This semester turned to be a really great one, I didn’t have many expectations for this class honestly. To start off I wasn’t to happy about having to use Twitter and actually post on there. I despised it so much, I could not figure out why we would be using this app. After talking to a few of the guest speakers we had the past few weeks I realized how Twitter could help us. It is such an easy way to find people in our future professions and connect with them. I was taken away when Adam Taylor talked to us about how he started this scientist chat. I love science it is absolutely my favorite subject I would have enjoyed this in my past years of middle and high school. Having kids communicate and video chat with actual scientist takes learning to a whole different level and makes it exciting.
Learning about the wonders of Google was eye opening, like I said before I had no idea there was so much to it. Google docs especially was a lifesaver when it came to papers this term. Such a fast way to get your bibliography, quotes, anything related to your topic in just one click. I haven’t even used PowerPoint I stuck with Google slides. Another app I still use is Evernote I cannot write too fast without struggling to read it later. Taking notes in my other classes was a breeze since I was able to record them speaking. It is simple, quick and easy note taking and I will continue using it until I am done with school.
Who could ever forget about Zookazam? Definitely not me, this is one of the most memorable apps that we went over. How could you not love having an animal pop up in your hand or on your desk! It has been the best entertainment for my soon to be 5 year old, he loves this app so much and of course always steals my grass pad. When it comes to growing my PLN it was rough at the start I didn’t know what to do or how to get it started. After hearing the guest speakers and the chapter readings I was able to get a better understanding. Now I follow quite a few groups and professionals in the Forensic field, I also had 2 request from people in the field which was exciting.
The thing that will stick with me that we went over in this course is social media etiquette. I did not know how important it was and that it even existed in technology. This is the prime reason people get fired for pure stupidity. Along with that keeping in my mind that we leave digital footprints. With every post, picture, tweet, and video we upload to social media will always be there and even if deleted we can still find it.
This week we had guest speaker Robyn Hrivnatz, she works for Microsoft a part of the education program there. She work on curriculum development and over seeing the educator trainer program. Robyn feels that as an educator social media is crucial, personal learning community is able to give advice, feedback, you learn about the latest trends, and business. In the business aspect its very important because you get an instant, need to know, and view the competition and that is crucial because you need to be relevant to your buyers. Things you need to know, understand your audience, and understand your competition. What Robyn loves is something called true collaboration that its there any time, any place, offline or online it works and it is instant feedback. She calls today's kids microwave kids they want everything instantly. She gave us some great tips to follow while out on the social media sites: have a careful balance being professional yet still being yourself. Build out your network look for #s search for whatever your passionate about. Find the influences and follow them and do not be scared to reach out and connect to them. Build a personality that is interesting to a potential employee or potential connection this is important on sites like Linkedin.
Class got even better when all we were told to bring foil, cardboard, bananas, and play doh it threw everyone off. We used makeymakey and had to figure out how to win either frogger, mario, and guitar hero. This was beyond fun we went into groups and started to brain storm we laughed, while trying to work hard to be the first to win. Google doc, you can view the google sheet showing what worked for us and didn't and some of the pictures while we worked. I am happy to say my group was the winners we were able to get frogger across twice =). The video is posted to my twitter Sanabria5290 check it out to watch frogger leap into victory.
Chapter 9 in the Connected Educator goes into learning new things we need to unlearn a lot of things from our past to be able to keep up. They discuss learning 2.0 and its 4 components: knowledge, pedagogy, connections, and capacity. With knowledge it focuses on awareness of your networks expertise and knowing how to connect with students rather than memorizing and what you know. Pedagogy is taking the classroom and creating this safe, stress free, community based environment for your class and being connected even when not in school. Connections teaching students about PLN's, making your connections grow on your media, finding communities and sharing your ideas openly. Capacity this gives the learner room to grow and discover their passions and interest and it gives them the freedom to do so. It is all about how teachers who are connected educators are changing education with the use of the internet. I agree being connected online would have helped a bunch when I was in middle school. You have the access to help in and out of the classroom and this is what connected education is all about.
I was unable to get to class this week but I was able to get a hold of my Professor for a quick catch up session. In class we are closing in on our final weeks which means our final PLN project is coming due. So we went over some of the sites that we can use to bring our final project to life. The site that I thought was really cool was Weebly you can choose from different layouts to it being a blog, business use, and much much more. Wix is the same concept since these websites are for building your own site. It is pretty simple and easy dragging and dropping till everything is the way you like. Google webdesigner is pretty easy to use as well the only thing for us Stockton students we would lose it once we graduate since it hooks up to your gmail.
Weebly for educators, this article went over how weebly can be used in your classroom. You can post assignments, import pictures and videos, and even create student digital portfolios. Just sign up at the address provided http://education.weebly.com/, create your website name, you can start to design your layout, and add your pages like math or reading. You can finally publish it using the orange button, and can easily go back and fix anything you need. You can check out your students forms using the more button, you can also create a blog by clicking on pages.
Web design tips for Wix first and fore most browse the internet for a bit collecting your favorite web designs. Second use accent colors, make what important tabs pop with strong bold colors that stand out and help the visitor navigate smoothly. Third: don't use too many fonts on one page this can easily distract your reader and remove the attention from your products. Fourth: less is always more keeping it simple and to the point will benefit greatly too much fluff will make it less attractive. Fifth: symmetry is very very important when designing your website. Having too many ideas can confuse and distract your readers and that is not something you want. Sixth: using a background that compliments your website not something that takes away from your site it is the keystone of your site. Seventh: usability is very important you need to make sure that it is easy for users to navigate you can't assume everyone can get through every website. Eight: make sure you always a create deadlines to keep you on time and help you manage your work.
About me I used this app for an assignment and it was so simple, quick, very easy to navigate, and it was efficient. It starts off with your biography basically answer who you are just do not go over board and give the reader too much information. What you can do for the reader, see yourself as the reader and they click because they relate you. Always put your contact information so your readers can easily get in touch with you and adding your social media links is highly recommended. Adding a photo is critical you should choose one that goes with your personality (like professional, funny, or looking good). Highlight your best posts and the most popular ones as well it is an easy way to get traffic on your page. When this is all done create an indented google listing this will be sure to get you viewers on your page.
Chapter 4 in Untangling the Web is all about social networking tools, to help students create their online identities. Todaysmeet is a site that allows teachers to create communication boards that can be private or public that are used for discussing and documenting classroom interactions. Skype of course is one the more popular sites that we have all used even if we did not use it for education. Skype in the classroom is designed to help teachers find other educators and experts willing to share and allow you to volunteer to do the same in their classrooms. Kidblog is pretty obvious it is just blogging for kids allowing them to have a safe and secure site just for kids. Edmodo lets you broadcast messages to your entire class, individuals, and groups. Teachers can us this site to create quizzes and polls and students can respond by the site or online. And than there is Twitter which we use in our class to share our blogs, articles, and make connections.
This week we had to read chapter 5 in TheConnected Educator all about using tools to support connected learning. Social bookmarking helps keep your important and to keep everything organized and to avoids overloading. Good websites for bookmarking and tagging are Delicious and Diigo (which i discussed in a previous blog). My favorite part of the reading was the discussion on blogs, of course they are journal like entries or post like mine. Edublog is a blog made for educators that allows them to communicate with students and their parents which I think is pretty great especially for parents. Two blog readers the chapter discussed was RSS Readers, and Google Reader (which has been discontinued) but these allow you to subscribe and it updates new content instead of showing a bunch of websites. Microblogs such as Twitter, Wikis, and google documents they allow you to share info quickly and swiftly with PLN's. The advice the chapter gives is build your own professional web page or blog, stack the deck in your favor, share your insights, be professional, and track yourself.
This week had to be the most nerve wrecking, anxiety ridden night of class ever. We had to present our social media etiquette presentation, I chose Officer Robert Garceau. A 20 year police officer who was fired over a Facebook post:
this was posted while he was still duty. A citizen was the one who saw the post and was completely taken back they went into the police department to bring it to their attention. The city of Flint MI, this violates their social media policy and the police officers code of conduct. Officer Garceau made this post because of the recent string of homicides in the city especially a recent one were 1 person was killed and the other in critical condition. Nothing has been stated on whether his motion went to court but he was in the middle of filing it in August 2015. Honestly we need to pay attention to what we post it can cost us everything and nothing we can do to erase it from the web.
This was the video I used, it is the perfect example of being careful what you say, if you wouldn't say it to your boss you shouldn't post it.
This week was one of the best we had so much fun in class discovering the wonders of 4d and augmented applications. I can't forget being able to experience virtual reality that was beyond amazing!!! We had our app smackdown this week and there were a lot of apps I ended up downloading. Camscanner is one I've already had it is great especially for anyone who doesn't have access to a scanner. You just take a picture of whatever document you need, take a picture and it adjusts itself, and once your satisfied with the picture you can email it and of course you can add more files to it. Where to go? is a great app for traveling it helps locate grocery stores to doctors, gas stations, malls and so on and it gives you turn by turn directions. One of the most efficient apps we learned about was glass door it is the best app so far to finding jobs. You can search by company see their salaries, see reviews on companies, you can apply , view requirements, and see the benefits (if posted). Medical handbook is one that is useful especially with having little ones. You can see all the drug from ibuprofen to any prescribed medicine, you can look up treatments and dosage intakes.
Zookazam had to be on of my classmates favorite app we got to see. You get either a little square or a big sheet and you can put whatever animal you like and bam it appears on your phone screen. Zookazam article goes over that there are 40 animals to choose from and there is even dinosaurs you can pick. You can take a picture and even a video this is ideal for a teacher going over animals and habitats. There is extra add ons such as weather and lighting effects that can make it appear more realistic. You can have it were it looks like the person is holding it in their hand without the paper. Just check out the video below it will make you want to download the app ASAP!
Aurasma which we learned about in class as well is an app that brings to life the periodic table of elements. The article is about an 8th grade teacher showing his students this new app and decided to have them do an assignment. The students had to prepare a video presentation and they had to use the auras, ipads were stationed for them. The use of the app turned out to be a big benefit to the students when learning about the periodic table elements in depth. The only set back the students found was having to hold it over the aura while watching the video but all in all it was a big help for science. Below is the guidelines for the assignment:
The
Periodic Table
Objective: To learn about the Periodic Table and share
that information with the rest of the class, creating a more complete
understanding of the elements that make up our universe.
Each person will pick a number (1 through 7) and all
the 1’s will get together and research properties found in Group 1, all 2’s
will get together and research properties found in Group 2, all 3’s….well you
get the picture
Each number corresponds to a section in the Periodic
Table as outlined below:
1-
Alkali Metals (include hydrogen)
2
– Alkali Earth Metals
3
– Transition Metals
4
– Metalloids
5
– Non Metals
6
– Halogens
7
– Noble Gases
Each
group will be responsible for researching the properties of the elements within
their group, creating a storyboard outline in your journals, then preparing a
short video synopsis*1 of your findings, and finally creating an
Aurasma Aura/Overlay so other groups in your class can see your video.
The following information will be included in your
video:
1. The elements that make up your group. If you
have the transition metals, pick 7 examples within that group.
2.Physical
properties that are common within your group.
Physical properties to consider are state of matter, melting point,
boiling point, density, conductivity, number of outer shell electrons, and
anything else that seems important.
3.How
does atomic mass change going down the group.
Offer an explanation for why the trend seems reasonable?
4.End
the video with a question about your section in the Periodic Table that another
group will have to research.
synopsis –a brief but comprehensive outline from
the Late Latin, from Greek, literally,
comprehensive view, from synopsesthai
to be going to see together, from syn (together)- + opsesthai to be going to see — more at optic
My personal favorite and I was close to taking one of my prof's cardboard virtual reality box. It was one of the coolest things i have seen in such a long time. I was able to look at a beautiful view of Arizona seeing a beautiful lake turning into a snowy mountain it was unbelievable. In the article Real life application for VR is about google cardboard and it is quite affordable starting around 17$. Presentation hero will help students or anyone who has to present anything from a paper to product. It is still in testing, but this will be amazing it tells you when to speak up, slower, faster, or louder. It also tells you how to keep eye contact, this app sounds great I wish I could use this for my presentation next week. Of course it gives you a timer at the bottom o the screen but nothing drives someone crazier than speaking and not knowing for how long. I will be investing in this app as soon as it is officially released, which I am hoping is sooner rather than later.
This week was pretty interesting we went over different programs that murder a boring ole power point. We talked about Office Mix made by Microsoft but totally redefines an original power point. A few others were Sway, Emaze, Haikudeck (which is my Prof. favorite) Powtoon, and Animoto. Here is the commercial for my class assignment i did using Animoto my Stockton commercial.
Animoto for edication Is all about how it benefits for being useful with educators, and it has a few tools to make it quicker, easy to use and capable of creating high quality finished products. Animoto is free for educators and is available on android and Apple's app store. You can choose different styles, add music, photos and videos can be uploaded directly to it, and you can add text slides.
Haikudeck It is simple not like any of the other tools mentioned, it limits the amount of bullet points. Haikudeck is used more as a crutch rather than a full on presentation, its like having index cards just on a site. You can get it on IOS but it is only available on the Ipad which is a downside, but you can easily get it on a web based version.
10-best-powerpoint-alternatives/ article basically goes over the other great sites to make an awesome side presentation. The mention Prezi, Powtoon, Keynote, Prezentit, and Sliderocket below you'll be able to check out video examples of all of these.
sliderocket
prezentit
This week we had the opportunity to talk to Astronaut Abby, who is by far an incredible young woman. Fresh out of high school Abby has accomplished so much in such a little time, besides being part of Track and Field, gymnastics, and dive team. She has been aspiring to be an astronaut since about 4 or 5 and has not given up on her dream. Abby started The Mars Generation, which is used to educate and get the youth excited about space and STEM. She was a speaker at Space Camp which she said was so surreal since she used to watch all her role models speak on that stage. Finally it was her time to be on there as these kids role model and shine. Social media is how she was able to get her message out to the world. Her actual website is how she has connected with the most helpful connections and her resources from Twitter and Instagram. It started on Twitter using it for quotes in history class, she ended up getting an interview with a NASA engineer. Her hard work paid off when she was able to work with astronaut Luca and started an educational outreach. Abby hopes to be the first astronaut to travel to Mars, follow her on twitter at AstronautAbby. The piece of advice she gave us is "if you meet someone in your career contact them within 24 hours, it is very important." I am still in shock at the fact she is only 18 and has been successful in making her dream slowly turn into a reality, You Go Abby!
In class this week we had to create a Linkedin account and follow professional groups in our majors. I was able to get 1 Forensic group if any can help me expand my search or know of any similar groups please feel free to add me Stephanie S. Thanks for the help in advance!!
The most exciting thing that happened to me on Twitter this week was on the forensic accounts I follow retweeted me! This is coming from a person who despised Twitter and slowly but surely I am starting to appreciate it.
In this weeks reading of chapter 3: Presentation Tools, it goes through all your options besides PowerPoint which many of us still use. Slide share is a tool used by educators and it allows you to upload your presentations and share them with educators around the world how awesome is that. With slide share you can add audio, upload mp3 files, you can even embed YouTube directly inside your presentation. Poll everywhere is one of the simple ways to have students answer open ended or multiple choice by text message. The teacher can opt to have students respond by Twitter, web devices on pollev.com, and by private link as well. Voice thread is basically a site you share photos and videos online and are able to comment on them. Last but not least is Prezi is not your typical powerpoint presentation, it glides through your content. The video I added will give you a better explanation of how Prezi's work, Enjoy!
This week in class we were able to have a Google Hangout video chat with Adam Taylor. He is a high school science teacher in Tennessee, his first passion is science his second is technology. In 2009 Adam was introduced to Twitter and got his students involved, in 2010 he found scientists and in 2011 he had his st online chat with a scientist and started to set up groups for a monthly chat. He calls it #scistuchat which over 150 countries have participated in this event. Adam was able to connect with the US Department of Energy in September of 2015 and his students were able to chat with them as well. Something very important he mentioned about getting out there on Twitter, "its not about the followers its about the connections you make."
I chose to watch a video about Neil Pasricha: The 3 A's of Awesome, he created a website called 1000awesomethings to remind of the simple pleasures in life. He went on to win a Webby award for best blog, he had thing like wearing underwear straight from the dryer. He went on to have a book published called The book of Awesome, the 3 A's stand for attitude, awareness, and authenticity. Attitude is about keeping it positive no more matter how painful the choices you have to make are. Awareness is about embracing your inner 3 year old, like the first time you drive you get a string of green lights or the smell of fresh baked goodies. Its about the excitement you feel just as a child would seeing animals at the zoo for the first time. Authenticity is about being you and being cool with it and always following your heart.
