After scrolling through Top 100 Tools for Learning 2014 - http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/ - I was shocked to see so many applications as far down on the list. In addition, a newbie to Twitter, I was stunned that it has remained at that position for the past six years! I realize I am a little late to the ballgame, but six years, gosh! I always viewed Twitter as a useless forum for people to post nonsense one-liners about what was going on in their lives. However, better late than never, certainly applies here. Becoming more familiar with Twitter, and following the appropriate groups/individuals, this app will appear more often in my repertoire.
Pintrest ranking in the top 15 was expected. I, for one, use it frequently. It is such a wonderful tool to share knowledge. I use it for both personal and professional boards. A number of my most successful lesson plans came from ideas born through Pintrest. In keeping with the same theme of sharing ideas and lessons, Youtube is no surprise taking the third rank. Youtube is constantly a supplement to my lesson plans, most notably within my rhythmic unit. Two tools I thought deserved higher rankings were Skype and Survey Monkey. At my school, both the applications are used throughout the year in a number of ways. Survey Monkey has been the backbone to our school's strategic planning process, as all members of the community have received various surveys encompassing all aspects of school life. At the moment, we are in the stage of going through all the data collected from the various participant groups. The last shocking ranking was number 40, Khan Academy. After researching the advancements made with Web 2.0 and the info-graphic of the internet revolutionizing education, I would has suspected Khan Academy to be slightly higher on the list.
Here is a quick video I just constructed. Lily is my niece. She happens to be the youngest member of our dynamic family, and she is a firecracker! I hope you enjoy a quick glimpse of the "Reilly's!"
First and foremost, I must give credit where it is due. My graduate Professor, Scott Sailor, has introduced me to an infinite number of useful tools to further market myself as a stand out professional. To date, I have constructed this amazing PWP, something I never would have established on my own. PWP is a wonderful tool I use to illustrate my passions, strengths, and areas I wish to further develop.
Secondly, the Facebook fan page is my latest obsession. I am so excited to give this page a life of its own. My goal is for this page to establish a forum for past, current, and future players to connect and share their thoughts of the program. It's a great way to infuse school spirit and love for the sport within the Ranney School community. I already have several followers, and I can't wait to see this page really take off. This page is going to host numerous announcements, youtube videos, podcasts and pictures. I already use youtube throughout the year. I use videos in specific lessons, where I believe students can truly benefit from visual instruction. In addition, I have peers take video on the I-Pad for playback review and self analysis. Using Magisto myself, I starting thinking this could make for a fun unit project for my students to complete during the year. I believe this app will infuse excitement and ownership of skill development. This will supplement a project they currently complete using Prezi.
As mentioned in my previous blog, I am an avid user of google docs, sheets and google calendar. I cannot express how much this suite of tools have fostered a tremendous professional growth over the past academic year.
I played around with Joe's Goals. It appears to be very user friendly and easy to update. I would almost consider this a form of a "to do" list, as it tracks your progress in achieving your desired outcomes. I already use the MapMyRun app on my cell phone. It's a easy to use app that allows the individual to set their own unique course, follow a course of a nearby user, or find a established course. The app also allows the user to import music from their itunes account or spotify. It is similar to the Nike+ app that I have also used in the past. Voice overrides alert the runner to both distance and pace. One is also able to predetermine length (miles or kilometers) or duration of run. Netvibes, a dashboard for everything also has peaked my interest. I am going to investigate further into this site as it seems amazing. I set up a dashboard entitled "All Things Eileen." I think this may be my new "Go To" site! Most days, I do not think about the actual technology I am using, I just go about completing the necessary tasks. I am shocked to reflect on web 1.0 and how antiquated the system seems. We take for granted the amazing tools web 2.0 has to offer. Imagine purchasing a product without reading consumer reviews! Crazy!
Over the summer months, my school made the transition from Microsoft Outlook to Google Docs. Like many, I was extremely resistant to the change and stumbled quite a few times in the early stages. However, now I love using google docs and sharing my documents with colleagues. Since we are pulled in numerous directions over the course of the day, sharing documents, enables professionals to check-in and comment on suggestions or revisions. It is not terribly different on the managerial side, but the ability to collaborate with colleagues and students in real time is a show stopper. If you haven't used any of the google docs, sheets, or forms, I highly recommend it! You won't go back to the ancient form of communicating, and creating documents. In addition, the ability to share folders is extraordinary. I attending the annual NJAHPERD convention this past February and stopped to speak with a SPARK PE representative. While I was at the table, I struck up a conversation from another gentlemen that taught PE in northern New Jersey. Little did I know, he was also giving a presentation later that afternoon on "Technology in PE." He shared this amazing folder, where fellow physical educators submit a plethora of content relating to our field. I went back, shared that folder with the physical education staff, and we were exposed to an incredible range of information. After thorough examination of the Discovery Education website, I really enjoyed the "Poll Everywhere" tool. I couldn't help but think this would be highly beneficial on professional development days, webinars/seminars, and convention settings. Instant feedback can lead to dynamic future discussions.
The Elon University study of Generation AO really captured my attention. As a teacher and coach, I marvel at the enormous quantity of time the youth spend on various social media sites or exploring the internet for knowledge. Initially, my reaction was that being unable to disconnect from technology was gravely affecting our younger generations. Immediately, I thought the children of today were going to suffer the loss of knowing how to truly engage in meaningful person-person discussion, without the distractions of their cellular devices. Interpersonal skills would begin to deteriorate and relationships would become shallow, void of real meaning. In short, you could say, I was one of the 42% viewing Generation AO with negative outcomes. However, after reading through both texts this week, I have eased my view slightly. Granted, I am not completely sold on the notion that being "always on" does not pose any issues, I can see some positive changes in the collaborative efforts of the young. Their ability to communicate through the internet and voice their opinions on matters, share thoughts, engage in meaningful discussions is an amazing method of learning. Facebook and Twitter, for example enable the user to join a group, or follow a particular interest. Within those groups, individuals are privy to a wealth of information, that they, in turn, can share their unique perspective by posting, or gain beneficial knowledge of content. Social media has increased the potential of informational exposure exponentially. Perry Hewitt, director of digital communications/communications services at Harvard University made reference to Generation AO has "gotten out of the business of memorizing facts and rules and into thebusiness of applying those facts and rules into complex problems." I will leave you with this thought as I wrap up this blog post. As a physical education teacher and three sport coach, I want my students to acquire the skills needed to achieve success within my unit/season. I also want my students/athletes to demonstrate exceptional sportsmanship skills and the ability to work together to achieve a common goal. Being connected, or "always on" is like a virtual "team" of individuals that seek a similar outcome. As Alexandra Samuel states "how can we (individuals, organizations, educators and perhaps especially as parents) help today's kids to prepare for that world - the world they will actually live in and help to create - instead of the world we are already nostalgic for." While technological advances are bombarding the public on a daily basis, Generation AO will need to learn the delicate balance of being able to "turn off" as well. My Facebook Fan Page is dedicated to the Varsity Field Hockey team. As head coach of the program, I value the benefits this page has to offer my athletes and their parents. A few years back I tried to create a team webpage via weebly. It was great. I had scores, individual player statistics, scouting reports, and important announcements available on the page. The only problem was getting viewers. Since our school has team pages built into their website, sending players and parents to an external site was difficult to manage.
By tapping into the social media resource, my messages will be delivered in a timely fashion. It will be a great tool to promote athlete and team successes. I am confident that parents can share and post their thoughts on how to create memorable events directly from the team page. I plan to use this page as a means of communicating the schedule, important game/practices changes, team building experiences, individual player statistics, and honorable mention highlights. Not to mention, it is a great medium for keeping in touch with alumni of the program.
Since this week's topic of discussion is based around photo sharing and getting social, I thought I would invite any one that was interested to take a look at my Instagram account! Below, you will find a photo of my dog, Charli, hanging out on the beach in Seapines Plantation, Hilton Head Island, S.C.
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