Final Evaluation

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

My favorite thing I learned about during this experience is Pinterest. Pinterest is awesome and it is something that I have began using in my daily life. It is fun to use and it is actually very useful for personal interests and for educational purposes. I also enjoyed playing with the image generator, Wordle. It is really fun to paste different blog URLs into it and find out what topics they talk about the most.

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

This program has really opened my eyes to the advances in internet technology. I have never been interested in learning new things online until now. The new web 2.0 tools are fun and useful, but I do not think I would have explored them on my own. 

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

The program has helped me to see technology in a new light. Now when I learn about new tools and websites, I automatically start thinking about how I could use them in the classroom with my students. 

4. What could I do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

The only thing I can say to do is check all of your links. There are a few that do not work anymore that need to be updated. 

Thing 16: PhotoPeach

Here is a short video I made with pictures of Kellie. She is my boyfriends sister's dog, but we have spent a lot of time babysitting her in the past.

Kellie!!! on PhotoPeach


I really like PhotoPeach. It is super easy to use, and the quality of the video is really good. I think this would be great to use in the classroom. Students can make presentations with this tool or use it at the beginning of the school year to help them introduce themselves to the class. Teachers can also use this for lessons or as a introduction to their students.

Thing 15.5: Twitter

I still cannot become interested in Twitter. It is an interesting idea, I just do not think it is something I would ever use because it is another thing for me to check. I'm not big on letting the world know about what I'm doing, although i do update my status on facebook from time to time. In the classroom, I think Twitter can be used to keep parents updated on what students need to bring to class and when assignments are due. Students can also follow their teacher to find out what the homework is for the day.

Thing 15: Things like Skype

I had never used Skype before today, but many of my friends use it on a daily basis. My sister lives in Weatherford, TX, so I used Skype to talk to her today. It was really cool, much better than I expected it to be. I explored to Skype website and found lots of interesting things. You can conference call, share pictures, and send files all through Skype. Skype would be an awesome resource for students to have when they need help with homework. As a teacher, you could tell your students that you will be logged into Skype for one hour a night for them to ask you questions about homework. You could also use Skype to have conferences with parents who might be out of town or unavailable to make it to the school.

Thing 14: Podcasting and Bookmarking

I tried out Delicious and Pinterest and discovered that I love bookmarking. I never really used bookmarks before because I did not think I had any use for them. After using both of these websites, I definitely see a use for bookmarks. I really liked Pinterest. I stared using it about 2 weeks ago, and feel in love. It is so fun and easy to use. I have made many boards including ones about food, clothes, and classroom ideas. This website is more addicting than facebook for me, and it also has practical applications. One way that I have used it so far is to bookmark pictures of Winne the Pooh. My sister is having a baby in November, so I have been saving ideas for us to paint on the walls of the nursery. I think this can definitely be used in the classroom as well. I could make boards with pictures and information about a given topic, and students can explore the content I have selected to make presentations or to complete assignments. This would help to keep the students from just browsing the internet  and it would allow me to filter the material for accuracy and appropriateness. I definitely plan to use bookmarking tools in my classroom in the future.

Thing 12 and 13: Discovering and Using Youtube

Youtube is probably the most popular Web 2.0 player available right now. I haven't used it very much, but I do go to it sometimes to listen to music. After browsing the site, I found a really cute video of two little boys dancing to a song. Here is is:


There are many applications for Youtube in the classroom. It has everything from videos about plants and animals to really cute songs to use in your Kindergarten classroom. Because I am not a big fan of singing, I will definitely use some of the videos/songs on here when I teach.

The video I chose to upload to Youtube is my TEASe video from Educational Applications of Technology. It was meant to be used for a Science unit on animal characteristics. Here it is:


I think having teaching/learning videos available online is an awesome resource for teachers to use in the classroom. The internet is accessible almost anywhere now so these videos can be accessed almost instantly. If you students are having a hard time grasping a concept, you can pull up a video to help them. You can also use these videos to show experiment you may not be able to do in the classroom or videos of historical events.
Uploading student created work to Youtube could be a fun thing for students. It would give them a sense of pride in their work and they will be able to show it to as many people as they want. I think students would work harder and put more effort into something if they knew it was going to be posted on Youtube when it was finished.

Thing 11: Web 2.0 Tools

The Web 2.0 tool i explored from SEOmoz Web 2.0 Tools list was Etsy. It is a really cool website where people can make an account to buy or sell items online. Many of the things you find on this website are handmade or vintage, which is really cool. There are a lot of features i like on this website. I really like how many different categories there are to search through. This helps narrow down searches and make searching less time consuming. There are not many things you can do with this in a classroom, but one idea I had was a fundraiser. Students could make handmade jewelry or art to sell for a good cause.

The second Web 2.0 tool i explore is if then then that. This Web 2.0 tool allows users to make tasks that say if (something happens) then (something else happens). For example, I used a task that said "if someone uploads a picture to my facebook, then add the file to my dropbox." It is a really interesting idea. Other tasks I found would email you if it is going to rain or tweet my facebook status updates. I like this web 2.0 tool, but I don't know how often I would use something like it. Students could use this in the classroom for weather purposes or to get news updates.