In the Clouds

My three cloud computing sites:

Schoology: https://www.schoology.com/home.php
This site was chosen for the comprehensive tools available for a truly online, collaborative educational experience.  This site would provide an excellent educational foundation to teach teamwork, communication, and collaboration all in one place.  The site is free so it is accessible to all which helps with cost issues.  The site allows for course development, online collaboration on projects, and a comprehensive communication tool set.  Using these tools, an educator can create, monitor, update, and deliver an interactive educational experience for students incorporating several additional technologies such as GoogleDocs.  In addition, educators can collaborate with each other to enhance their content.  In addition, the mobile capabilities are useful for today's busy student.  Finally, there can be a global element added to the overall experience through access to global learning communities all accessible through one source.

Prezi:  http://prezi.com/
I selected Prezi because of the frequency presentations are used in education, whether by teachers as a means of teaching lessons, or by students to demonstrate their knowledge of a lesson.  Presentations no longer have to be just static PowerPoint presentations and with Prezi, presentations can be very interactive and dynamic.  Prezi allows teachers and students to create dynamic, creative presentations that capture the attention of the audience, whether students, fellow classmates, or educators.

Flashcard Machine:  http://www.flashcardmachine.com/
I love this site as I work with students at a level in which a lot of information is required to be learned in a very short period of time.  Most of the graduate students and medical students on the Health Science Campus must take a graduate-level anatomy course that is known to be very grueling.  In some cases, it proves to be overwhelming for a lot of students.  To assist with this, the Graduate College and the Academic Enrichment Center work with this site and other flashcard sites to assist students with this grueling course.  Our studies show that this site helps student learn on an interactive level and helps reduce the stress levels of students who are taking the tests.

From an overall educational standpoint, interactive flashcards can be a great way to learn difficult subjects with a large amount of memorization.  The site not only has the cards available by subject, but will include explanations of correct and incorrect answers as the student moves through the cards.  Therefore, the student can see why their answer was right or wrong and study only the cards they do not get correct.  It is very effective and efficient study methods that can work for any student level.


My Pearltree account:  http://www.pearltrees.com/nikoarby

Social bookmarking provides a means to collect resources such as web pages, videos, photos, blogs, and other online resources all on one place to share with other collections.  This type of online collection has many benefits with regard to educational experiences.  Social bookmarking allows collaboration by notifying the creator when other collection networks post resources in your area of interest and allowing you to keep up with new trends and tools in the education area. The features are completely portable and accessible from any internet connection, allowing for versatility and accessibility for students and educators.

Week 3 Overview:

Week three was a whirlwind of experimenting with tags, bookmarks, and social media bookmarking, and cloud computing.  There was quite a bit of material to absorb, and I think we got a pretty good taste of all of it.  I learned there is so many ways to track, collect, and collaborate over the Internet than I knew before.

I have used cloud computing before, but only in the sense that I could store my own documents there to use on any computer from home or work.  The article fro the NMC Horizon Report:  2011 K-12 Edition was of particular interest in highlighting the benefits in the classroom of cloud computing.  Not only the cost savings, but the collaboration and creativity that is available through it's use, and the applications designed specifically for cloud computing..

I was particularly taken by the tag and tagging piece and the article from Widipedia:  Tag Cloud we read this week.  I didn't know anything about tag clouds and find them fascinating.  I loved the idea of running an institutions handbook, or policy manual, or even a mission statement through the process to see what type of message if being sent overall.  I will definitely pursue this more even after this week.

Overall, this was an excellent week of discovery to which I can now apply what I've learned to my everyday work at the University of Toledo.

Blogging & Twittering

Blogging and Twitter

What has been my learning experience in the world of blogs and twitter before this course?  I have to admit it - it took my taking this class to get me to create a blog and Twitter account.  I think I resisted it out of mere stubbornness; bucking the trends.  Facebook was good enough for me.  I never saw the value in either blogs or Twitter until this particular lesson opened my eyes to a great extent.

Blogs

When the Graduate College started a blog, I was unimpressed.  My thought was, "who would ever follow a blog from the Grad School?"  After viewing the video and the handouts for this assignment, I "get it" now (and understand that blog is "web log" which I never knew where this term came from exactly).  Personal "news" broadcasting can really assist in facilitating communication and uniting people with similar interests.  I didn't realize blogging allowed for posting links, pictures, and comments among other things to facilitate discussions. I thought of it as an online diary of personal thoughts and messages on a one-way street rather than a global product used for group collaboration.  I was blown away by the 70 million blog figure quoted in the video.

The handout on "online collaboration" showed me how blogs can be a source of connection between teacher and student with a way for the teacher to provide real-time feedback and interaction with students, parents, and other educators. Students can use a blog to collaborate on a project, share information and ideas, and connect with others with similar interests.


Twitter

I again have to confess, I believed Twitter to simply be an egotistical avenue for celebrities and celebrity wannabees.  "Why would I care when so-and-so went to bed or walked the dog?" was my thought.  However, I now understand how powerful a tool Twitter really is and how it can be a great asset in education.  Being able to tap into vast, global resources in real time can prove invaluable in the learning process.

I first had to learn the jargon and tips that were provided in the handouts and Plain English videos.  I already knew some of them, such as "hashtag" and "tweet," but did know about the ins and outs of direct messages, replies, and other various features.From the presentation Twitter in K-8 Classroom - Globally Connected Learning by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano, I learned how even younger students can learn the value of networking, etiquette and netiquette, as well as collaboration.  I believe by introducing this idea early, students will grow up with the mindset of teamwork and collaboration instilled in their very being.  It is or will become a way of life for them throughout their educational experience.  In addition, teachers have an amazing opportunity to connect with students, parents, and other educators as never before. I loved the idea about tweeting what the students learned for the day, or connecting to hashtagged conversations relevant to the subject matter being taught.

From the two videos on Twitter in education, I learned some of the statistics about Twitter, including the majority of users (6 million) at the time of the presentation were females (53%) and in the age group of 18-34 (47%).  This was not as much a surprise as was the fact that 52% of the users were in the combined 35-50&over category.  In addition, in contrast to Facebook, I can get short, real-time information from news sources and join real-time conversations about subjects of interest to me.

I actually selected several suggested networks to follow on Twitter, including:  The New York Times, NBA, NFL, Twitter Sports, Twitter  Media, Jimmy Fallon, a couple of health related groups, and my professor.  I chose the news and sports networks because with my busy schedule, I rarely have time to sit and read the newspaper like I used to.  This will at least allow me to see what is happening and seek out the news and sports stories of most interest to me.  The entertainment ones are just for fun!  I plan on searching for some more specific groups such as ones devoted to dealing with ADHD students to help with my son.  This can truly be invaluable to me!