Weekly Report & Reflection #9

Photo Copied from:
http://voicethread.com/mobile/

VoiceThread

VoiceThread is a very creative and collaborative tool.  First a user creates a slideshow and then, as others are viewing it, they can leave their own comments using voice clips, typing, etc.  This allows not only the presenter to share his ideas, but for listeners to have their inputs when they may not otherwise be able to. This can be a very useful tool in the classroom as well as in the workplace.

Teachers can have their students participate with VoiceThread in various different ways. It could be used as a homework assignment where the student has to comment on a couple of slides, as we did in this week’s activities. Then they could present the slides in the classroom and use the comments students made as a discussion tool.  This can also help students get involved that may not be comfortable participating in a classroom setting.

Photo copied from: http://www.nccu.edu/voicethread/

PollDaddy

PollDaddy is more of an information gathering tool. It allows you to post your own survey questions and have anyone with a link answer the question. It can be very useful when conducting any sort of survey or again, to get students involved in the classroom. With PollDaddy, it may be a little easier to use as an in class activity, as the students will not necessarily need to talk into a mic as they may with VoiceThread. It could be used as a quick quiz or opinion tool and then lead into a discussion with the student following viewing the classroom poll results.

Photo copied from:http://sandiego.wordcamp.org/2011/sponsor/polldaddy/

These two tools have a more specific purpose than other collaboration and communication tools we have explored in the past. Where Google Docs has a very broad purpose, from word processing to creating presentations, VoiceThread only allows the creation of presentations and then gathering opinions and comments from others. Also, PollDaddy only allows users to communicate their answers based on the options provided.

Photo copied from:
http://www.wtamu.edu/administration/buffalo-gold-card-faculty-and-staff.aspx

Through becoming a digital citizen I am learning that the same rules apply to the online community as in everyday society. I am learning that being a digital citizen is harder than it sounds. I have noticed that many people do not have digital etiquette and this all comes down to one thing that is not having respect for other and themselves when using technology. With increases in technology bullying has now stemmed to the cyber bullying. Bullying still continues in schools, but it does not stop there, it continues through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube etc. We have seen many youth take their own life because of cyber bullying. If we educate our society on proper digital etiquette, we can prevent cyber bullying from happening.

Photo copied from:http://www.pcworld.com/article/2031908/the-5-biggest-online-privacy-threats-of-2013.html

Since we have been talking so much about digital responsibility the last little while, I found a blog from my feedly reader and although it is from the UK, it shows various stats about how much people are concerned about privacy on the Internet. According to the blog, only 46% of people think online privacy is a major issue and only 43% of people believe they are ultimately responsible for protecting their own privacy. See "Stats: internet privacy and responsibility among consumers" for the full blog.