I envision myself using several different kinds of technology to accomplish my professional responsibilities more efficiently and effectively. I want to utilize many skills having to do with presentation software in teaching and learning, because I'm a fan of visual learning aids and sequential presentations. I like how you can add digital materials into presentations such as graphics, multimedia, hyperlinks, and more. In addition, I plan on using many kinds of productivity tools in order to accomplish everyday tasks even better. The podcast mentioned Microsoft office, and feel like that is a given at this point of time. There doesn't go one day where I don't use a Microsoft office application, whether it's Word for writing a paper, Powerpoint for creating/viewing presentations, or Excel for updating various records I keep for work. It's interesting the podcast mentioned Evernote because that is the main note-taking software I use everyday. I like how I can access it on my computer, iPad, and phone. This will be useful for documenting lesson plans from year to year and for easy sharing purposes.
I acquired many new skills having to do with website evaluation during the Web Resource Evaluation assignment. I had always noticed when a website bothered me in some way, but now I can pinpoint exactly what is unhelpful or incorrect on a website and how it could be improved. I now know the important things to look for when deciding if a website is useful for my teaching or resource purposes. However, I really disliked using wiki for this assignment. I understand the point was to prove we can work in groups, and I will not even get into my general aversion to working in groups, but I struggled with the format of wiki a lot. It has definitely been the most confusing google application I have worked with. It was difficult for all of us to work on the wiki at the same time because we could not all update it simultaneously like you can in a google doc. If I practice with the application a bit more I would then be comfortable assigning my students a project on wiki.
As cute as that skeleton is, I agree that it is quite distracting. I was mesmerized by it for two minutes before I got around to writing this comment! I think it is important to keep in mind you audience when creating material. I can see students being very distracted by moving content like the skeleton, so it is important to keep the distractions to a minimum.
ReplyDeleteThe skeleton definitely is distracting as it can take attention away from reading the actual content.
ReplyDeleteThe skeleton does distract a little but I think its always important to not create distractions from the content.
ReplyDeleteI like how clean the website it and easy to navigate. The landing page contains all the links the students will need. Much easier than a sidebar menu.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very entertaining journal entry! Mrs. Bradley's website is appears easy to navigate and appropriate for the age-group of her students. I firmly believe that it is really important to keep younger students visually entertained to reduce the risk of boredom, which Mrs. Bradley is successfully doing through her use of visual animation and fun colours.
ReplyDeleteI also understand how you felt about working on the wiki (and in working in groups in general). Google docs is more easy to work with when collaborating with other people.