Second life...and some.

Second life is first and foremost an adult site. It is an online community, no an online world or country, where people work, play, and socialise all as an avatar of themselves. The avatars are hand picked and changed by their puppeteer, they have clothes and accessories and friends all within second life.
To me, second life is a collection of ugly dark 'islands' created by people who don't care weather or not their particular plot of land is aesthetically pleasing.

Any positives of Second Life are that it could engage children who otherwise would not be interested in school, and it could expose children to a variety of people, places and cultures that they would not otherwise see from the classroom. Even if the teacher opened Second Life and was the only one to touch it (to monitor child use)it is still an extremely demanding technology as it would require an up to date graphics card and a reasonably quick internet system, neither of which my practicum school had. Also the school has some blocked sites and Second Life would surely be one of them.

Second Life in education is a site that shows you the pros of using second life in an educational manner and even suggests some places that a classroom or teacher could visit. Through this site we were shown a cool Macbeth Island where one goes in avatar form and is dropped into, and fully immersed in, the happenings of the play Macbeth. This is just one of many, according to Kim Flintoff, places within Second Life where children can go and have a positive learning experience.

Over all I do not think I will use Second Life either personally or professionally as it is impractical and a bit sketchy to take children to, and it does not interest or inspire me.

Google Documents

When you are on any google page, in the top left had corner there are some options, and a 'more' button. The fact that I have never seen the more button before both surprises and worries me. How long has it been there? When I click on the more option I get just that. One of the various drop down options is in fact Google Documents.

Google documents is, to me, like a free version of Microsoft word, it is just as simple to use. You do your work (which can include tables and other Word-like features)then save it. It is secure and safe and now can be accessed from anywhere that has the Internet, no need for USB sticks or lugging around stacks of paper, it's all on the google documents database, waiting for you to log back in. That is not the only unique feature that comes with Google Documents, you can also invite other Gmail account users to look at the document. These people can have 'read only status or you could also make it so that someone else can edit and add to the document. No matter what, you are always the creator of the document and can change members' status within the document at any point.

I have used Google Documents during my Technology and Enterprise unit to create a working document that the lecturer checked. First I wrote my own part of a particular document then invited three others to look at the document. I had to change the status of the people I had invited (once they had accepted the invitation) so that they too could edit, in this case add) to the document. Lastly I invited the lecturer to view the final document, he then emailed me his response.

I enjoyed using Google Documents and could see it being both practical and useful in the classroom. When I went on my practicum there, of course, was always the problem of completing work. The children would start typing out a story or a report and would only get to work on it in lab time, or any spare time they could scrounge on the four classroom computers. The work could not be taken home as the children did not have USB sticks and the teacher knew that work done at home could also be left at home. The answer to this particular problem is Google Documents. The children could begin typing out in Google Documents at school, then at home log on with their email and password and carry on. The next day at school the typing could be continued in class computer time. This process could be continued until the typing is complete. Then, if the teacher wanted, the children could copy and paste the whole document to Microsoft word for final touch ups and printing off. Though I am sure that once the children are familiar with it, Google Documents would suffice.

I am excited by the idea of Google Documents and love the direction it takes us in technologically. I will definitely use it in the future and already know of friends and classmates who use it confidently

Twitter

Twitter...I dislike it as I am not a user and do not really understand why anyone would want an account - At the same time I do enjoy the witty quips or ranting banter people come up with in that little box as much as the next person. Twitter is actually a reasonably attractive technology on the 'sharing your thoughts with others' bandwagon and consists purely of status updates. On Twitter you can make an account and start adding your thoughts to the pool. You can also find friends and even strangers to 'follow' and have your own 'followers' in return. Twitter is explained as keeping all your friends and family in touch with your daily grind, letting them know all the details of your life that happen between phone calls, emails and blog posts. This is an exciting pitch and I believe Twitter is a success according to meeting their own goals.

When I took part in class discussion we decided it would be difficult to use Twitter in the classroom with the children as it would be extremely difficult to monitor the children's private accounts. Twitter would work however to keep the parents in touch with going's on in the classroom, the class could have a twitter account (a private one)that the parents and other teachers 'follow' the teacher and students could then take turns at announcing what the class has achieved for the day or simply the activity they are currently doing. This would give parents the chance to be more involved with the goings on in the classroom and allow for up to date information to be shared constantly, filling in the gaps between newsletters and parent teacher nights.

Overall Twitter is an exciting avenue for communicating with and connecting people. I can't see myself using it it a personal way but would definitely consider it for class use in the future.

Glogster

"forget blogs, glog!"

Glogster was incredible, I can't believe I have never heard of some of these technologies, it is essentially an interactive poster that you can make at glogster.com. You log in and get started straight away - FOR FREE! You start with a page (it's not exactly blank) that you can manipulate and make your own. You change the background (wall) then select graphics, pictures, videos or sounds/music to add to your poster. The end result looks amazing.

You can be so creative whilst 'building' your poster there are so many colours, patterns and graphics to choose from, not to mention the edit tool which allows you to change the colours and effects of each object on your poster.

We were shown examples of how glogster could be used to present topics and assignments (anything you would normally do in poster form and more) in the classroom. I could definitely see myself using Glogster as a form of assessing children's knowledge and as a final presentation or part of a project. It is fun, free and easy to access. The only problem, the same with the other online technologies, is that the school network may have the web site blocked making it difficult to use or to get permission to have access to.

I will definitely attempt some more glogging in the future, personally and professionally, as it was a great creative outlet and it would be great to spend some more time on. My only hope for Glogster is that it stays free...

Bitstrips

Bitstrips! I loved Bitstrips! It was so easy to figure out by using the information on the class wiki and having a play with Bitstrips myself at home. I sat on Bitstrips for a solid hour and a half and played with the character creation part and the actual making of a comic strip, it was so much fun. I loved how easy it was to figure out and I was genuinelly impressed with the detail you could add to a character and their expressions and range of motions. I found the end product to look totally legit and loved having a go at my own little gag.

Would I use Bitstrips in the classroom? Similarly to Scratch I could use Bitstrip to cover the topic of plot or narrative. I love it and can really see children loving it too. I felt so creative while using this technology and I really believe I could intergrate it into a classroom one way or another.

I will use Bitstrips in the future as a lesure activity or to convey something to friends. I can't wait till I next attempt a comic on Bitstrips :D