Gone are the days of the typewriter

When thinking back to my undergraduate studies in the late 1990's, it's amazing to see how far word processing has gone! My freshmen year of college I had to do my papers on a typewriter and what a mess that was. English 112 was especially a mess because I had to hand in the intro paragraph and then it would come back with teacher comments on it, which meant I had to retype it. Then we had to hand in the the first two pages and that would come back with teacher comments, and I had to retype that...and so on. I can't believe I survived. Needless to say I got my first computer that next year and it was awesome. The idea that a document could be SAVED was my new best friend. Now with the online word processing programs, I love the idea that a document is saved on the web so you don't have worry about your computer crashing. Another great feature is that you can collaborate with others in real time to work on a document. Who would have thought of that in 1999? :)

I definitely think I could and will use these online word processing programs. My only issue is that most of them require an email address. My school doesn't have school email addresses for students and it can get a little tricky when students use their own addresses. So I will most likely use Type With Me but that program is just word processing. I like Zoho as well because it has power point along with a spreadsheet option, but once again it requires an email address. I have posted this before for a different class but I repost it for this class. I have found a way to "trick" websites that require an email address into accepting new accounts for students. Here's how its done. You need a gmail account and after the teacher's login add a + and whatever the students decide (maybe their name) and then the @ gmail.com. This essentially is creating an umbrella email account that the teacher receives the emails and not the students because its the teacher's account. For example I created an umbrella email spreiss1211@gmail.com and students would use spreiss1211+jennifer@gmail.com I like google docs but probably won't use it because it doesn't allow the "trick", maybe because google docs and gmail are the same company. Zoho accepts the "trick" emails and students will have to get the web address for their document. This all seems confusing but it works like a charm for most Web 2.0 apllications. I feel that a teacher can never be too careful with adolescents and the Internet.

New post for new class CEdO515

At this point I have completed reading the two assigned chapters. I feel that the first chapter was
sort of a review and started to set the stage for a break up of each of the six 21st century skills. At my school we have some opportunities for professional development and have briefly discussed a few of the 21st century skills that were mentioned in the reading. Before these PD opportunities I thought just because technology was included, then 21st century skills were being used. Well, as I am continuing in my life long learning, I am finding that is not true. In fact, it can be far from true! I agree with our textbook when it stated that an effective technology enhanced task will use technology only when it is necessary and appropriate.

I have played around a bit with some of the graphic programs and am finding some cool things…I made a graphic “WANTED” poster of my little Pomeranian, LuLu, from image chef. I started to laugh out loud, printed it off, and now it’s hanging on my refrigerator. I can see how my students have so much fun on the internet. I do want to work more on ToonDoo or Toonlet because I think that is something my students will like to do in computer class. Hopefully I can figure them out.