Week 5 - Technology Tools

Spicynodes is referred to as a map and as I started viewing the tutorials I could see why. I did not have any prior experience using this tool. My pre-impression (after readings) was it looked a little complicated. What made the assignment more challenging was we had to also incorporate Flickr, YouTube, Creative Commons and APA formatting. My post-impression (after assignment) was the application was easy to work with. It had templates to choose from and it let you scroll around the map. I would not use it as far as for personal use but professionally it would be ideal in the classroom. It would be neat to create a family tree or a type of science project with it and I can see its opportunities for collaborative learning. The most engaging feature is that it is easy to link to YouTube or embed your finished product in blogs. I did not see an aggravating feature. It was fairly easy to use. I would compare this to Prezi. They both are relatively similar but I think Prezi has more options and just seems more visually friendly. http://www.spicynodes.org/ 

Google Docs is an on-line web tool similar to Microsoft Office Word yet with the benefits of collaboration. The only downside is that you do have to be online (internet access) to use it but it is free. I had prior experience with Google Docs as I did a scenario based project with my EMS Students last semester. It proved to be successful and enjoyed by the students. Personally I will not use it but professionally I do see myself incorporating it back into the classroom. It is a great collaboration tool that allows you to see edits and contributions. Google Spreadsheet and Google Presentations I had not used prior to this class. Google spreadsheet works as any other spreadsheet except you can’t print from it without putting it in html format. Google Presentations are great and have the added chat feature. It has a lot of themes and drawing capabilities and when I get more time would like to use this more often, especially in the classroom. I would compare these tools to Microsoft Word, Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Office PowerPoint but with the added possibility of collaboration (without emailing the document back and forth). In order to access these tools you must have a Gmail account. It’s free and easy to set up. It also allows you to link all your class assignments to a separate email from work. https://docs.google.com/