MOODLE:
My first
experience with Moodle was in my first semester with Mrs. Abaday. At first, I
didn’t know what it was exactly. I figured that it was something similar to a
web group that my undergrad professors had utilized like a yahoo group or
something. I later found out that it was more than that. Even with my classes
this past semester and during summer, I am still learning new things about
Moodle and discovering all the different things it’s capable of.
Overall, I
feel that Moodle is a very helpful tool between teacher and student; however,
it does depend and vary on the experience the teacher has with the program. I
have had several experiences with teachers who were not well versed with Moodle
and were still requiring the use of it. This became more frustrating than it
was helpful. If I were to rate Moodle on a five-star scale, I would give it a 4
out of 5. In my recent class with Dr. Sangueza, I was able to see a whole
different layout of the website, and in your class, it was my first time to see
hyperlinks in assignments. I give it four stars because of its ability to be so
versatile and its positive effect it has on students on their academics.
FIREFOX:
Personally,
I have never been a big fan of the Firefox web browser. In my experience working
at an Internet café, Firefox was the chosen web browser that we had decided to
leave on all the computers in the shop. Within my first few times of using it,
I had already decided that I wasn’t a fan. The first drawback for me was the
interface. It was not visually appealing and I felt that the buttons and
functions of the browser were not user friendly. Even after seeing the
customizations of different browser skins, I still wasn’t convinced. Since I
have always had some sort of bias against Firefox, I give it a 2 out of 5
stars. I guess it’s just not for me.
GOOGLE APPS:
First of
all, I love gmail. I have been using gmail for quite sometime, and am a convert
from the old Hotmail email services. My first thought is that gmail is more
professional. Not to rag anyone who uses Hotmail, but when I see gmail accounts
as compared to Hotmail accounts, I tend to take them more seriously or approach
them first. It is very easy to use and sign up for and I love how you can
integrate it with almost anything (YouTube, blogs, etc.) The google apps are
all very user friendly and have endless possibilities to what you can do with
them (Google, 2014), as we’ve been learning. I give google apps five out of
five stars.
LIVEBINDERS:
LiveBinders
was a brand new website for me this year. Based on the name, I had assumed it
was going to be like a livetext, but in binder form; meaning we could hold more
info or possibly organize it. After using LiveBinders for the first time, I
would have to say that it is a pretty effective tool. The user interface looks
a little boring at first, but you can customize it. I would use this as a tool
in my class for students to create e-portfolios for assignments or even for
them to organize presentations. I give LiveBinders five out of five stars.
YUGMA:
As
discussed in our group presentation, I am not too fond of Yugma. Though it has
so many features, it is not ideal for use in the classroom of high school
students. It is far too pricy and is centered mostly for businesses. I love the
features it offers and how effective you can be with a single program, but I
would rather use two or three programs for free to do what Yugma charges money
for. I give Yugma a 2 out of 5 stars.
INCREDIBOX:
Incredibox
is by far my most favorite tool that I have been introduced to this semester.
As a musician, drums to be specific, it was so fun to be able to experiment
with the different sounds of each character to make a complete beat and melody.
Controlling it during performances to change it up to make a live sound was fun
too. The possibilities seemed endless for me, even if there were only a handful
of stock sounds to choose from. The three different versions allowed for hours
of fun for me. I give Incredibox 5 out of 5 stars.
iMovie:
I love
iMovie for is easy-to-use simplicity. As a user of Adobe Premier and Final Cut,
I would have to say that iMovie is a good introduction for students to learn
how to edit clips and make videos. The user interface is easy to navigate and
is easy to get used to for first time users. This is a good tool to show your
students when you want them to create videos or even to challenge their
creativity for different projects. In
using iMovie in your classroom you are not only teaching students how to make a
movie, but you are teaching them the value and time spent in creating a project
(Teaching with Tech, Beach). I would highly recommend it for classes and
give it a 5 out of 5 stars.
Beach, J. iMovie (Educational Movie). Teaching with Tech. Retrieved from http://www.teachingwithtech.net/imovie/
Google. 2014. 35 Ways
to Use Google Apps in the Classroom. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1igbuSO-r38J5ngdGgAr70JoS0hOFAJ0qm5CN9WGYLmc/present?slide=id.i547
Hi:
ReplyDeleteYou are missing one tool to assess.
-j-