Final thoughts.....

As I wrap up this session of blogging for the semester, I find myself having enjoyed most of the topics I covered so far.  I also find myself to be a very limited person in the scope of information that I have to offer in terms of blogging.  This week turned out to be quite a struggle when it came time to write about a new topic.  Nevertheless, I was able to persevere and find something new to blog about...

On that note I'd like to take a moment to talk about a site that I have found to be very useful over the years when it comes to staying current on things happening and is also a great tool for expanding my knowledge of education and its applications.

Wikipedia

I know, I know, this is nothing new here, but bear with me on this one.  Wikipedia is a great resource for finding information that other people have taken the time to research and link to.  The first instance that I really started to make use of this was with my very first special education class.  That class was filled with terms and concepts that were entirely foreign to me.  I was about as lost as they come until I took the chance to use Wikipedia to help me define a basic term for the class.  From there I found that Wikipedia was a treasure trove of information.

When you take Wikipedia on a per instance basis, it can be very daunting and confusing, but if you start to click through the links on a launch page for a subject you are looking into, it becomes this well orchestrated labrynth of information that help any user expand their knowledge base.

On that note, it's been a great semester and I look forward to someday adding to this blog and hopefully making a small contribution that can help someone else down the road.

Thanks...

Well that was cool...

Todays site gives learning a whole new spin.

http://smithsonianeducation.org/students/idealabs/universe.html

I wasted, spent quite a good amount of time on this site exploring the different tools it had to offer.  Of all of those tools i found the one on the universe to be the most engaging.  This of course may not stem form the fact that I am somewhat of a closet nerd when it comes to Astronomy, and no I do not own 2 different types of telescopes with an assortment of lenses and filters....

I've found over time that too many websites take themselves too serious when it comes to delivering content. I really like the fact that the Smithsosian has made it point to make the information they are offering approchable and fun.

So please, take some time to remember what it was like to be a kid, and explore something.  

Survey says.....

This week I wanted to take a quick moment to talk about something that I recently discovered as an avid fan of the Google empire, GoogleDocs Survey Tool.  I know I know, survey tools are a dime a dozen, and this may be true, but very few of those dimes make our lives easier.  This is found by creating a new Form inside of Google Docs, and it is one of the ost feature rich and user friendly survey tools I have used and also the same has been said of the students I have asked to use it.

Forms allow you to enter in multiple choice, scale questions, open-ended, or any number of other survey questions to your hearts content.  The great thing about this, as compared to a site like SurveyMonkey, is that the number of questions you can enter is unlimited, unlike SureveyMonkeys limit of 10 unless you want to pay for more.  The other great thing about this is that it can be administered 100% anonymous  Students love the fact that they can get feedback on something without having to worry weather or not the data they are receiving is genuine or not.

And the last thing that I simply love about Google Docs Forms is the data collection. Any program that lets you dump an obscene amount of information into it, and then it very kindly spits it back out in spreadsheets and charts is something to be marveled.  So for this week, I highly recommend swinging over to Google Docs and giving Forms a try.  My students and I have greatly enjoyed using this tool.

Puzzles Puzzles Puzzles...

Let's be honest here, puzzles are fun.  Some of us as kids did puzzles about dinosaurs or airplanes.  Some may have don word puzzles or puzzles that used numbers.  I'm some of you even had parents that gave you 3D puzzles or made up puzzles just to get you to sit still for 5 seconds.  The reality is that puzzles are fun and unbeknown to most of us, they are highly educational.

By stimulating the brain on multiple fronts, puzzles can allow a person to see a problem from many different angles and attempt to come up with the most effective and viable solution.  Our good old friends at google have taken to the art of puzzles in a whole new way.

http://www.agoogleaday.com is a great site for learning fun and adventurous bits of information.   Be mindful when participating though, it can be a bit frustrating when looking for the answer and you are only off by 4 miles in the distance to walk from Philadelphia to New York to DC, I'm just saying.

Because of how the variety and complexity of topics presented by this site, I find that it will always keep students on their toes attempting to learn fun and new things.

Always with the games....

This week I wanted to write about a site that is both fun and educational.  Utah Educational Network offers a wide variety of games that both stimulate and entertain when it comes to learning.  I really enjoyed this site because most of the sites I came across were not very appealing to students in an older age bracket.

In my mind, a site should not be filled with so much flash and style it overrides it's basic function and purpose.  In this case, students and teachers can easily navigate the site and discover what subjects they want and what games are applicable to the lesson.  Even though it's very trimmed down in design, it's loded with content and application.  If you can find it in the Brain Game section, I highly recommend the Magic Square, I will not admit how much time I have wasted invested in playing just this game.

Making things look pretty...

Soooo, one of my favorite things to do in the whole wide world is take photos of stuff.  Whether it's photos of my family, architecture, nature, or people making complete fools of themselves, I love to take photographs of it all.  The problem with this is the fact that even though I love to do this, I'm not always the most skilled at getting it to look like something Ansel Adams has done, ok that never actually happens.  

Like most journeys to learn, my need to understand how to correct the photos that weren't quite just right was born out of necessity.  And that's when I discovered Adobe TV.  Adobe TV is a goldmine for anyone who wants to step their game up in any of the products Adobe has to offer.  I of course had some much needed learning to be done when it comes to Photoshop, but the wealth of knowledge available on this site is endless.  

They have how-to articles and videos.  You can learn how to cross-utilize applications beyond your wildest imaginations.  And the best part of all this, is that it's free.  I realize some of you reading this might say, "hey, Adobe products are so not free", and you would be right, but equipping students with the knowledge of how to use the applications that professional firms use on a daily basis is priceless.  Plus, more and more educational discounts are being made available at prices even the most cash barren schools can afford.  

I'd like to say which one is my favorite, but as of right now I just keep gorging on all of the information the site has to offer, and I recommend you do the same.

Moving on from the basics of Google...

Over the past few weeks we've tried to highlight some of the simple yet very effective tools that Google is offering you as the end user.  One of the great things about Google is the general access to data it allows user to have at their fingertips.  Just like Peter Parkers grandpa said, with great power comes great responsibility :)

Keeping that in mind, one of the most frustrating things that can about from the use of Google is the video search results.  Don't get me wrong, when you do a search for cinnamon challenge, you get a boat load of funny results that you can share with your friends.  But when it comes time to delve deeper into the offering of the video search world, it's time to look at one of my favorite sites for accessing the power and potential of the internet, Ted Talks.  This is one of the most creative and informative video sites I have ever come across.

TED was born in 1984 out of the observation by Richard Saul Wurman of a powerful convergence between Technology, Entertainment and Design. The first TED included demos of the Sony compact disc and new 3D graphics from Lucasfilm, while mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot demonstrated how to map coastlines with his newly discovered fractals. Several influential members of the digerati community were there, including Nicholas Negroponte and Stewart Brand.


As TED has progressed more and more of the worlds leading minds and progressive thinkers have begun to contribute to the library that TED has to offer.  I realize that previously I've mentioned TED as a tool for educators to learn and stay in touch with the most current and future innovations of this world, but I recently have been using this as a tool for different purposes.  


As of late I have been letting students and any person willing to learn access TED for the purpose of inspiration.  I'll admit that I had forgotten how powerful the concept of inspiration can truly be for people, especially when it comes to the opportunities that future offer the world they currently reside in.


For me, the notion of how much power the future of technology really does posses cam from this TED talk, http://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_han_demos_his_breakthrough_touchscreen.html.  After watching this, do a quick Google for when the iPhone came out....Now do the math from then to the date which this video released...  For me, technology is just beginning to scratch the surface of where we can go.  


So from Google to TED, the web still has so much more to offer.