To use or not to use? That is the question! An Assessment of 8 Technology Tools

Teachers are known by people of other professions to have a set of special skills, or so I have heard. When talking to someone about my wanting to become a teacher, many are intrigued. I have heard things like: wow, it takes a lot to be able to even be around children, lesson planning takes a lot of thought how do you even plan something like that out; but mostly it's centered around the fact that kids think you're awesome enough to pay attention to!

Apparently a person who wants to be teacher knows how to (1) be around children without exploding, (2) be detailed about the plans they make, and (3) have a lot of time. I take statements like those described above as compliments. But when I step out of the shoes of being the person complimented and think about the general population of educators I see that we have managed to add another skill to the skill set: technological competence.

And I'm not talking about your ordinary PowerPoint, Spreadsheet, Word, and Excel competence but websites that promote group collaboration, creativity, and productivity. Listed below are a couple of tools with a description of their features, pros and cons, and my very own rating based off of my experiences with it.

Rating Scale (by fingers):
0 - Do not use AT ALL
1 - Really not recommended
2 - Not recommended
3 - You can if you want
4 - Somewhat recommended
5 - HIGHLY recommended

MOODLE

FEATURES:

• Online learning system
• Allows for post/view/submission of assignments
• Chatroom for those "enrolled" into the class
• Assignment View: All participants or your specific group
• Grading system with grading breakdown

PROS:

• Monitor/cellphone compatibility
• Organized setup/easy navigation
• Allows for distance learning

CONS:

• Loss of real student teacher interaction (some students learn better in the physical classroom setting) <-- speaking from personal experience!
• No access to a computer or no access to internet, no participation
• Not active if the participation of the student is absent

RATING

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CHROME

                                                   

FEATURES:

• Search bar is in the same bar as where the URL goes
• Auto-fill for website names
• Manageable tab activity
• Customizable themes
• Wide view space

PROS:

• Safety: Automatic pop-up blocker
• Security: Asks if you would like it to remember your password or never
• Allows for multiple tabs
• Tab management; open link in new tab or open link in new window
• Accidentally closed a window with several tabs? NO PROBLEM! Restore all tabs. 

CONS:

• NONE THAT I CAN COME UP WITH

RATING

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GOOGLE APPS

FEATURES:

• Blogger - blog creator for educators, teenagers, young adults, and businesses
• Google Drive - online organizer for any kind of document
• Google Docs - similar to that of Microsoft Word, create, edit, and share documents
• Gmail - similar to that of Yahoo!, compose, send and receive email with less spam

PROS:

• Blogger - ready made templates that allow for customization; you can go back and edit to update your post; continuous saving (never lose your work!); preview as you save and type; ble to link to Facebook and other social networks
• Google Drive - allows for the creation of folders to keep all like documents in one spot; separates documents you created from documents other people have shared with you
• Google Docs - GROUP COLLABORATION! Group members can be online working on one document/spreadsheet/powerpoint and changes can be seen in real time without constant saving; allows for sharing between several people
• Gmail - convenient viewing of email (separates email from people, social networks, and promotions = less clutter in your inbox); allows for the creation of folders as well to keep like emails in one spot

CONS:

• Blogger - none!
• Google Drive - none!
• Google Docs - in comparison to Microsoft Word, there is a limited amount of formatting ability
• Gmail - Needs to be signed up for; no gmail, no ability to edit documents shared with you by those who do have gmail

RATING

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LIVEBINDER

FEATURES:

• Online binder
• Live previews of websites
• Customizable layouts
• Sharing option (to Facebook, Twitter, email, Pinterest, etc)

PROS:

• Simple navigation
• Offers different styles to binder appearance
• Live preview of websites*
• Very accommodating to multimedia use
• SAVES PAPER AND PLASTIC! (no need for 3-prong 3 inch binders anymore!)

CONS:

• Only some websites are able to be viewed live in the binder; others have to be opened in a new window
• Very simple livebinder background; only solid colors

RATING

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WIX

FEATURES:

• Website creator
• Designer made templates

PROS:

• It's FREE!
• Even the free designer made templates are nice!
• Mobile phone version editor
• Very multimedia friendly
• Hyperlink and Embedded Code friendly
• Purpose flexible (a website through Wix can be created for blogging pleasure, business promotions, and presentations)

CONS:

• Only one person can edit the Wix at one time; if more than one person is editing the Wix page, the first one to save their work is good to go, the other two's work is disregarded
• A new user might have to take some time to familiarize themselves with the navigation of the editing page

RATING

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PREZI

FEATURES:

• Presentation tool

PROS:

• There is a free option!
• Group collaboration: more than one person can edit the presentation at one time
• Interesting zooming affect
• Multimedia friendly
• Sharing option
• Embedded code
• URL sharing
• Not your average powerpoint presentation thats for sure!

CONS:

• The zooming might make people dizzy <-- yes people do complain about that

RATING

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LUCIDPRESS

FEATURES:

• Presentation tool
• Magazine creator
• Free option
• Designer templates

PROS:

• Very straight forward and easy to use navigation on editing page
• Option to save and preview your work as you work on it
• VERY VERY multimedia friendly
• Various templates that offer interesting use of space and text formatting; THERE IS A SCROLL OPTION! (you can type and type and type and you will be just fine!)
• Much easier to use than Joomag; even with lots of multimedia it will not take forever for the page to load <-- speaking from experience
• Sharing and publishing options!

CONS:

• NONE that I can think of!

RATING

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WIGGIO

FEATURES:

• Online group collaboration tool
• Virtual meetings
• New feed updates w/ email notification alerts
• Calendar
• To-do list
• Document sharing

PROS:

• News feed appearance is very similar to that of Facebook
• Easy navigation
• Calendar and to-do list feature allows for groups to keep on task
• Virtual meeting option has a webcam and VoIP feature
• Virtual meeting window has a white board in which group members can upload, download, and view documents and multimedia to discuss
• Virtual meeting window offers a chatbox
• When a group member does anything to the news feed (replies, posts, schedules a meeting, etc), other group members will receive email notifications of the activity
• Face-to-Face meeting option/scheduler allows group members to agree on a time and place to meet

CONS:

• Group activity on the news feed or document sharing feature notifications can be bothersome; group members will receive email after email after email especially when documents are being edited

RATING

REFERENCES

About Google - Products. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/products/

Knowledge Base. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from https://wiggio.zendesk.com/home

Teaching Proper Digital Citizenship

     Times have changed and the way I see it, today's teachers have been given an extra responsibility. In the past, teachers were understood to only be responsible for teaching children things like science, math, reading, and social studies. From my past experiences as a student, the only thing I learned in computer class during my elementary school years were which were the parts of the computer and how to type as quick as you could. Today, with the rapidly evolving technology and the rate at which today's children are learning how to use them, teachers have now been given the task of teaching their students how to be safe on the internet. When students are not aware of the dangers of the internet and it's misuse, they can easily become victims to a number of pressing issues that are usually prominent in the school setting and can even carry on for the rest of their lives. These issues are cyberbullying, fair user practices/copyright issues, pharming and phishing, digital safety and privacy, and even more dangerous, textual harassment and sexting.

     As a future educator, all those issues pose as important topics to teacher my students. On the other hand and more specifically, as a future elementary school teacher, only a particular few stand out as imperative for me to teach: cyberbullying, digital safety and privacy, textual harassment, and sexting. I think copyright issues and pharming and phising are geared more towards the higher elementary school and middle school levels.

     In my technology in education class, my group was assigned to present on textual harassment and sexting. In all honesty, this topic is a very unsettling one but I accepted the fact that it was an important issue to be aware of. Here is a link to the website my group and I created; it contains definitions of textual harassment and sexting, a handful of YouTube videos that further define the two, a reference to a local bill here on Guam that discusses the consequences of textual harassment and sexting, a tab on statistics, and lastly a tab on tips and hotlines students should find useful.

Link: http://kierstinelim.wix.com/digital-safety

     If I were to teach a lesson on textual harassment to my students, I would make use of what they know and go from there; besides that is the best way to reach children nowadays! During my time looking for a new game in the iPhone App store, I came across a certain app that I thought was perfect in trying to help me create a classroom environment that was not only open and inviting, but also safe and secure.

It was called Remind.

I can begin this lesson by having my students take part in this online/handheld classroom community and inviting their parents as well. With this I can go on with what ever lesson I am conducting, be it science, reading, or math just so my students and their parents can have a feel for the app. I will have them communicate with one another on topics I discuss during class and ask for their input on it. By doing this, my students will see how easily information can be given out and shared with a large group of people and a simple tap of the finger.

     I also came across this website that can be used in the classroom. It is a chatroom; it is called Backchannel Chat.

 I think this is a great tool to use within the classroom because of it's features. It allows the teacher to post in what seems like a feed familiar to that of FaceBook and allows the students to chat with either each other or with the teacher. In this chat community, the teacher is the main administrator that oversees the behavior of the students. As it is pictured, the chat community is also controlled by the computer; there is a profanity filer. These days, it is unfortunate to hear young children picking up on the use of profanity. That is NOT going to be allowed in my classroom; this chat community does a great job at ensuring my students will not be using that even ONLINE.

     Because each students receives notifications on changes and replies on their chat community, I will make use of the computer lab and have them all together and have them see what textual harassment feels like. As the main administrator, I will send out multiple messages that all of them will receive in one time. I will ask them if they thought it was funny and if they say no, hopefully they say no, I will explain to them that that behavior is actually a no-no in the digital world.

     Students need to know how to be responsible for one another and themselves while they are online. I want my future students to know that, just because it's on a cellphone or in the computer, does not mean it or they are safe. There are ways to be safe online and I know that it is my responsibility as an educator to show them the right way to be a digital citizen.

REFERENCES
Remind: Safe Classroom Communication. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2014, from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app.remind-safe-classroom-communication/id522829277?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo=4

Backchannel Chat Benefits. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2014, from http://backchannelchat.com/Benefits