Electronic Portfolio

We are wrapping up our final project in our principles of technology class. We learned about electronic portfolios, and were assigned to make one containing all that we created this semester. I had never really thought about creating an online portfolio or understood exactly what it meant. With an online portfolio, all of your projects are in the same place and can be easily accessed. When everything is in one place things are so much easier, not to mention it is a great way to show yourself off to potential employers. It was fun to make because not only is it a conglomeration of all of your work, but you can give your own personal flare to it! It was probably my favorite assignment in the class, as well as the most useful one!

Tweeting in the Classroom

In taking my EDIC 232 class, I have been learning a lot about technology and how it can be used to enhance lessons and student learning. Recently we learned about how Twitter can be used to help teachers keep up with what's going on in the world of education. You can follow magazines for educators, other teachers, or even figures like Bill Nye that may tweet interesting facts for you to share with your class. Having never been on Twitter, it was very confusing at first but after a while I began to get the hang of it. Now I follow my peers, my professor, and many educational sites. I can stay up-to-date on the latest new and the most current ideas. It’s really interesting seeing what people have to say about things, and on opinions (educational or not) that they may have. Overall I really enjoy twitter and will continue to use it for the new ideas and news it will bring me, as well as the pure enjoyment of it.

Glogster Blog

Technology is a fantastic resource, especially in the classroom. Today, students grow up in a technologically advanced age and grow up learning how to navigate the Internet, write documents, create slides, upload music or videos to their personal libraries, and so much more. Schools have really started to expand their ideas about education, and the lessons that teachers can create on a computer are often far more exciting and interesting than reading notes from a chalkboard. In the online world, you have so much freedom of interaction, especially with the Glogster Website.

Recently I’ve learned the joy of Glogster—a place where one can create interactive posters on the Internet. It’s a free account that can be used in many ways, whether it is a teacher teaching a class or a teacher introducing the use of Glogster for individual presentations. In this program you have the opportunity to get creative with the layout: choosing a background, a place to include little facts and valuable pieces of information, hyperlinks, and embedded videos that go along with your topic. This resource is really easy to use, and visually interesting. When you roll the cursor over a hyperlink, it circles it. Any pictures or videos you decide to include can be put into a frame. When putting facts in your glog, you can choose the shape, color, font, and size of you text box. There is so much room to be as unique or generic as you want to be, and who doesn’t want that kind of freedom. It is easy to upload information, pictures, videos, hyperlinks, and is just all around easy to use. I guarantee that I will be using this fantastic resource in my classroom and I recommend that every educator experiment with the fun options that this site has to offer.