Weekly Report & Relfection #7

Photo copied from:
http://emrefirat.edublogs.org/2012/08/18/todaysmeet/

I really enjoyed working with my group members and discussing the collaborative project using TodaysMeet. The interesting aspect of this project was that neither of the group members physically met in person yet everyone was able to collaborate and create a presentation online. Thinking back to years ago, it is quite evident that successfully working on this project would have been quite difficult. With the help of cloud technology, people around the world can work together without having to meet each other in a face-to-face setting. One of the challenges of working on a project in a digital environment is having the ability to share work in an effective and organized manner as communication takes place using countless emails. To overcome this problem, Google has created a tool known as Google Docs. The tool can be found in a person’s Google Drive and is used to allow group members to work on a single document, whether it be a PowerPoint or a Word document to name a few, at the same time.

Photo copied from: http://www.youngupstarts.com/2012/04/12/52-great-google-docs-secrets-for-students/

Working with Google Docs was a great experience. I have used Google Docs in the past and I find that after taking a few minutes to set up the Google Docs PowerPoint presentation and adding the group members who can view and edit the presentation, I feel great ease. I no longer have to worry about my respective group members waiting for me to send them my portion of the project because they can work on the presentation at the same time and they see any updates made within seconds. After the responsibilities of the project are divided, everyone can independently finish their parts while viewing what everyone is doing and they can discuss where improvements can be made by adding comments to the specific slides. By having access to this tool, people can save time that tends to be spent on figuring out when group members are free and setting up a meeting time. Google Docs can be used in a company to share and work on files between co-workers who are possibly dispersed around the world as long as the person has access to the internet. Most importantly, I no longer have to worry about carrying a USB or having to send emails back and forth.

Photo copied from:
http://blog.arvixe.com/what-is-a-personal-learning-environment/

With regards to the PLE I created in Week 2, I do not feel the need to remove any of the tools I initially I added because I have used those tools in the past, have found them to be useful and will continue to utilize them in the future. Some of the new tools I have discovered can be more useful to the work I wish to complete and therefore I will be adding them to my PLE diagram. Feedly, Google Docs, Evernotes, and Diigo are all new applications that I will be adding to my PLE because they are tools I can benefit from. My PLE is evidently increasing in size simply due to the fact that I am being exposed to new tools that I did now know about before. I feel that I have been able to take advantage of the new tools and feel they will prove to be beneficial when I use them for school, work, and/or my personal purposes. After completing half of this course, I have found that I have been able to learn about new features on the sites and tools I used before taking this course which is great.

Through my Feedly Reader, I found an article about 5 questions teachers can ask students to help boost their learning experience. The questions suggested are quite simple but "powerful" as suggested by the article. I think questions like "Why do you think that" or " How do you know this" will let teachers really reach their students as they try to help them understand and further develop their train of thought on various topics. Although teachers may have already thought about these questions, I believe keeping track of how often and when these questions are asked is very important as it ensures that these questions are consistently being asked. These questions can be beneficial as they can potentially allow students to become more comfortable and confident when asking questions and/or sharing their opinions. 

Weekly Report & Reflection #6

I had the opportunity of exploring Evernote this week. The basic premise of Evernote is that it is a note taking tool. However, there are more features than just note taking. You can add research, web pages, clips, tasks and to-dos, photos of whiteboards, emails, handwritten organizers in a notepad, and camera phone snapshots all to your Evernote notebooks (Hamilton, 2010). Considering all that Evernote has to offer, it is obvious that it is not a standard note taking application.  

My favourite feature about Evernote is the synchronization and multi-platform ability. Evernote works with computers (Windows and Mac), mobile phones, tablets, and even webOS! As you can see, there are so many platforms you can use Evernote on. For example, if I make notes on my laptop during a lecture, I can view the notes on my phone when I am on the bus as long as I have internet connection. The cloud access and the ability to access notes on almost anything with internet is a very beneficial feature that will attract more users to Evernote in the future. As a note taking application, Evernote is helpful for educational purposes as it includes a feature that helps learning by sharing notebooks. You do not have to give a physical copy of your notes to someone but can allow users to access your notebook. This results in knowledge sharing and is helpful for collaboration in group projects. This will be a helpful tool when I work on my research project with my partners. Furthermore, I also liked the reminder feature that I explored with as it allowed me to set reminders on my account and through emails. Doing this will help me with keeping track of due dates due or remind me that I should start working on my task as the deadline is coming up. For example, I can use this tool to create notes for a topic while I work on it. Afterwards, I can set a reminders for next week stating that I need finish it before the project is due making Evernote a great tool that can benefit my time management skills. This blog is helpful in helping you set out reminders. Make sure you take a look!

Photo copied from: http://goinswriter.com/capture-ideas-evernote/

What's great about Evernote is that it meets many needs and, like some of the other tools I have been introduced to, can fit into more than one category within my PLE. Evernote can be part of the categories create and organize because it not only organizes content that I have collected but it also helps me to compile research into notebooks I create. I will add Evernote to my PLE because, as I previously mentioned, it is an extremely useful tool with everyday applications! With the help of Evernote, I was able to bring my Digital Communication to another level.

I am open-minded towards using Evernote for working with a partner for an online assignment. Using digital communication to work with a partner is going to be a new experience. All of my university class assignments involved meeting and interacting with group member face-to-face. At the same time, I feel that being able to use Evernote will develop stronger communication skills by interacting using different methods.

When I was first learning about Evernote, I had doubts about facing difficulty when using the program so I checked my Feedly reader to see if there were any blogs about Evernote and I found one. The Evernote blog gives you tips and stories about Evernote, updates with Evernote and just helps you use Evernote to the best of your abilities. So if you are interesting in learning more about Evernote, or how to best use it for your tasks take a look at this blog!

Weekly Report & Reflection #5

Photo copied from: Metamorphosis in Education: Personal Learning Networks

This week’s session allowed me to create a Twitter account while exploring the social media tool and learning how tweeting can enhance my educational experience. Before I talk about Twitter, I want to touch upon my experiences with regards to how I participated in learning from others in a personal learning network (PLN). Using various methods and channels of communication, I was able to discuss tools and topics that have been covered in this ADED course thus far. I enjoy hearing my peers’ opinions and thoughts on a variety of topics, specifically ones that I have discussed in my blog. I truly appreciate it when my peers leave me a comment on what I have wrote or a new discovery they made while reading my blogs because it allows me to think about new perspectives while also viewing a topic from a different angle. Considering this, I hope to learn quite a bit from my PLN. Overall, I think learning and communicating with others in my PLN is one of the best learning experiences I have had and I hope to continue to explore new tools and ideas by utilizing it.

Twitter was quite a fascinating tool that I explored this week. Twitter is famous for its micro-blog approach and its ability to create a social network market by using symbols and limited characters that users can glance at with ease. Some say that Twitter builds your PLN but in reality it is up to you to make it work as a positive learning network and tool. Only you can contribute to Twitter and only you can enhance your PLN within the social network tools. Twitter’s advantages include having the ease of navigation and sorting out great resources that can assist in building your PLN but it is still important to remember that it is still up to you to discover which resources are credible when following and adding people to your PLN.

Photo copied from:

Advice to Junior Academics on How to Get Involved With Twitter

Twitter fits in my PLE, but similar to the other tools I use, it cannot be added into one section of my PLE because it is a multi-purpose tool.  When looking back at my PLE diagram from week 2, it is obvious that Twitter can fit in to all of the 4 categories: create, learn, organize, and search and learn.  Twitter allows me to create personalized short tweets on my own which can be posted on Twitter. It allows me to connect and search for my fellow classmates, friends and whatever else I may be interested in. It allows me to organize information by creating lists for specific groups, such as my ADED 1P32 classmates.  Overall, Twitter is a very well rounded tool that fits well into my PLE.

Looking at my Feedly reader I have added a few more blogs and websites to my reader as the weeks have gone by. My reader includes a mix of personal interests as well as helpful learning websites that are useful in my classes. I have a midterm coming up next week for one of my in class courses which means it is time to study. I am finding it hard to study as I am a bit lost with regards to where I should start since I am yet to be informed about what the setup of the midterm will look like. To help me through this next week of studying I added http://studysuccessful.com/ to my Feedly reader. Not only does this link provide me with a variety of studying techniques, it also provides tips that can be beneficial when trying to survive as a university student who is under stress. I recommend people to look out for tips, facts and other helpful guides as they are likely to help you in your college and/or university careers. 

From my Feedly reader I am able to connect what I read to my learning inside and outside of this class. As stated in the paragraph above, everything people learn about is connected to what educators and individuals are using to learn and educate each other across the world. Feedly allows me to read relevant information and twitter allows me to share that information with like-minded individuals. I am constantly reading articles that stress the importance of technology in education and that discuss the merits of using technology to create an environment where one can grow.

Considering the points I have made in this week’s blog, I look forward to adding more tools to my PLN!