Module 8

RSS feeds seems like a great way to save time when using the Internet. I do have certain websites that I visit regularly so to have any new posts or news feeds sent straight to a homepage would be very convenient. I  had a look at google reader and found the website a little tricky to navigate so I will need to do some further reading and searching to get the most out the the tool. This isn't a tool that I see myself using with students but more for professional development. I think it would be great to subscribe to some educational blogs and view new posts more easily.

Module 7

Social bookmarking is such a great tool. Delicious has made it so easy to access your favourite websites online without having to remember the URL. I find that I will use a great website one year and forget all about it when I come to that unit of work again. By using Delicious I will have an archive of website that I have used from one year to the next. I also like the idea of sharing good websites with colleagues. I rely on Google to search for websites and waste so much time trying to find something I can use. By following other teachers I can go straight to great websites. This is definitely a tool I will continue to use.

Module 6

Flickr is a web tool that I have often heard about at school and seen people use, but I have never explored its uses before. Now I understand why it is so popular. It seems to be such a great tool to upload and organise images. It allows students to access photos from any where or any place legally.

I'm always taking photos of the students on excursions and other special days but rarely give anyone access to these photos. With Flickr I would be able to allow the students to use these photos in their work. For example when publishing a recount. I would need to become more familiar with the privacy settings before I did this.

Images are so easily accessed by students on the Internet and it is important for them to understand copyright. Just as we teach them not to copy and paste text from the web when completing research tasks, we need to reinforce this for images as well. Flickr is great because you can choose to add a creative commons licence to the photos you upload which  would help students understand how they can use images legally.

Module 5

This module has taught me so much about creating and communicating online. I was not familiar with any of the web tools this week but really enjoyed learning and and exploring them.

There are so many different ways to use Bubble.Us across all KLAs. We are constantly brainstorming and mind mapping ideas with the children so to present it in a new and interactive way would be very beneficial. It would be great to add new information to the mind map as you worked through a unit of work. I also like the idea using the tool to pretest the students on what they already know on certain topics.

Glogster looks really interesting. I like the idea of creating a digital poster that can include several different web tools. I thought the example given in the module Decisions, Decisions: A trip to Europe was a wonderful way to use the tool in the younger grades. As a year 1 teacher I would create the glog. and then add the students work. The children would love to see themselves on a video or photo presented this way.