left is something I created using the Google Docs drawing tool.  I actually really enjoyed creating this.  I found it to be much simpler to use than the drawing tools on Microsoft word (the classroom drawing we did in class). 
Google Docs would be a great way for students to collaborate together in class.  For example, if  they had an assignment in class which required them to make some sort of creation, perhaps and emblem or a birds-eye view of a room the create, the Google Docs tool would be a great way to use that. 

Personally, I liked the Google Docs site better than the Zoho site.  I found that Google Docs was easier to use, and I thought that it would be easier for younger children such as the ones I plan on teaching to use in the classroom.

Thing # 12

Google is such an amazing resource, especially for teachers.  I chose to use the Google Calendar and the Google Translate.  I had previously talked about Google Calendar in my Thing 6 because it is what I chose for my emerging resource for Web 2.0 tools.  I love Google Calendar because it is such an easy way to stay organized.  I created a calendar previously, https://www.google.com/calendar/render?pli=1, and I was able to separate my different  tasks by color such as birthdays, holidays, and appointments.  This is awesome for teachers because there is so much work to do, it just makes organization that much easier.

The other tool I chose was Google Translate.  I have played with this before and I love using it.  I took French class in high school and I won't lie when I say that I have forgotten a lot of it.  It is nice to be able to type whatever it was I wanted to know in French and be able to refresh myself on how it should be said.  My link to this website is http://translate.google.com/#en|fr|Do%20you%20speak%20French%3F%0AWhat%20is%20your%20favorite%20color%3F%0AI%20love%20you.%0AI'm%20hungry.%0AI%20am%20a%20female%20American.  I wrote down a few things in English that I wished to know in France and they are written down if any of you would like to view it.  Google Translate can also be useful in the classroom.  Whether you are a foreign language teacher or you are teaching first graders how to count in Spanish, this tool can be used to aid you in that aspect.

I love using Google and I think that it is great that all of these tools are free to the public.  "Googling" things really is what the world has come to and that is definitely not a bad thing.

Thing # 11

I think that these search tools are a great resource.  Of the four that were listed on the 23 Things page, I found that I like using Topix.net and Technorati.com the best.  I liked Topix.net because I liked that on the main page, there was information based on the city you live in.  I simply put in my zipcode and as I scrolled down, I found the latest news on Clarksville, which I thought was great.  I liked Technoarti.com even more because I found a great blog for elementary school teachers on it called Primary Education Oasis.  I felt that Technorati was a little bit easier to use than the other search tools; it was more clear cut and I felt like the results found were more geared toward what I was looking for.  Topix.net did have many results on education, but not exactly what I was looking for.