One Last Thing....

Well although I am quite glad that this is my last blog, I did learn a lot and had a few specific activities that I enjoyed above all the others. I especially enjoyed #17 in which I learned about Del.icio.us. This thing has already been useful for me in my research project for my EDUC 4160 class. It is so convenient in organizing information that I am amazed I haven't been using it my entire educational career. I also truly enjoyed #13 in which I explored Zoho Writer. I have been using Zoho writer since I learned about the program for my papers for school. It is very convenient because I don't need to worry about a jumpdrive, nor do I have to make sure that I am using a computer that has Microsoft Word on it. This program has taught me that I am much more tech-savvy than I thought I was and that using technology is EASY. Almost all of the things that I explored in this exercise will be applicable in my future classroom, in both my students' education and also my own.

Thing #23

Well I found that APSU 23 Things is based on 43 Things by Stephen Abram.  Some evidence that information was borrowed from Abram's 43 Things was his number 22: Get a Del.icio.us account and play with social bookmarking and tags is the same as APSU 23 Things number 17: Learn about tagging and discover delicious, a social bookmarking site. As a future educator, I will use Creative Commons to allow other individuals to use my intellectual property, as well as be able to use other peoples educational property depending on their copyright. I will definitely be teaching my students about Creative Commons, so that they will properly use other people's work as well as give credit to those creators.

Thing #22

Grammar Challenge was the post that I chose to listen to, and I found it on Learnoutloud.com. I really enjoyed this podcast, because it helps students learn more about grammar and then quizzes them on what they have learned. This is a podcast that I have decided to subscribe to through iTunes. It is educational and very interesting. I don't think that this has inspired me to make a podcast, because when we made the podcast for 6.1 I found it very frustrating and difficult. I feel that some podcasts, especially the Grammar Challenge one, are very helpful and can be very beneficial to students. I think it would definitely be a good project for students to do as a group in the classroom to present information to the class.

Thing #21

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

This was so much fun! As you can see, I made a video of pictures from my sorority recruitment. I was so easy and so much fun. I enjoyed making it, and I am sure that my future students would also enjoy using the program. It took me all of about 5 minutes to make and I tried to utilize all of the options that were given to me. Although you have to pay to make longer videos, the price was not that much and would be worth it if you were to use the videos for an educational or recreational purpose.

Thing #20

 I think everyone in this class has seen a video on YouTube sometime or another. This is my favorite video. While I don't think that it necessarily has very much educational merit, it is enjoyable and it makes me laugh every time I watch it. I like YouTube when looking for videos that are simply enjoyable; however, when looking for videos with merit it is difficult to find them through all of the junk that is on YouTube. I had a difficult time finding very many educational videos, and I don't think I will be using it in my classroom very much. I will instead continue using it simply for enjoyment.

Thing #19

This was a pretty interesting thing. I joined Teacher Pop and chose to make a comment on the page and to also install the badge onto my blog! Teacher Pop is a very useful social network to interact with other professional educators and learn and share information with each other. What I really liked was the other social network that I joined, Good Reads. I found out that many people that I already know are on Good Reads, and it speaks to my hobbies and joys! I like being able to share with other people how much I enjoyed a book and getting reading suggestions from other people to expand my library!

Thing #18

My Facebook!!

I already had a facebook, and it is a very useful tool to be able to keep in touch with people and keep up to date on certain things. I was already friends with the APSU Advising Page, and this page has been helpful to me all year. I am able to keep on track with when advising and preregistration starts and I was able to talk to someone in the advising department! Cool, eh? It is important for educators to understand how social networking works, because it is something that speaks to students and that students are drawn to. This can help educators adapt their teaching styles to mirror some of the techniques that facebook uses, in order to better reach and engage students. There are not very many useful features when it comes to teaching in anything other than college, and I do not intend to use it as a resource when teaching my students; however, in the college arena it can be another useful way to keep in touch and communicate with students as with the advising page. I like to use facebook, but it is important to make sure that your facebook is a good representation of yourself, and not conveying things that future employers might frown upon. It has become a resource for employers to find out more about individuals that they are going to interview or consider for a job.