Second Life

At first I had a hard time finding reasons why this website could be of any use in education because it came across to me at first as a video game which I did not want to even look further into but when I did I was surprised. You can pick different areas of the world which you wanna click on and visit, for example, when I visited the website, it talked about how you could use this to show colleges from far away and see them virtually. Also, it talked about businesses having meetings over this website and I was very surprised. If meetings can be had over this, then you could have class or discussions or office hours over this website as well. I think this website could have many uses and has proven itself since major corporations are investing and having meetings over this website.

http://megschmidt.weebly.com/

Twitter

http://technorati.com/blogging/article/trouble-deciding-who-to-follow-on/

Twitter seems very foreign at first, especially to me, but reflecting back on the semester, I am realizing more uses for it than I first did when I first joined Twitter. Students could use Twitter to help one another and respond to another student's tweet. Also, teachers could have students follow blogs and share with one another and the classroom which could be used for things such as research projects. This would be something students could do when they are on their own at home playing around on Twitter and doing homework. It integrates both parts of Twitter since it can be very educational but can be just enjoyable. This is a resource which is not utilized enough but should be explored more.

BlackBoard

https://barry.blackboard.com/webapps/login/

When I first heard about BlackBoard, I thought it was the board which you wrote on in a classroom, but then I found out that it is a network that is similar to ANGEL which a peer of mine used in high school. It is a large and popular network that is commonly used. You can have discussions, can post assignments, answer posts to discuss and compare, teachers can put rubrics up, and teachers can post a page of frequently asked questions so they don't have to answer them over and over again. This would be a really great thing to set up in a classroom because it will keep your classroom more organized and if they are missing from class you could put assignments up and they could get them instead of being late because they did not have the paper. In addition, if you lose an assignment or rubric, you can print if off again so you can work on your project without having to wait to get it from a friend or the teacher the next day. Just like ANGEL, this program could have many beneficial uses for both teachers and students!

YouTube

http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/07/04/youtube-hacked-justin-bieber-videos-targeted/

In one of my language classes, we really used YouTube as a way to teach because we were studying child language acquisition and so we would watch these videos of a little girl whose parents video tape her numerous times and post them for people to watch. They display so much about child language acquisition and when I think back to the class and what I learned, most of the strong connections I made were from those videos. It stuck with me and I could find them again if I needed to. Using something as simple as YouTube could be a great teaching tool for teachers in the same way that my teacher used it for our college classroom!! Plus, YouTube is also entertaining so it makes learning more enjoyable which keeps them more engaged which helps them learn better by making stronger connections.

Facebook

http://www.thethinkingstick.com/facebook

I think that through this class, I have come to realize that you can use most technologies for teaching, you just have to be creative about it. Even Facebook can be used to teach. Most people have a Facebook and they understand how to use it well, and even in our class we used Facebook as a way to communicate with each other and share information. It was the easiest for us because it is something that we always check and we understand so its easy for us to reply or make events for a study group. You can also use Facebook to find other things such as blogs that people keep linked to their Facebook. In general, I have been just thinking of all the ways which technology can be used in the classroom, and while some have more obvious and large use than others, you can be creative and utilize almost anything.

Pageflakes

I chose to look at this site for a new technology. There is so much you can do with this website! You can link your facebook, twitter to this site. It has things like music and weather too! Some really cool things are that you can save your favorite websites and send them to your friends and also you can search your friends tags of favorite websites. It can be made very personal and individual based on the person and you are able to put everything you like in one spot. It looks like a mix between facebook and your email home page and igoogle. Its pretty sweet! It is really easy to see everything at once, and it is not confusing at all. You can search from your pageflake as well. You can include things also like ESPN, stocks, or magazines. You can make different tabs like tabs about blogs for educational blogs or technology and you can just look at it briefly on the the single page and then click on a link if you think it looks interesting. You can have a calendar, music, google, dictionary, clock, or even news on different tabs which are called "flakes". It is really easy to add a page which you can add different links, it is easily editable. You can hook up your email as well. There is a lot that you can do with this website. It can be organized however you want it to and you can easily search through your page quickly. You can make the individual pages as public or as private as you want it to be.
As an educator, this is a great way to have everything you look for in one spot. You can have your blogs you follow in an easy and quick way and additionally you can check your email on the same page. There are so many reasons for a teacher to use this. There is a special edition for teachers which includes a online grade tracker, task lists, and a writing tutor. A teacher could also make a blog for their students on this and they could communicate about a topic this way.
I think in the classroom this could be very useful. I think the class could make a pageflake together, in groups, or individually and they could communicate through this. They could use this to research or to do current event updates. Using this integrates technology which is a little more complex, I wish I had learned about these kind of websites earlier so I would understand and be comfortable organizing them and I think it would be a great thing for students to have at a younger age, aka before college.
This website can be use in numerous ways! Check it out!:)

ps. the website is down for a little but I learned this through research about it and the classroom

Starting to wrap up the semester

http://www.cnq.ca/Page.asp?PageID=2065&SiteNodeID=206

It is finally the end of the semester! Crazy how fast it approached, but also crazy to think back on how much I have learned. I have enjoyed learning about all the different types of technology and different resources I have to make my teaching enjoyable for students. I think that is the most important thing I have learned. I learned that yes, there is a very traditional way which things are taught and they do work, but why not try something a little different using technology? Chances are that it will be more fun and motivating for your students, plus, it brings them into the technology century and combines it with school. It integrates more with their normal daily lives and that is awesome! We should take advantage of the resources we have and use them to help teach. There are SO many options and I never realized it before. I knew basics, but nothing like wikis or blogs. These things can be applicable for all sorts of things and I hope that one day as a teacher, I can integrate these. I want to make learning fun and be unique. I want my students to remember what I am teaching them, and hopefully it will be more effective. I hope to make my class more interesting so maybe students will be more interested and motivated! That would be great:) I just hope that I can keep playing around with these resources so that I can become proficient in them in order to use them the best way in my classroom. I would love to find more things like wikis that students can access and is very easy. I have so many options, I just need to keep searching. I cant wait! Its going to be great!!