Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Is it the End... or Only the Beginning?!

I learned so much through these 23 things. One of the most valuable things I learned is how to have all of the things you need all on one type of website. Mine is Google. This website is not only a search engine, but really so much more. I now can continue to blog under a different name, add people to my Google Plus, and even check the weather. I can do all this from the same website. I find that quite amazing. By completing these 23 things I mostly feel relieved. Like I do with most semester long projects, I procrastinated until the tail end. I feel like it would be easy to keep up with this 23 things if it was strictly enforced that one be due every week or two. I also believe there is a lot of repetition in each of the explanations for how to do the 'things'. Sometimes I didn't even want to get started because there was so much reading just to figure out that I would be doing something I already knew how to do.
As a future educator I find almost all of these sites to be wonderful to know for my future students. In the next few years when I become a teacher the students may be almost more progressive in technology than myself, but now I am ready to take on the challenge. Going through each of these things was fairly difficult for me because I don't usually do much on the internet, or even with computers. I have always just stuck to the basics. It is very difficult for me to figure out exactly how to navigate some sites. This may be due to the fact that the websites I do use are basic. I have had a Facebook, Twitter, and Photobucket for years now and those sites are pretty point blank.

thing # 23

Before this class I knew very little about how copy rights worked. I would just copy and paste any image song or video clip I wanted without actually thinking about the consequences. Now I know that you can get into some hot water with people for using their work inappropriately or without permission. Even if the artist doesn't find out you 'borrowed' their work, it is still wrong to not acknowledge the proper owner of the work. Learning all of this about copyright laws makes me somewhat intimidated on showing pictures or videos in the classroom. However, I do know how to find material that I am allowed to share with students. These copyright laws make it more difficult to find shareable information, but they also protect people's artworks. I can say that I wish I could just use anything I want for any kind of project, but it is respectful to do as the owner of the work wishes.

thing #22

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1ag80XIJOo6qSqF926z7H-Ebx7kdYQPX5_tl9NtDz3mI/edit

The three titles of my Binder are: educational music, sex ed, and gardening in the classroom. This may seem like a random variety of subjects, but these are actually areas I find very important in school. One of the most important areas is sex education. This area usually gets gazed over and ignored. I have always strongly felt that students need a strong understanding of their bodies and how having sex can affect them. Since America has the highest teen pregnancy rate for a first world country, this is obviously an area that needs improvement. I could see LiveBinders being used in a classroom setting if the students were at least in middle school, if not older. This website might be too 'boring' to maintain young children's attention.

thing #21

My Animoto Video
I have used a few different programs that you can make videos on, but never one that is tied to the internet. This website is perfect for all kinds of special occasions. I could see using this professionally, in class, or just for fun. Not only was this website extremely easy to navigate, it was also a fun site to play around with. I would definitely recommend this site to someone who doesn't want to go out and buy a special program for their computer. I might even use something like this as a birthday present to a couple of my friends. I know everyone will love looking at old pictures in a movie format.

thing #20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97W0DL5v6eI
I have always really enjoyed using YouTube. This website has helped me learn so many off hand tasks that I would have to search hours on end at a bookstore to learn. I have even used this site for educational purposes. This site is one of those that may be inappropriate for students because there are many things that they could stumble upon. This site is mostly useful during downtime. 

Monday, April 23, 2012

thing #14

The flowchart that I chose was Gliffy. This website was very fun, free, and easy to navigate. The first document I chose to use was actually the interior design project. This one reminded me that many of these websites can be used by all kinds of people, for all kinds of tasks. I played around with creating a classroom. I will say that the program we used in class was much easier than this website. The tools I used were mostly to change the color and size of each object. There was also one that I found very helpful. It is called 'lock shape'. This allowed me to set each part of the room I created, so I wouldn't accidentally drag an item. Another one that is always very useful was 'copy' and 'paste'. These two tools are the ultimate tools for anyone using a computer, for almost any reason.
The mind map that I chose was bubbl.us. This website was a very simplistic way of creating basic flow charts. I could see this being useful in a lecture style class. This could also be used in teaching younger students the concept of different ideas tying to one another. As for recreational use this would be a fun way to create a small version of a family tree. I believe that the flow charts were a little bit more complicated than the mind maps. Both of these have multiple uses, but the flow charts ultimately take the cake.

thing #13

Zohowriters
drawing
One creative way students could work together in Google Docs is by co-writing a story. There are many options for Google Docs when it comes to student team work. Since I will hopefully be teaching 3rd-5th grade the students will be able to use these websites with ease. I think another great way for the students to work together with Google Docs would be to create a history project, to which each of them have different parts. This way the students would not have to all go to the library together and the teachers wouldn't have to take away class time. This will probably be the way all student projects are done in the future. These two websites are not only easier on the students, but also the teachers and parents. I must say I found Zoho writers to be a watered down version of Microsoft Office. The good part about that, however, is that people without regular access to Word or PowerPoint can use this website. Today many computers do not already come with these programs. Purchasing them can be extremely pricey and time consuming. Personally I prefer Google Docs, because every time I can find another site to use that is affiliated with Google I am tying more websites together.