Thing #9

I had fun experimenting with the Happy Face Generator and it was super easy to use! You can choose the type of lettering you would like and preview before you save it. You type in the text you would like to use and instantly, you have a lovely text creation. I think if nothing else, this generator and others like it could be used to make the classroom environment more fun for the students. Of course you have to give direct instruction to ensure the students are exposed to the material but activities such as this one help to solidify what you have already taught. Also, many students in your class may be visual learners and this may help them to view the material in a more concrete fashion. We have to cater to all learning styles.

Thing #8

I used the Mosaic Maker to make a mash up of four completely RANDOM pictures I found. The picture on the top left is my favorite...so colorful. I think the mash up concept has the potential to be quite useful in the classroom. I could see myself gathering photos that were related to one another based upon the topic I was teaching in class that day. For example, if I was teaching a lesson on Egypt, I could create a mash up of pictures of pyramids or hieroglyphics. I'm sure that would be really interesting for the students. Instead of just hearing about Ancient Egypt from a text book, I would really be able to cement the concepts through these pictures.I think that this could be a very useful tool and as long as done responsibly, picture sharing can be fun!

Thing #6

The award winning Web 2.0 site I chose to explore was Etsy.com. Etsy is a website where a person can both buy and sell handmade goods. The site has much you can search, including clothing, candles, jewelry, and crocheted and knitted items. I found the crocheted items the most interesting, since I try to dabble in that myself when I have free time. What I found really interesting was that not only were people selling their crocheted items, they were also selling the patterns for different projects. It clicked to me that this is where someone could use this site for academic purposes. If a student was doing a project for school, they could decide to purchase an inexpensive crochet pattern from the site, create the work, and use it as a visual aide. Searching on the site is very easy. There is a drop down menu as well as a search box in order to find the items you are looking for. You can also search my color, gift ideas, or locally. I think Etsy.com is a great site and definitely worth exploring.

Thing #5

To me, Web 2.0 refers to how the majority of us are using technology more and more in our everyday lives. Technology does not have to be a daunting task. Many of us even grew up using technology, so much of what the Internet now has to offer comes easily to us. We as students incorporate Web 2.0 into our lives on a daily basis so in the future, I see students in schools using more Web 2.0 tools than we even do now. I read "Web 2.0 is Not About Numbers or Betas." In this article, the author talks about how the name Web 2.0 may be confusing to people. Later, he creates his own definition, saying basically that Web 2.0 just means more "regular" people taking advantage of what the Internet has to offer. These offerings often include blogging and social networking tools. I also watched the Web 2.0 video and it seemed to focus more on the educational aspect of Web 2.0. The woman was speaking about using Pod casts, wikis, blogs, and RSS feeds to enrich the classroom for the students. I can appreciate how she related Web 2.0 tools to an academic setting.

Thing #20

YouTube is an awesome site. I spend much of the little free time I do have, watching the entertaining videos people post on there. I love how many videos come up when doing a one or two word search. This gives you so many options to choose from. However, that is also one of the things that I dislike about YouTube. Although so many options are fine when you just want to entertain yourself of your friends, when you are looking for well thought out content, some of the videos that come up are not useful at all. For instance, you can type in teaching, and see a video you NEVER thought would come up. It's interesting to say the least, but for an academic setting, you may have to do a little more filtering. Another positive note to YouTube is how you can view a video and share it instantly with other individuals or websites. I think the ease of sharing would be beneficial to the library website.

Thing #18

It is important for educators to understand how social networking works because it can be vital tool in the classroom. Missing out on social networking can cause you to miss out on opportunities to make the learning process richer for your students. Also, many students are a part of these social networking sites and as an educator, you want to be familiar with what your students are using in their daily lives. Although when I first signed up for Facebook, I really enjoyed it, I find now I'm not nearly obsessed with it as I used to be. I keep mine around just to check in with people and since so many people I know are on it, it seems worth while to not delete it. However, I feel twitter is better. Probably because it's newer to me. I like how you can see small tweets on twitter about your friends without having to filter through access "junk" on their profile. I think twitter would be better for the classroom because it is easier to follow people based on topics or key words. Twitter allows you to follow ideas and concepts and not only people.

Thing #16

Surprise surprise, I chose iGoogle for my homepage. I chose it because I love Google! I think I may actually use this as my homepage. I chose cooking as a topic of interest and it put a "recipe of the day" tab on my homepage which was nice! I feel like I could use the online calendar to help me keep up with anything I have going on at the time. As of now, I have several observations I need to complete so the calendar would help me to schedule my time better. I used Remember the Milk as my online to do list. Secretly, I am obsessed with to do list. What I've discovered about myself is I'm much more likely to remember something if I write it down. I really don't need the list after that, but writing down what I need to do always helps me to not forget. I'm not sure if I would use this tool, only because to me, writing it down just seems easier. I would definitely recommend iGoogle for the customizable homepage. Having your interests right there on the page is really appealing to me and I think it would also be appealing for others who try it. I think this tool would help me to organize my interests at home.