After viewing the recording from class #1, going through the assignments, and reading the text, I feel like this is going to be a good class. I was excited to see not only some good resources listed in the text, but also examples of how other teachers are applying technology to various projects. I put a huge star on pages 17-18 by the "Technology-Enhanced Learning Activities" and can't wait to share these with teachers in my system. Also, after reading the chapters, it was nice to do the online review questions & get instant feedback. I know I can set this up somehow on my computers at school but I just need to sit down & figure out how it will work on our network. It is definitely on my "to do" list for this coming school year. For students to get that immediate feedback like we were able to is SO valuable!
When doing the presentation program assignment, I went the easy route this time & did a presentation in Google Docs. I should have really played around with the others more but I was already feeling behind the 8 ball since I missed the 1st two classes. I will go back and explore all of the listed programs in greater detail so I can hopefully use some of them in the future or at least tell other teachers about them for their use. Another presentation program that I've been playing around with and showing my students for presentations is Prezi. The students just love it!!! There are some really great tutorials right on their website which walk you right through the creation process. I highly suggest checking it out sometime if you haven't seen or used it yet.
I decided to use ToonDoo for my Graphics Program project; I will continue to use this program and share it with other teachers. I've seen lots of other people talk about other graphics programs that they used so I am anxious to find a quiet moment sometime in the near future to really explore them as well and get to know the "ins" and "outs" and see if there are any practical applications for them as well in the future.
