Diigo Assignment

http://www.diigo.com/user/sean_obrien Here's a link to my diigo library. It is a very useful tool for young teachers who wish to learn more about their professon. It allows users to organize information into certain groups. It also helps students with something like a research assignment because it easily allows users to save and bookmark websites that are easily accesible later. I mostly would use diigo with remembering sources for future assignments.

Goanimate Review

While I don't really know how a future math teacher such as myself could use goanimate, I will say that it is very fun to use. Students could use it for fun to just express themselves. They could also work in groups and incorporate themselves into their videos. I think that the best way for teachers to use it would be to use it as an alternative style of teaching.

Goanimate Assignment

GoAnimate.com: Educaction Assignment by obriensc

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Concept Map

Pixton Comments

I really enjoyed using Pixton. I think that both students and teachers would like expressing their thoughts about school for some comic relief. It could also be used to poke fun at misconceptions of education.

Pixton Comic

Reflection on Google Docs

I enjoyed using Google Docs. I tried to use it very similarly to my group's Voicethread project so that I could compare the two. I think that Google Docs is easier to use because I was more used to some of the features. Plus shapes were made on their own instead of being doodle (Voicethread). I would recommend being able to select the size of the text immediately and not have to wait and see what it looks like, which provided a small inconvenience. One application of this tool in education is how I applied it (as an algebra problem). I think that another way to use it in the classroom is in English class. The teacher could type a sentence and ask the students to correct any spelling. Note: I followed the directions for putting the link to my Google Docs assignment on my blog. Unfortunately, the link is not working for some reason.

Google Docs-assignment

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1JS6Fxnwz688ioCvQRz9seEDq85A07NCzdSYD7Qjsp9w/edit

Google Calendar

Prezi Assignment

What Basketball Means to Indiana on Prezi

Voicethread Project 2

Using Voicethread in Education

For our group's project, we decided to focus on a freshman algebra class. We found an image of a chalkboard and set is a background for a slide. By using the doodle function on Voicethread, the students could perform their math problems in a new creative way. Most of the problems would be very basic so that the students wouldn't have any problem becoming familiar with Voicethread. I still think it would be difficult for students to use many features on computers for math class, but I do think that Voicethread has several features that would be helpful for students. We used this standard in our project: 7. Translate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text into visual form (e.g., a table or chart) and translate information expressed visually or mathematically (e.g., in an equation) into words

Here's the link to my Voicethread presentation ">

Voicethread account

My voicethread account is up and my e-mail is obriensc@uindy.edu

Icebreaker-Response

After trying to use our ice breaker idea for Twitter, I've come to the realization that it won't work for the most part. I think students would rather just post when they feel like it and not when they are told too. It can be still be awkward to write something just to write it, just like in a classroom setting. While this idea could benefit some students, I think that for the most part, it will be largely ineffective because students probably won't feel motivated to follow the teacher's instructions.

Twitter in School

Our idea for our group is to use Twitter for icebreakers at the beginning of the school year. Students would be able to post things that they feel comfortable saying to their peers and not feel pressured to answer certain questions. I think that students will feel more confident in their answers knowing that they will not feel awkward answering in front of the class. They could also form a new friendship that may not have existed without the use of this introduction to the class. The only negative that could come from something like this is possible bullying over what someone thinks. In our group, we plan on posting things about ourselves to see how our followers react.

Educational Blog Resources

1. http://www.leekrausonline.com/
This first link helps to give new ideas regarding teaching students through blogs. One of the blogs contains a video that discusses many different life scenarios. It can help give students helpful insight that they may not have listened to before. All of the comments talked of how the video helped the audience to understand the material so I'd assume that the students feel engaged with the topics.

2. http://learningcurves.blogspot.com/
This second blog seemed to be more geared toward teachers. It discussed some of the things that teachers simply would like to get off their chests. I felt like it would be helpful for a young teacher who might be questioning whether to switch their career to see that veterans go through problems too. Some of the comments seemed to be more friendly and playful than all business. This can go a long way to helping beginning teachers feel more comfortable which is why I'd consider to be a successful use of blogs.


As a future teacher, I know that I will need to be ready for increasing technological changes in an increasingly advanced world. I plan on allowing my students to have discussions about homework through blogs. Being a math teacher might make it harder to incorporate much writing into the curriculum, but I think that having the blog could help some students understand material better since they can learn both from me and from their peers. I think that hearing that their fellow classmates also might be struggling actually provides students with confidence because they won't feel as alone as they would without the blog.

Greetings

Hello to all readers. I'm Sean O'Brien, and I will be writing a blog about college basketball for my education class so that I can learn how to use blogs more effectively. I'm a big Duke fan so I'll probably be posting about them frequently. I look forward to learning more about blogs in this course and to stating my thoughts about the rest of the season. Hope you enjoy.

Sean O'Brien