Module 6

The three technology tools that I liked the most for this module are Popplet, Dropbox, and Wikispaces. Popplet is awesome. With Popplet, you can create webs and webbed charts for school or work. I like it because it's very organized and it uses a lot of colors. I think it's a neat way to implement technology into the classroom. If you are working with your class on brainstorming something within a web, this would be a perfect way to hit things off! The second tool I chose was Dropbox. Dropbox is a way of saving documents, pictures, or anything that needs to be saved. I like using Dropbox, as well as my flash drive, because if my flash drive fails to work, then I still have all of my important information saved into Dropbox. The last tool is Wikispaces. Wikispaces is cool because you can get any kind of information from your peers. You have to be careful with this though, because not all of the information you read may be correct. With, Dropbox, you have to be careful because if you use it a lot, you may run out of free storage to where you would have to buy more storage. With Popplet, one negative could be that it may be hard to understand how to use for people who are not very computer literate. All three of these technological tools are amazing and I really enjoyed trying all of them! 

Module 5

The three technological tools that I learned about in Module Five for this week are called Quizlet, ActivelyLearn, and Quia. In the classroom, Quizlet can be used as a study tool between students. Either students or Educators can use ActivelyLearn. ActivelyLearn is a site that has a free library with a lot of different texts and lessons that students can interact with. Quia stands for Quintessential Instructional Archive and is a website that allows students or teachers to create their own educational content using different activities. As usual, there will always the ups with downs and downs with ups. On Quizlet, you have to be cautious as a teacher because many students use Quizlet as an area to get answers instead of using it as a studying tool. ActivelyLearn allows for a new way of interacting with the material you assign as a teacher. Some people see this as a positive trait, but it could also be a negative trait for those who don’t do best with new technology. I’ve done some research and I have seen in a lot of places that quia can be hacked to be able to cheat on quizzes on Quia. This may not be true, but as a teacher, you don’t want to take any chances when you could be using a different technological tool that works just as well. I have had a lot of fun with learning this new information and I plan to use some of these tools in the future!

Module 4

There were much more than 3 technological tools that were taught in this module, but I will choose my 3 most favorite. The three technological tools that were my favorite were SlideShare, YouTube, and TeacherTube. All three of these tools are easy to use. SlideShare can be used in my line of profession, by uploading slides in which I can present within my classroom, to my students, as a teacher. YouTube has a large variety of videos that I can use to visually show information being taught in a classroom. TeacherTube is similar to YouTube but has videos specifically for teachers. As with all technological tools, you have to be careful with them, knowing that there may be some difficulties. For example, when I last used SlideShare, it didn’t include the transitions or audio clip that I had added to my slide when I uploaded it. With YouTube, you have to be careful, because there are some videos that definitely are not age appropriate when it comes to showing the video to your class. YouTube also has advertisements if you do not purchase YouTube Red. These advertisements can also be inappropriate at times if you are not careful. On TeacherTube, there are a lot of videos that are specifically for a teachers’ knowledge so I would be sure to make sure I know the contents of the video before showing to a class. Even though there are some challenges with each of these technological tools, there are many benefits, and that’s why I chose these three as my top favorite. I had a lot of fun while exploring this module and I look forward to exploring the next one!