Excel Spreadsheet

I actually really did enjoy this activity. I have Excel on my own Mac laptop, but I rarely use it. I never knew logic statements could be used, so I was very impressed with the interactive spreadsheets. The instructions given were easy to follow for the most part. I got a little confused or had trouble finding things occasionally, but I was able to figure everything out eventually. Overall, this was a easy to use and useful activity. I think I will use it in my classroom often. It would be very good to use for quizzes and assessing students' knowledge on material. I especially like that these give immediate feedback and students are able to see their mistakes and learn from them right away.

Animoto

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Inspiration

We learned how to use Inspiration to create diagrams. I made a web diagram of a classification of organisms from the standard for fourth grade science. This was my first time ever using Inspiration, so it took a little while to get the hang of it. But after playing around for some time, I was able to figure everything out pretty easily. Really the only problem I ran into was locating specific items, but I was able to find them once I spent sometime trying things out. Also, it was difficult to fit it all into a space without scrolling, but after rearranging the information, I was able to make it fit. I think that next time I will able to do even better and make my web diagram faster and with more ease since I've experienced it before. I actually enjoyed making this. I feel like it would be a beneficial tool to use in my classroom. It would provide a way for students to view information in a new way. Maybe they would be able to comprehend the information more clearly in a web diagram than they would reading it in a textbook. If my students were older I think they would benefit from using Inspiration to create webs themselves.

Picasa Web Album

In class we went on a picture scavenger hunt. My group was looking for colors. We walked around campus and took pictures of all the different colors on our list. We shared pictures using a Picasa web slideshow and a Google presentation. The process of uploading and sharing pictures was fairly simple. I had never used either Picasa Web Albums or Google Presentation, so it took a little bit of getting used to and exploring to figure it out. Google Presentation was especially easy to learn to use because it is just like PowerPoint which I am very familiar with. The one problem I had was when I embedded it in my blog my teacher could not see it. So next time I would make sure and remember to change who can see it off of the private setting.
Both Picasa Web Albums and Google Presentation would be very useful in the classroom. If students were old enough and had computer skills, we could do a similar activity where they took pictures on a scavenger hunt, and then shared them. For younger students, teachers can make slideshows and web albums of concepts and lessons and use them while teaching. Having pictures as visual aids to accompany lessons could make it more interesting for students and allow them to see concepts in "real life."
I will definitely use both Picasa Web Albums and Google Presentations in my classroom.

Smilebox

Customize your own free invite card

I really enjoyed Smilebox. It was so easy to use and very fun to make. The whole process went well. I did not have a difficult time figuring out how to use it. I think it would be really fun to use this tool to invite parents to an end of year class party. I would include pictures of students throughout the year so they could see their child in the invitation. The kids would also enjoy seeing themselves as part of it. The only thing I would do differently next time is create it for an actual event and use pictures of people so it will be more personable and enjoyable.

Glogster

Delaney and I presented the Web 2.0 tool, Glogster ,to the class.
Glogster is an online tool that allows you to make virtual posters.
Delaney and I created the Glog embedded on this blog on the top of the page.
The creating of our Glog went well and Glogster is fairly easy to use. Sometimes it was hard to find specific items we wanted to add to our Glog. Some of the buttons were confusing, and it was repetitive having to apply and save every time we added a new thing to our Glog.
This tool is easy to use and would be beneficial in the classroom. Older elementary students would be able to use Glogster to create their own Glogs. They could create an "All About Me" glog, or use it to create a poster about a subject for a project. Teachers could also use glogs in the same way posters are used. They could be visual aids in teaching lessons or introducing new material.
I do not think I would change very much about our Glogster experience. It was challenging to figure out, but once we got the hang of it it went smoothly. I think next time we will be even better at making our glogs.

Picnik