Using tools to support connected learning!

"Technology in communities  is essentially just a means of creating fluidity between knowledge segments ... and connecting people." ~ George Siemens, researcher on learning, The University of Athabasca. 

After reading Chapter 6 of The Connected Educator, I discovered many helpful ways to use online tools, and integrate them with my learning experiences. One site I read about that relates to me so well, and helps me organize content I find interesting is called Delicious! This site helps me bookmark my content and tags websites for me. This site can truly be useful for anyone in school especially trying to remember all those helpful sites you are using when doing research, or doing a project. Every time you find an interesting webpage, you can incude the web address in your delicious account, and add tags so you can find it again! This would help me and many others of course when creating my works cited list. Also, another thing I have come to actually enjoy very much this year is blogging, microblogging especially. Microblogging tools help us share information quickly and to a larger audience as well. One example of this would be Twitter. Twitter is accessible from a smart phone or computer, and truly changed the face of blogging all together. Tweeting is like a small blog in the fact that you only have 140 character to get your point across. Twitter allows you to follow those who you may have common interests with, and share information at the click of a button. One huge benefactor of twitter is that microblogging time investment is minimal, and at the same time Twitter is so large and diverse you can easily find a broad network of people to collaborate with in seconds!

 Although all these websites are very helpful, they could also be very harmful to our reputations as well! Everyone should definitely think before they post on social media, and a great way to approach this is to proactively build your digital footprint. You should be professional at all times, because you never know when that old post will com back to haunt you. A great example of this would be the case of an Atalanta man named Gerod Roth. Gerod was fired over racist post in September of 2015, when he took a photo of himself and a co-worker's three year old son Cayden. Mr Roth posted the picture on his Facebook, and him and his friend proceeded to make racist comments like "I didn't know you were a slave owner.", and "Help feed this poor child today."The marketing executive was quickly fired along with some other commentors on the post. This just goes to show the impact of one click of a button, and how it truly changed his life within seconds! So remember... be smart, safe, and aware no matter who you think is watching. 

Step Into the World of Augmented Reality

So what exactly is Augmented Reality?

Augmented reality is defined as an enhanced image or environment as viewed on a screen or other display produced by overlying computer generated images, sounds, or other data on a real world environment. Augmented reality is available through our mobile smartphones such as the iPhone. These smartphones contain GPRS which takes information about a particular geographical location, which then can be overlaid with tags, images, etc connected with this location. This virtual world is popping up all over our own world from museums, zoos, schools, and even Nasa. This new technology has also been proven to be very educational, and enhances the world right in front of us!

One of my favorite augmented reality apps is called Zookazam! Zookazam provides children, teachers, and parents a new way to learn by bringing animals to life using 3D animation. The free app has more than 45 different animals to choose from, and they can be brought to life anywhere you are. The app is so unique in the fact that it is the first educational augmented reality app to require no marker whatsoever. Which I am sure that most parents will be happy to hear about as well. This app brings to life tons of different animal life and tells you facts about each interesting species. This is truly an extraordinary way to learn about animals, no matter where you might be. 

Just click on which species to select and its as simple as that!

This awesome app that I wish was around when I was younger, allows children to take their own photographs of the animals too! Simply print off the targets, and when viewed through the screen of the app, animals magically appear. This app also allows you to add lighting and weather affects to add to the realness. Many teachers also have used them as a prompt for creative writing: for example, just what would happen if someone brought a hippo into school? These exciting and creative new apps are the future, so what are you waiting for? Dive into the world of augmented reality and start exploring!

Lastly, another new and exciting app thats becoming very popular in 2016, is Where To Go. This free app is perfect if you are in a familiar, or unfamiliar area for business or vacation, and you need to find the closest grocery store, museum, pharmacy, doctor, business, etc. The app is for finding different points of interest and is available globally having over 500 location types! This great new system even has turn-by-turn directions to the destination you are planning to arrive at. One other great concept it has is, if you can not decide where to go, simply shake your phone and the app gives you a great new place to explore based on reviews. This is something definitely worth downloading and giving it a try for yourself!

Sick of powerpoint?

I think I can speak for everyone when I say seeing the same old powerpoint presentations can get old very fast. Growing up in a time when all we knew were powerpoint presentations, made it seem like their weren't any options, however in todays more modern and tech savvy times things have surely changed. Today there are tons of different programs and tools being used for a more interesting and easy way to share your ideas. One of them being an amazingly free site called Goanimate.com. The site allows you to tell your story in a fun and animated way! The site is such a hit because you don't need any artistic abilities and has a huge variety of characters, backgrounds, languages, sounds, props, etc to choose from. Teachers can use this to truly engage their students in education and can be used for a handful of scenarios that I have listed below. Personally, I found the site to be very easy and useful and even managed to use it for class presentations a few times as well, one specifically a stockton commercial.

Classroom Uses:

• Foreign Languages
• Student to student tutorials
• Creative writing
• Communication and special needs
• Behavioral training (Bullying awareness)
• And tons more

There is also another great platform that is becoming very popular called Animoto. Animoto allows you to combine text, images, and clips and turn them into awesome videos. This site is very simple to use, and is cloud based so students or really anyone can access it from anywhere! The site is perfect for educators and students,  and it can truly make a presentation come alive in the classroom. Everything can be accessed too with the free light version, however if you want more HD videos, or longer multi song videos there will be additional fees. 

This site is perfect for teachers and students in and out of the classroom to connect what they are learning and turning it into a visual masterpiece.  Once you are finished share with your friends and show them what you created, and I'm guaranteed you will be happy with the results. The set up to making a great video is simple and I will list the steps below...

• Choose a style for your video (Tons to choose from)
• Add music ( Upload music or some that students created in something like garage band)
• Add photos and videos
• Add text slides, and tell your story

I hope some of these useful ways of digital storytelling helped, and next time there is a presentation to be done you steer away from powerpoint!

Astronaut Abby

This week I had the privilege of meeting an inspiring 18 year old Abigail Harrison, with dreams of venturing out to Mars. It was very interesting learning about her growing up and truly dedicating her time to setting goals to a bright future. Abigail otherwise known as Astronaut Abby, has a very impressive story about working hard and meeting with some of the best in the space exploration field from engineers, to various astronauts. My favorite part of the discussion was her talking about social media and how she reaches out to her followers and supporters. She discusses the different social media platforms for which age group is focused on, for example she uses Instagram for a younger age group. Also, Abby stated that "Adding personal content humanizes the aspect of the situation." I liked that, because its very true! She shows pictures of space, but also he personal life which shows she's just like everybody else. One other crucial piece of information I really thought was important was when we discussed the 24 hour rule. This means that in networking you should contact business associates that you meet within 24 hours of having met them, whether it be Twitter, email, or LinkedIn you have to be reaching out and reinforcing connections! I can't wait to see what is in store for her future, and I believe she will make it to Mars. 

The Price of Shame

After watching the Ted Talk the Price of Shame with Monica Lewinsky it was very interesting hearing her side of the story. Giving a truly inspiring speech straight from her heart, she tells us of how at the age of 22 she fell in love with her boss the president of the United States. She then asks the crowd, "can I see a show of hands if anyone hasn't done anything they regretted at 22", and nobody raises them. She teaches us how life is full of surprises and we all makes mistakes. Monica Lewinsky was patient zero of public shaming. Her story emerged at the time of when the internet had taken off and hateful comment and emails came into effect. Her family was very scared that she would be humiliated to death.
 
Monica then fast forwards to the 2010's where social media takes off. She discusses the story of Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers boy who committed suicide due to his roommate video taping his personal life.   This poor boy killed himself because he couldn't live with the humility she says, and us as a society needs to take action. Monica Lewinsky ends the video by crying out for an end to public shaming as a blood sport, and we need a cultural revolution as soon as possible. Our culture needs this intervention, and we must return to passion and empathy instead of putting everyone down. Everyone deserves compassion online and off.

After reading Chapter 3 of Untangling the Web, I discovered many helpful ways to present my projects using presentation tools. One site I read about that relates so well to the magazine site Flipboard is Prezi. Prezi is not your traditional slide based presentation. This is because, what makes it so much more interesting is instead of slides it shifts towards different contents of information. Prezi is one of the first sites to display more than the traditional PowerPoint. I think this relates so well with Flipboard, because they were ahead of their time and display information just like their competitors, only in an original and easy way!

As social media in todays day and age expands, it it with our best ability to know and understand these platforms for a successful business opportunity. One of the best professional networking sites on the web today is LinkedIn! LinkedIn is a professional site with millions of users connecting the worlds professions and making them even more successful with great workers. This great app allows you to stay in touch with classmates as well as colleagues, while also discovering new business opportunities. You can also share and learn about different insights in your career world. Everyone looking to set new goals and build your career towards a better future should join the easy and free word of LinkedIn today.

Dive Into the World of Flipboard

Looking for a new and exciting way to find stories and articles that interest you? Well, thats exactly what Flipboard is here for. Flipboard gathers information from news sources, social media, blogs, etc., and then displays them in a magazine like format. Its simple, all you have to do to get started is download the app, and subscribe to a plethora of topics from technology to travel. You can then start creating your own magazines and enter the exciting Flipboard world as soon as possible. The app is perfect for anyone of all ages on the go wanting to catch up on news, or just pleasure. However, don't worry if you are not on the run, and just want to enjoy it in the convenience of your own home. Last year, Flipboard launched a web browser version of the digital magazine, which was perfect considering PC was the go to choice for most readers. The 15 million magazines and growing, can now be accessed anytime anywhere!

So why the web browser version?

Overall, with the success of such a useful and new app, also brings with it new competitors. So, in such a busy mobile device world the app can fully be used the way it was originally intend to be 5 years ago as a web service offering stories with an awesome magazine like way.The timing is perfect many people believe on the Flipboard team, especially since the web has learned a lot to keep up with  phones and tablets. For example, smooth transitions and the ability to update something without reloading the entire page were key components for an easier experience. Also, offering this service on a desktop, vastly expands the audiences watching which is crucial for the business because you want to get your name out there. Flipboard is following the steps of other apps like Instagram as well as Vine who have made the same leap over to the browser based world. The mix of layouts and curation is what truly makes Flipboard different from other social media platforms, and everyone should check it out.

New Update 

Introducing the new app version 3.0 of Flipboard! This free app will be available on all platforms, and make the community of 10 million user generated magazines grow even larger. This new update adds more than 34,000 new topics from parenting to cute animals. The update also comes with a new menu bar at the bottom of the screen that include 5 new icons that I have listed below.

1. Home: Your person magazine. 
2. Following: People/Organizations you follow.
3. Search: Look for new stories.
4. Notifications: See a list of whats been shared with you.
5. Your Account: Edit personal settings.

After reading Chapter 3 of Untangling the Web, I discovered many helpful ways to present my projects using presentation tools. One site I read about that relates so well to Flipboard is Prezi. Prezi is not your traditional slide based presentation. This is because, what makes it so much more interesting is instead of slides it shifts towards different contents of information. Prezi is one of the first sites to display more than the traditional PowerPoint. I think this relates so well with Flipboard, because they were ahead of their time and display information just like their competitors, only in an original and easy way!