Thing #16

I created my start page with iGoogle. I figured iGoogle would be the easiest since I’ve already been using a lot of other Google applications. I really like the start page. You can see your email, weather, news, etc. all in one place. I added a few widgets including a To-Do List notepad. I also created a Google Calendar to keep up with school assignments, work deadlines, and personal appointments. Online calendars are very useful because they help keep you organized and you can access them anywhere. The other site I explored was Lifehacker. Lifehacker is a site that keeps you up to date on the new changes on various apps and software. I think all these tools will be helpful in both my personal and professional life. Being organized is very important for teachers and all these sites and applications will be useful to me in the future.

Thing #15

On the APSU 23 Things Sandbox wiki, I uploaded one of the images I created with an image generator from Thing 9. Editing the wiki page was very easy to do. I can see how wikis can be useful. It’s another tool that makes collaboration easy. The example given in the “Wiki in Plain English” video is a good example of how wikis can be beneficial. Wikis could be used to coordinate information for a group project or as a way for students and teachers to share information and ideas. However, I find wikis to be somewhat confusing and disorganized because it is hard to tell who wrote what and what was changed, so I don’t know if I will be using them in my future classroom.

Thing #14

Mind maps and flow charts are a great way to create a visual outline of a topic and see how things are connected and related. I think these would be great tools for students to use to help them grasp certain concepts. The two tools I explored were bubbl.us and Gliffy.com.

Bubble.us:  I really liked this site. It was very user friendly and easy to figure out. You just click the “Start Brainstorming” button and then you can start adding your bubbles. Some of the nice features on this website allow you export and import your charts as well as the sharing feature which lets you collaborate with others.  

Gliffy.com: This site was a little more complicated and more difficult to use. There are so many options to choose from. This site took a little bit more time to figure out, but once you figure out how to use it, it’s not so bad.

Thing #13

Using Zoho Writer and Google Docs is much like using the Microsoft Office applications expect they are both free and available on the web. Both have many of the same basic features as Microsoft Office. However, they have some other features not available on Office such as importing documents from the web and a way to share and collaborate with others easily. The sharing option is a great benefit to using these tools because it allows you to work in real time with others. This feature would be very useful for group projects and presentations. Both programs were very easy to use so I don’t really prefer one over the other.

  

Here are the links to the documents I created:

Google Doc:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BVEG5YhH7A569Cu_CjWkxMnNoR18OTmVdKR90Sow-tU/edit?usp=sharing

ZoHo Writer: https://writer.zoho.com/public/911921793e7956c4fcf653b15d4a34a38e2fd705d41bec3acd0e086a4dfc6442d2bec0af04f23226

Thing #12

Google has so many things to offer other than just being a search engine. I use several of their tools on a regular basis such as Goggle Maps and now Goggle Reader. The two Google tools I chose to explore were Google Alerts and Google Translate. I set up a Google Alert for one of my favorite bands so I will know when they release their upcoming tour dates. Google Translate was also a really cool tool. I have used other online translators in the past, but Google Translate has a lot of neat features that I have not seen on some of the other translating sites such as the keyboard that lets you type with the different language characters, the “listen” function which lets you hear how the words are pronounced, and the “word usage example” function.

I can see both of these Google tools being very useful in the classroom. Google Alerts can help you find information and resources on whatever subject you are teaching and keep you up to date on any news related to your field. Students can also use Google Alerts for various projects such as keeping up with current events or finding information on a certain research topic. Google Translate can also be helpful in the classroom, by helping you communicate with an ESL student or with students learning another language.

Thing #11

The two search tools I found easiest to use for finding RSS feeds were Google Blog Search and Technorati. Google Blog Search is just like doing a regular Google search that everyone is already familiar with. I had never heard of nor used Technorati before, but I liked the site. Because Technorati is specifically a blog directory, it was easier to narrow down my search and find blogs related to what I was searching for. I tried to use Topix, but it was pretty confusing and I didn’t really find any specific blogs in my search. Most of the blogs I added to my RSS feed were found on Technorati. I added several teaching blogs and history blogs that I think will be useful in the future.

Thing #10

Before discovering RSS, I was using the old way of going to my favorite websites and checking to see if there were any new updates. But now, RSS feeds have made that process a lot simpler and quicker. I have seen that little orange RSS button before on websites, but never really knew what it was. Now I know that I can just click on the orange button and all the information can now come to me in one place. I love that I can just go to my Google Reader and it brings up all the sites that I would normally check on a daily basis in a centralized location, so I can quickly click on whatever new post or article I want to read and not have to search and refresh individual web pages.

Using RSS feeds can be very helpful to teachers because it creates an easy way to stay up-to-date on news and information related to the teaching profession as well as your subject area. If you follow teacher blogs, it allows you to stay connected with other professionals and can help you find lesson plans and ideas to utilize in your classroom. Your students can also utilize RSS feeds to get information on news and current events or follow different feeds related to what they are studying at the moment.