Cool Tools, Not Only for School

For the duration of this semester I have been introduced to a numerous amount of technology tools that proved to be useful for me and can definitely be useful for other students and teachers. But of course, these tools aren't limited to classroom use, and I plan on taking advantage of these tools for as long as I can. Below are a set of eight technology tools and my personal rating of each tool.

I have rated them according to this scale:

★- not recommended
★★--mild reccommendation
★★★---highly recommended

Google Apps Rating: ★★★

 What I absolutely love most about Google Apps is that it's free and it features many useful tools within one website. I've been using my gmail account since I first started college here at the University of Guam, but I mainly used my gmail account specifically for gmail. I didn't know that I could create a blog. I used Google Docs once but I forgot about how convenient it was to share documents with classmates and be able to work as a group without having to be in the same room. Google Apps is extremely useful for students and teachers because it is easy to use, easy to access and free for use!

LiveBinders Rating: ★★

Livebinders is useful because I can store all my online sources here. I can combine them all on website and use it at my disposal. I think livebinder is extremely useful especially for students because many of our sources for information and research come from the internet and livebinder can be used as a way to store all those websites for future use or just in case you forget to mention something featured on the website. I'd definitely encourage my students to use it for that purpose only. The main reason why it's not highly recommended is because I can't customize the binder to my liking. I'd like the privilege of customizing the binder and making it my own. 

Moodle Rating: ★★★

What I love most about moodle is how easy it is for users to turn in assignments. A couple years ago or so, moodle didn't allow users to drag files into the drop box so easily. Moodle is like a personal secretary that will remind me about upcoming assignments or online quizzes. It also allows me to view grades and how I am progressing in a class. Teachers can easily give feedback on assignments and can save paper and trees by giving progress reports online. 

Mozilla Firefox Rating: ★★

I started using firefox out of curiosity in high school because internet explorer was always the go-to website back in the day. I am personally biased against any other web search engine because google chrome has proven to be faster for me. I did learn during this semester that firefox is safe, reliable and faster than internet explorer. All in all, it depends on the speed of your internet or wifi and not always on the search engine. 

Expressr Rating: ★★★

I really enjoyed using empressr mainly because it was just so easy to use and access. There are so many things you can use in the presentation to enhance it and capture your audience. I can use videos, graphs, pictures, audio and animations. I'll admit I was overwhelmed with all the tools and extra buttons, but the more I used empressr and the more I became familiar with the website, the more comfortable I was. I definitely liked how graphs can be utilized. It can definitely be used for business meetings and for showing statistics. 

Toondo Rating: ★★

Toondo is a website that people can use to make comics and even make comic books. It allows people to actually tell stories using comics of their creation. I personally liked toondo because it provided more options regarding characters, props and background. In comparison to pixton, toondo doesn't allow users to manipulate all body parts and instead allows users to search for a specific stance they are looking for. There are so many options to choose from and it looks more comical than the characters in pixton. 

Haiku Deck Rating: ★★

I like haiku deck so much that I've already used it for other class presentations. What I love most about haiku deck is it's simplicity. It's a very straightforward outline and doesn't have complex options. It is also extremely easy to make presentations more appealing to the eye with beautiful backgrounds. The reason why I think teachers or students may not want to use it is because the words are limited. By that I mean, the more you type the smaller the words get. This presentation tool requires that users provide short details upfront and more details orally. Another aspect is that haiku deck doesn't allow users to import additional pictures besides the picture used in the background. But haiku deck automatically gives credit to the person whose pictures are being utilized in your presentation. Haiku deck is easy to use and easy to sign up for. 

Wix Rating:★★★

Considering the fact that I have never made a website before, wix was an eye-opener for me. I never would have thought that creating a website could be SO easy. I loved how wix provided different layouts and for those layouts, there are categories that make it easier to find what kind of website layout you're looking for. Wix lets you shine with creativity and provides users with a variety of options. I will definitely reccommend this website not only to my colleagues and future students, but to everyone and anyone. I used to think creating websites was hard and that only business people really need their own website. Now, I can think of many ways I can use this website in the classroom, and everywhere else. 

Digital Dangers

Technology is growing to be more accessible, more affordable, and more necessary for the common teenager. This is a good and bad thing. Technology can definitely come in handy and as a future educator, I enjoy the fact that it makes work easier for me. But it can also be dangerous for those who don't know the full potential harms it can bring with its use.

I'd want to encourage my students to use technology to their advantage and at their disposal. More information at the convenience of a button isn't entirely a bad thing for them. But if they aren't given the proper warnings on what could happen when using technology or programs that aren't familiar to them, bad things are likely to happen.

Phishing, farming and copy rights are more school-centered whereas cyberbullying, sexting and textual harassment apply to all teenagers and even adults. They didn't work as cohesively for me when you put all the topics together. I'm more likely to warn my students about phishing, farming and copy rights rather than to discuss cyberbullying, sexting and textual harassment mainly because I believe that the issues of sexting, textual harassment and cyberbullying are more so morality issues and start at home. I also consider it common sense that people would know the dangers of those topics, which is probably why people don't discuss the issue as much as they should. In an article by The Sydney Morning Herald, Katrina Baum who conducted a survey on textual harassment states that "technology has become a quick and easy way for stalkers to monitor and harass their victims." I believe that parents need to be more involved in their teens technological habits. As a future educator, I want to reiterate these issues, but moral values start at home.

Wiggo wasn't useful in this project. Our group members divided the work and compiled it onto a google document so we are able to individually make changes at the same time. We then decided what presentation tool to use and inputted our information according to how our presentation was organized. As a matter of fact, Wiggio wasn't used at all for this presentation. I believe the google document proved to be more useful because we were all able to work simultaneously without having to meet up.

I think the only thing I'd want to change about the presentation, is the time limit. I believe that every group had to seriously condense their information to ensure that it fits the time allotted. If were were given maybe another 10 minutes, each group would be capable of giving a more detailed presentation and more information that can only teach the audience more about their respective topic. I would also like to add the dangers of too much technology. Like I mentioned earlier, I'd want my future students to use technology to their advantage and disposal, but a survey conducted worldwide in countries such as Japan, India, Brazil and China reported by The Times of India shows that "tech-obsession can make us less human". The report shows that we rely heavily on technology and prefer to google topics instead of reading about them in encyclopedias. Times are changing and technology is affecting the world more and more everyday. Educators need to keep up with the technological trends and it isn't as easy as it would be for teens nowadays.

Sources:
Ahseen, I. (2013 October 22) How Dependent are we on Technology Retrieved from:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/relationships/man-woman/How-dependent-are-we-on-technology/articleshow/24491279.cms

Baum,K (2009 March 6) Textual Harassment on the Rise  Retrieved from:
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/textual-harassment-on-the-rise-20090407-9x5m.html

Open Doors

It's easy to say that assistive technology is opening doors for everyone. Indeed people take advantage and under appreciate the things laptops and computers do for them. For people with disabilities, technology has provided lee way for pursuing their dreams. I've had personal experience with people with disabilities with the privilege of being able to oversee a special education class for ED192. I was able to learn about how to teach special education and saw the difficulty of having to go back and forth with the lesson because students aren't always on the same level of learning. I can definitely see how technology can play a major role in a student's education and for student's with disabilities, communication can be accomplished. During my observation of the special education class, and throughout my experience in public school, students with disabilities are given one-to-one aides. Those aides are there to of course, help the student. Now, because some students with disabilities are unable to write or draw or talk, we can't really tell if the student is learning or not. The aide would then do the work for them or hold their hand and move it for them. With the technology we have now, wouldn't it be nice to implement it into schools and further the learning process. If we can have the student progress academically and show their work, it would be a amazing improvement for them. I suppose, the next problem would be the cost of all these updates. As written in an online article, "schools are forever playing technological catch up as digital innovations emerge that require upgrading schools' technological infrastructure and building new professional development programs." I'm certain that the government would be able to see how well students do with the new technology and can't resist providing the funds needed for the equipment. If this is already being utilized in the states, I believe Guam needs to jump on that bandwagon and implement it in our public schools.

*This blog is in response to this video

Online sources:

(2011 September 1) Technology in Education edweek.org Retrieved 21 March 2014 from http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/technology-in-education/

Photos:
Jordan, Brandi (2013 June 29) 11 Ways to Use Technology in the Classroom  [Graphic] Retrieved from http://blog.reallygoodstuff.com/11-ways-to-use-technology-in-the-classroom-infographic/

Johnson, Hans (n.d.) Technology is Awesome [graphic comic] Retrieved from http://iwastesomuchtime.com/on/?i=5131

Educational Game Reflection

For our online educational game, the most helpful technology would of course be our presentation tool. Our group used wix.com to create a website that definitely helped present our game more efficiently. We structured our website and organized our information the way we thought best provided by easy access of wix.com.

Another use of technology that we utilized was wiggio. Although we found wiggio useful at times, we still referred to our emails. If a group member were to start a conversation on wiggio, our smartphones would get a notification on our email accounts. So I think that wiggio is only useful for online group meetings, but in this case for our educational game, our group preferred to meet in person to better discuss the different aspects of the game that we wanted to acknowledge in our presentation. In a sense, we weren't utilizing wiggio to its full potential.

Although pizza isn't a source of technology, it served as a bonus for our audience. As aspiring teachers, we understand that some students need more motivation to get their attention. Because we don't want to bribe our students, reward systems can only be utilized to an extent. But in my experience, reward systems acknowledges students and make them feel like their hard work and dedication is appreciated and will motivate them to do better. Of course, we can't always use food to get students to excel in class. But I believe it can definitely bring more interested students to class. It doesn't always have to be food as well. It can be a point system that can lead to a better prize.

Overall, I think the website proved to be most useful for our group in my opinion. Wiggio wasn't useful for this group project because group members mainly referred to our emails. Pizza was just a motivator for our audience. but didn't enhance the academics of our game.


Online Sources:

 http://www.wix.com/
http://www.abcya.com/fraction_fling.htm

Summer 2014 Vacation

I cannot wait for vacation this summer. Just one more semester until I get to go to Washington with my family and boyfriend. Going to Disneyland to see Mickey Mouse and all my Disney friends. I'm excited! But I just need to get through this one semester. Sigh, wish me luck!