tech task #5 Google Education Tools

I found learning about Google Ed. Tools with Lisa Thumann very interesting as the thought of using Google Tools within the classroom had never crossed my mind. To begin with I had no idea there was such a thing as Education Tools within Google, so learning how to use the tools and adapt them to my future classrooms opened up all new windows of opportunity for me to explore. The tool I found most appealing was Google Docs, which allows you to create your own forms/surveys. This tool could be used in many ways, and has great potential within any classroom. Whether you make a fun survey to get to know your students or create a form in a quiz-like format to test your students on a specific topic or subject matter, this tool is very versatile in all ways. You can create multiple choice, fill in the blanks, check boxes, or longer paragraph type forms of answering the questions. You could also have students create their own surveys and quizzes and get them to answer each others forms. I used Google Docs to create a simple form asking for my classmates email addresses, but there are endless opportunities I will continue to discover as further explore Google Education Tools.

iGoogle

After learning about all the amazing features Google as to offer in last Wednesday's ecmp355 class, (that many of us probably didn't know existed), one of our tasks was to create our own iGoogle page and customize it with widgets of our preference. On my page I added a bunch of widgets, mostly ones to simplify my usual web browsing. My iGoogle widgets include email accounts, delicious tags, clock/calendar/scheduler, daily horoscope, daily jokes, google reader, google docs, news updates, weather forcast, as well as facebook. I'm sure I will continue to add more to the list as I can see how easy and accesible iGoogle makes browsing my favorite sites or checking out something like current events or the weekend weather forcast. Its so much handier than opening screen after screen and switching through browsers :)

ECMP 355

Well I've never taken an online class before, so this is all very new to me. Also I'm somewhat of a beginner when it comes to technology, my internet experience is generally limited to the google search engine, email accounts, and of course facebook. Although this class completely takes me out of my comfort zone and the idea of putting myself out into the online world is slightly nerve-racking, I'm sure this class is going to help build valuable skills that I can incorporate into my future classrooms. I'm both nervous and excited for what the rest of the semester has instore, but I'm sure this will be a great experience overall.

first time blog

Hi everyone!