Summary Week 5

Sarah Roe 5-29-13

Technology Explorations

Throughout this Tech Exploration, I learned a lot of new things. The resources were great sites that held a lot of different resources within one place. I think that the most important thing I critisize and look at when going to these new sites is the visual effects that they have on me. I like a site that is visually enhanced, and easy to navigate. If it is plain, and not appealing, then I am not as interested in it. There were not that many sites that we unappealing this round, and that was exciting for me, because it meant that there were more sites that I could use in my classroom. Some of the sites that really stuck out to me were the Edmodo site, and the TeacherTube. The Edmodo site was absolutely fantastic. I loved that it looked just like Facebook, and was simulated the same way. So many students can connect to Facebook, that it makes the educational work easier for them, and more interesting. I would like to post statuses to my students after each day, letting them know how great they did in class, or something that they need to work harder on as a group. I think it would mean more to them, and they could retain it better seeing it on the screen in such a social media site, instead of me telling them in class. The teachertube was also very interesting. I single it out because there were several sites that were very similar, and had some of the same jobs as Teacher Tube, but more individualized in one area. Teacher Tube seemed to have everything from all of the sites in one place, and it was more visually appealing than the other ones.

Probably the most visually appealing site was the SpicyNodes site. However I was dissappointed in the different payment plan options. Although it was free, when you look at the different options, you see that the free plan only offers 2 of the many great characteristics of the site. I think they should offer a couple of more things, so that people can see how great the site is, and want to pay more for the extra options later on. Other than that, the site had some great visual effects on the screen, and the different tabs and links that lead you through the site were easy to find and navigate through. I couldn't think of many uses for it in the classroom, so I will be interested to see what my other classmates think about it.

Another great site was the Glogster site. It was soo cool, and had a lot of different apps that you could use on your lesson plans, or to make new lesson plans, more interesting for the students. The most impressive thing about this site was all of the different awards it had recieved, and the great testimonials that it provided. It is always better for sites to give this information to its viewers, because it gives a comfort about using the site, and how well it would work in the education world. I continue to find some great sites that will very beneficial to my classroom this fall, I anxiously await what is in store for this class next week!

15. Prezi - http://prezi.com/

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response. -This site was very interesting. I completely agree with its ideas of connecting images to information to better remember them. It looked like a great site that could accomplish this. There were ways to make words and pictures more visually attractive to watch and learn from.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings. This site could be used in a school setting, but it looked like it was geared more towards teaching new employees the material they will need on the job. If the site wanted to be used for school materials as well, it should focus more on it during some of the documentaries and confessions of other users.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not? - I would recommend this site to other educators if they had not had much use out of other similar sites. It was not geared towards the educational field, nor was it visually attractive. I would have rather seen some immediate accessablility to the functions of the sites, and examples of what other people had done. Instead, it was plain, and you really had to search hard to get to see what you wanted.

SpicyNodes - http://www.spicynodes.org/

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response. This site could be used to fancy up a website that any company or organization had. There were a lot of different options that could be used to make the sites more visually affective for its viewers. The text, pictures, and nodes could be modified to make the site more interesting.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings. -This could be used in any organization or subject area within a school setting. The Science department could use it, Reading groups, Study Groups, extra curricular activities could make their own site and use this to make it more visually attractive to those who would be using it.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not? I would recommend this to the other educators if they had the need. I think that it was a visually attractive page that made me more interested about its functions and uses. However, I think that it kind of "tricks" you, when concerning the cost to join. Although it is free, the uses that you get out of the site when not paying, are very limited. To get the better options, you have to pay more, but the options seem reasonable, for the group and organizational pay plans.

16. Edmodo - http://www.edmodo.com/

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response. -I loved the fact that this site was set up exactly like facebook. I think that this feature makes it very easy to use for students and teachers. Both groups should already be familiar with the setup of that site, so they feel more comfortable navigating through it. The site was easy to use for searching different teaching mechanisms and ideas for the classroom, as well as connecting with the student and making class information accessable in an easy way.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings. - I could use this in my classroom to let the students find the homework and things that they need for class on their own, without having to answer the same question 300 times. It would be nice to send the students litle notes as my "status" about how they did for the day, or some things that I noticed they did really well, or need to work harder on.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not? I have heard about htis site from other teachers before, but had never taken the time to register and set up my own account. I am glad this class gave me that opportunity and I would definitely tell other teachers about it if they have not already heard. I think this is spreading like wildfire throughout the educational community.

math dictionary http://www.amathsdictionaryforkids.com/dictionary.html

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response. This site was so fun! It was a great way to make Math more interesting for students. It had a lot of definitions and examples of how to work out problems.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings. - This could be used in a math setting classroom for students to be introduced to different math skill sets. There are definitions for each different example, I think it could be used as a good resource for children to look up exactly what they are learning in the classroom, and how to better define it.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not? - I would recommend this to other educators, but I do not know many Math teachers. I would be more interested in giving this information to students to help them if they were having problems in their math classes. The site was very colorful and interesting to look it, I think that any viewer would enjoy it.

17. Glogster - http://www.glogster.com/

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response. - This site was very creative. It had many different options to use in the educational setting. The Inspire Curiosity app was very interesting. I was great to see how the regular activities that you already had planned could be changed to make it more interesting for the students.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings. -This could be used in the school setting by engaging your students and letting them see a more creative side of the learning process. It also allows the students to connect visually with their assignments from home and school in a safe way. It was nice to see how many awards this site had been given, and the great things that it had been recognized for.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not? - I would recommend this site to other educators. I would feel more comfortable recommending this site than some of the others that I have researched before. This is because it had so many awards, and testimonials that show how well rounded it is as a resource and how useful it could be in the educational world. The only thing I did not like about this site was that you had to pay to become a part of it.

Jing http://www.techsmith.com/jing/

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response. - This site had a lot of technology that covered recording and video taping things and sharing them with other people through the media. There are ways to record something you are doing on the computer, so that you can show it to other people. I think this would be great for companies who use computers on a regular basis, and need to train their employees on this process.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings. - This could be great in the Computer Lab, for students to learn how to use the internet and other technology devices that are used in the school. They could be shown how to use their email, check out/in books, save papers and share them with their peers, etc. With the recording app, the instructors can do the process once, video tape it, and show it to each individual.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not? - I would recommend this site to other educators. I think it would be a easy way to save time when showing students how to do something on the interent. It is hard to video tape something over the shoulder of the person on the computer. This way, students can see exactly what the screen will look like, up close, and know what they will need to do.

18. You Tube for Education - https://www.youtube.com/education?b=400

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response. - I absolutely loved this site! I have talked about this in a couple of other posts throughout this class. I love how you can search for educational videos without being bothered with content that is not appropriate for your classroom. This not only includes videos, but any ads that might be on the site as well. The site is used to look up videos that can be shown to the class, including any educational content imaginable.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings. - You could use this ina classroom to show videos of historical events, videos that are educational, etc. The uses are endless, as well as the different subjects that can be found on the site. This could be used in Science class to find different experiements, Social Studies for historical events and speeches, etc.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not? - I would recommend this site to any teacher and parent. I think that it really gives us a safe way to use technology without worrying about the content we are showing our children. It can be used in many different subjects, educational or fun. It is hard to monitor the videos that students search, and this site makes it easier. Even though there is the option to set a block on sites, somehow, unrated things can sneek their ways into videos that would otherwise be okay for students. This is a great site that prevents all of those "what ifs".

SchoolTube http://www.schooltube.com

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response. -This site was very similar to the site about the Educatial Youtube. But the difference seemed to be that this site held all types of video blogs, research examples, and informationals from actual students and classrooms. These were gerat to have a view on a topic that you can connect with. Students seem to learn better from their peers, and this resource does exactly that.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings. - You could use this is a school setting when doing classroom projects, or individual projects as well. I think that it is a great resource because not only can students look up what their peers have been doing, but they have the option to post their own videos online so that they can share them with others.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not? - I would definitely recommend this site to other educators. Specifically for my own use, I would like to have my students make their own videos in Spanish, talking about a unit that they have been working on, and how they can use it in real life. When we work on the food groups and vocabulary words, we apply that to ordering in a restaurant. I think that this would be a great video that others could benefit from, as well as my students performing.

TeacherTube http://www.teachertube.com

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response. - This site seems to be a mixture of all three sites that we have just researched. It has the links to documents, pictures, and videos that students, teachers and educators have put on the web. I like the format of this site better, it looks easy to navigate and there are easy links that are visible and clear.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings. - You could use this resource in a school setting for almost anything. Any subject could be found on the site, and added, if wished. I like that it has both of those options and the uses are endless for this site. Specifically in the Spanish field, it is nice to see some videos and documents on World languages.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not?- I would recommend this site to other educators. I think that now I have seen all three different sites, I like this site the most. It was the most visually appealing, and easy to navigate. It seemed like it had all of the information from the other sites put together in one space, that makes it easier to find the documents that they need.