Staying Connected

Using Tools to Support Connected Learning:

Having social media, google accounts, or any other account of importance is important. Why? Because, you are given tools. One tool to keep in mind is keeping all of your usernames and passwords the same so that it is easy for you to use and easier for you to remember. 

Expressed in The Connected Educator, there are several tools online that are used for keeping track of whatever you have found on the internet. 

As we all know there are so many new things in the world online that we have yet to discover even exists. I say this because as we grow in a digital age, so many people all over the world are either blogging, creating websites, and using social bookmarking, that are rapidly growing that not a single person can go through all of it in a 24 hour time span. Social bookmarking, or tagging, is a very helpful tool to help you keep your websites and information valuable to you, organized. Delicious ad Diigo are other helpful bookmarking and tagging sites of interests through photos, videos, and blogs you post.You can access your bookmarking wherever you go, share it with others, compile ideal lists, organize lists, save ones that are of interest to you, have a wishlist, subscribe to your favorites, and even build a network. This is what its all about! Staying connected and building your PLN (Personal Learning Network), especially if you are student, or simply seeking for specific job opportunities. It is a great way to start. 

While building your Network it is important to consider you reputation. What I mean by this is that you are always being watched ( i.e employers) on whatever it is that you are doing on the web. So be the brand you want to see. Using tools such as Blogger, Edublog, Podomatics, Twitter, Wikispaces, Ning, and so many more are tools online to help build and nurture your PLN. These tools are used for reading, networking, and collaborating with other educators throughout the world.

My Personal Learning Network

Throughout my time of using twitter and building my PLN, has opened my eyes to what is truly out there in the world and how amazing it feels to be connected with individuals with interests similar to mine. I never thought that using social media in a way to connect with professionals in my field of study was even a thing. I am a Pre-Physical Therapy major and in doing so, helped me to stay up to date to what is going on in the health care profession. It makes me look into my profession more and more everyday. I begin to find articles through Flipbaord or The New York Times and I know other professionals would find interested in viewing them. I tweet about it then, I begin to see those who take interest of my tweets and favorite it and sometimes even retweet it. That feeling gets me excited because it makes me feel like I am doing something right enough to get their attention and notice me. Sometimes I would even go through my twitter feed and find articles, tweets, comments and favorites that professionals have made and I begin to retweet or quote tweet them. This plays a role in my PLN because when they see me reaching out to them, they see that I am also interested in what is being posted and what is of interest in my field of study. You can view an example of what I talked about here.

Overall, you want to make sure that whatever is being posted online by you, is POSITIVE.

Your digital footprint is made and is a collection of all activities and behaviors that are recorded while you interact in online spaces. 

Organizational, Beneficial, & AR Apps for Your Phone

Great Organizational Apps for your Mobile Device 

There are so many  individuals throughout the world using millions of apps world wide on their mobile devices. As we continue to learn and discover new things we become amazed by how far technology has increased in over the years. 

For Android users there is the Google Play Store or for iPhone users, there is the Apple store. Some applications differ between devices, however for the most part they are the same. One aspect in which could make it a little more difficult to have is that Android could have the free version, where as Apple could have a pay for it version, but for the majority, they are free. I have learned in an App Smackdown from one of my classes are the numerous amounts of amazing apps that I never even knew existed. Things I never thought that could ever be made of or even thought of. 

There are some apps that are helpful as far as being easy and being organized. SuperNotes and Talkboard were two that I thought were very interesting to talk about. They are both similar in a way to keep yourself organized with notes and information that is important to know, yet for both you could record your notes and it will be saved onto these apps immediately. I have not yet tried them out, but from what was displayed in my class on how to use it, seemed quick and easy to use. You could set reminders with a time that is needed for specific due dates, etc. If you are looking for an app that is simple enough to get the point across, I would use SuperNotes. However, if you want a little more in depth to what you want in your app Talkboard is the way to go. I say this because Talkboard, you can add audio, pictures, colors, share ideas with others, take notes, express ideas, and invite people to see your notes. 

Another great app that I would also like to mention in keeping you organized is Werdsmith. With this app, you can set reminders on when to write. Writing starts with an idea, with that idea you have to have consistency in your writing. This app also creates a link for everyone to view. It is an easy way to have work online. This app is free and comes with 14 ideas and projects you could present, however if you want to upgrade there is an additional charge. Even though this app has a limit, it doesn't limit you too much.

Need an App to Help you Find a Job in your Field of Study?

Glassdoor is a great app that you can search a local job in your area and field of study! This app can help you to find potential employers. With this, you could see all of the job postings available, what to apply for, and when to apply for it. This is a great app to help you to find the best job possible for you. One reason I really enjoy this app, is that you are able to the reviews on the job, check out about finding an internship somewhere, where they hold interviews and what they will be asking of you. This tells you exactly what that employer is looking for without you having to figure it out yourself. It gives you great tips of what to expect and the benefits of working there. With that, it also lets you know the salaries and National average of what that position holds. I defineitly feel that this is a great app for you to seek out potential employers. Check it out!

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) is a great way for students and individuals to learn and see things from a different point of view. Brad Waid explains in depth of what Augmented Reality is and what it does to benefit our learning experiences. As he put it, "it takes the world that is right in front of us and enhances it." It is a fairly new piece of technology that is on the continuum of being developed as tools to use in a productive manner in our lives. They become a beneficial part in our lives. Augmented Reality Apps have hit a billion dollars within 2015 through 2016, and are continuing to grow as major tech companies are trying to secure a place in this nascent market, as Andrew Meola put it. Creating a successful app can be a true success and maintaining it could be a little difficult, yet these apps are continuing to make a big boom in the market and will continue to grow as the years progress further. These apps for sure keep individuals entertained as well as educated in a digital world. 

Augmented Reality Science Apps

In my class there were several different unique applications that had blown me away, especicially when it connected to my field of study, Health Science. One that had really stood out to me was the Anatomy 4D app. I am a Pre-Physical Therapy major and I have a huge passion for the human anatomy of the body. With this app you can simply print any image given to you on the Target Library provided inside of the app. Once you have this, you place it on a flat surface and hover your phone over it as if were taking a picture of it. Once done so, your phone will have scanned the image and make it come to life in a 4D experience great for all Medical Professions. You can turn off different functions of the body on the app to view them all. You could see the organs, skeleton, muscles, and systems of the human body. 

I have also learned of several other apps that not only were presented by my Professor, but explained again by Danny Nicholson. There are few other related apps that could be used in science. Elements 4D, Zookazam, and NASA's Spacecraft 3D. These are very similar to the Anatomy 4D app. You could see whatever is set infront of you brought to life. Elements 4D is pretty interesting if you are into Chemistry. There are blocks that have the Periodic Table of Elements on it, and when you hover over these blocks with your phone you could see the element inside of the block. An example that was shown in class was the Water and Oxygen together. Now we all know that water and oxygen makes water and when you put these two blocks side by side, you can see the water inside of the blocks. Pretty neat right?

If your are into habitats, Zookazam is the app for you. When the target is viewed through the app, the animal you want to have appear will be shown in lively fashion. You could see me holding a Giraffe in class, here. Lastly, if you are into Spacecraft, NASA's Spacecraft 3D is for you, as you could see the whole solar system as well as Earth.

It was an overall great experience having this apps to refer to, especially for educational references in the future. I recommend at least checking them out, you could find one that best suites your interests!

Presentations & Astronaut Abby

Use PowerPoint and are just tired of the same old features? Lucky for you there are plenty of upgraded forms of presentations to use for school or even in your presentation at your businesses. Here are 4 helpful tools that could help create a unique presentation.

1. Office Mix

PowerPoint has an updated feature to use called Office Mix, which is an add on for PowerPoint slides. You can easily download it free and sign up. What this feature includes is a new tab called "Mix". You can insert different things with this interesting feature such as voice input, do presentation on the web, embed audio. The table of context holds all of your slides which makes it that much better than the normal PowerPoint.

                                                                      2. Sway

Another interesting presentation cite is called Sway. Yes, it is also free and is web based as well. It is by Microsoft and what is so neat about Sway is that you can drag and drop anything into your presentation via pictures, videos, voice, music, etc. Mark Kaelin, explains how you can use this feature in so little time. Sway could also give you suggestions for what you are looking for. It combines all the tools needed so that it is easy to use. It is very intuitive. You are able to create a website within minutes of using it. He brings up a good point about having Office 365. If you have this, then you have Sway. Also, because we are living in such a high tech society, we are learning that we will be able to communicate with other workers through this digital technology.

                                                                      3. Haiku Deck

The third presentation tool you could use, that I enjoyed also is Haiku Deck. This is a presentation where you should not exceed no more than 5 bullet points on each slide. This really gets your presentation skills up to par because it is mostly picture based. You are the presentation. No one wants to read off the presentation the same thing you are explaining to them because that is defeating the purpose of a presentation. You want the audience to focus on you not so much on the presentation. Here is a link to my first Haiku Deck presentation about what I plan to do on spring break. 

                                                                      4. GoAnimate

Lastly, I would like to talk to you about GoAnimate. I have to say I just used this one for the first time to actually create a commercial for my class. It was a little confusing at first, but once I started to mess with it's features a lot more I began to get really creative with it and have a lot of fun with it as well. Here is a link to my first commercial. Check it out! This is a great website that really gets to show your creativity skills. I say this because there are not many words, it is mostly picture based similarly to Haiku Deck. However, it is animated! Therefore, if you want to add wording you would have to insert a text box for it. You are the presentation. It is also free and you can put a time limit on there. That way you know if you have a Professor who requires you to present in 5-7 minutes, this helps you do just that. 

Rachael Moore goes more in depth about GoAnimate. It is a fun way to turn your story into an animated video. They use so many templates, designs, colors, texts, fonts, characters, music and even languages. There is so much built into this website that are great to have. As I have posted my video onto my twitter account for others to see, you can send it to any of your social media accounts. It is a great tool to use for school, especially to help engage the interaction of the students and teachers. Plus it is school safe. There is nothing on this website that brings any form of negativity in education or bad influences to users which also makes it a fun and exciting experience to have. I definitely recommend this website if you ever want to create a commercial or even use as a presentation for your class or business!

Overall, there are several different forms of presentations to use for school or business uses. Jordana Pepper explains other presentations that would help to consider in the future are Powtoon, Prezi, Keynote, Prezentit, and SlideRocket.

Powtoon is good for those who are into comics and want to make a presentation that is comical. Similarly to Animoto, where you could create characters and use it to create a story to introduce yourself as learner. Plus you can add short animated clips to your presentation as well. Prezi, as explained before is pretty interesting in a way where it adds movement to your presentation. However, it is not recommended if you you get sick easily on a roller coaster as it deals with a lot of motion. Keynote is limited to what it can be accessed on  such as being used for only Mac users however, it is just as easy to use similarly to PowerPoint. Prezentit is similar to Prezi, without the motion. Yet, as simple as it is if you want great transitioning slides it is a great presentation tool for that alone. Lastly, Pepper talks about SlideRocket which seems interesting to me where unlike the others she had mentioned are free, this one is not. However, if you want a good quality based presentation it is a definitely great choice. 

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Astronaut Abby

I would like to talk to you about this amazing young woman venturing off to the Mars Generation which is a non profit organization, Astronaut Abby. She was a guest speaker in my class and has definitely brought great inspiration to not only myself but to everyone in the classroom. I say this because she is still a student just as she is an aspiration.  When she first started to talk about becoming an astronaut to her parents, at 5 years old, she thought that she was just a kid saying things that would sound a little out of range for us to think literally of. Yet, her mother was always there or her and had always gotten the support she needed in any case. As Abby grew older and become more educated about the galaxies and planets, it turned out that this is really what she wanted to do for a living and she was given continual support. Although she have had several other activities at hand to be a part of she was never alone. What I mean by this is that the support system Abby was given throughout her life, brought her to where she is at today. Her favorite quote, which I must say is also my favorite as well, is "If it is important to you, you will make time for it." 

Throughout this short visit, a few students had asked Abby questions so that we could learn more about her. One student had asked, "What type of Social Media was most beneficial to you?" and "What advice would you have using Social Media to develop your career?" She simply mentioned how social media impacts your life in a different way and Twitter had to have been one of the most useful sources. Check out her profile here. You are able to stay connected to professionals in a technical way. The most important thing is to realize what would be the most useful tool in determining how you want to find potential employers. She brought up an important aspect about social media that we should all take into consideration for and that is watching what you post if you various media accounts open. This could determine whether or not you get the job. 

Lastly, she left off with some powerful advice that I would love to also share with you and that is the 24 hour rule. If you meet someone in your related field of study and you have their business card-keep in contact with them 24 hours after you have met. Simply by saying " I'm glad to meet you, and I hope that we can keep in touch." This could show potential employers how interested and determined you are to be a part of their team!

Science & Our Everyday Lives

Staying Connected

Ever have a passion for something and not knowing where it would lead you in life? Well, having a live chat with Adam Taylor, created a twitter chat with Health Science students and scientists. He first discovered twitter back in 2009, where he was excited to start an online chat with scientists at home from outside of the classroom. Who would have ever thought? 

How he came about doing so, was by simply searching individuals in his own field of study. This happened to be science and there are a vast array of scientists all over the globe. Well, how do we get in contact with them? Simple. You can simply go onto Nature Magazine every week, find articles that are of interest for you or using Twitter lists; which Taylor claimed to be highly used and beneficial. Here are few tips to help you get started. From there, you can see people who are of interest to you, and who they are following, as well as, who they have re-tweeted and who is re-tweeting them. I guess the real question would be, "how to get them to stay connected?" one student had asked. Well, there is always something going on, it is an organized chaos, as Taylor may put it. You can simply go to google, search for example Physical Therapists on Twitter. You can check to see how often they tweet. More importantly it is about the connections you make with them, NOT about how many followers you have. 

Taylor continues to reach out to a different kind of scientists every week. Scientists are always talking about different options. However, the importance of a PLN is amazing because you never know where it can lead you in life. 

Being an Educator

As we continue to grow we begin to realize that problem solving is in our everyday lives. Why I mention this is because Teachers are continuing to impact children all around the world. In Kenya, children and others suffered because a pipe water broke. There was no way to clean it from all of that bacteria. However, a school here in our States, children of only 11-12 year old's, helped to build filters for those individuals and children just like them to have clean and sanitized water. 

We live our lives without realizing how much of the world out there truly suffers. We take our lives for granted and 8 children had died because of unsanitized water.  When we come together we can accomplish so much more than some people would expect. Rita Pierson, gave a powerful speech about how important it is that kids need a champion in their lives. So many children who grow up in poverty, or have been negatively influenced tend to be the students that drop out of school. As a teacher, it is about the human connection. All learning is understanding relationships and most of us learn from our parents and teachers. Kids do not want to learn from people they do not like. 

Pierson, took a group of students that were in her class room of low academic achievement and stressed that they are a somebody in this world. That Herself and these group of students were brought together for a reason. People are cruel and as an Educator, it is important to show that we are made of something. She had brought these kids to high academic achievement and made them feel that they are a somebody and will be an even stronger somebody when they leave to higher education. Teaching and learning should bring to joy to students and use their ability to take risks. Which in life that is what it is all about. It may be tough but it is certainly not impossible. 

Living a Life that is Truly Awesome

Have you ever gone a day wondering how you got here or why you are even here? I'm sure several of you have. However, Neil Pasricha, gave such an empowering speech about the importance of life and how easily we can take life for granted. His speech brought tears in my eyes because life is truly great, whether we think at times that it's not, it just is. He talked about his life and how we hear different things in the world news that changes our lives. He started a website and talked about how 50 thousand blogs are viewed a day and so he began to make his own blogs. As they progressed further millions and billions of people began to view his blogs. Then one day he received a phone call and was awarded a Webb award, then a year later published his first book called The Book of Awesome. Pasricha talked about 3 important A's to leave off with in life: Attitude, Awareness, and Authenticity.
In life things unfortunately will not always go as planned, it is a roller coaster ride. You could be the happiest person, yet someone you love could end up with cancer. Having a positive attitude no matter what happens in life, choosing to move one is a a courageous step in life. Having awareness in the world as Pasricha would say, is about embracing your inner three year old. Authenticity is simply being yourself and being okay with it. When looking for that potential job, you want to show them who you are, not someone you are not. You then begin to put yourself in positions that you simply love, if you don't already love what you're going for in life; you may begin to love it that much more and won't be one of those people who complain about how they have to go to work the next day. You are you and no one can take that away from you. In life you have to be true to yourself first and foremost in order for others to be true to you as well. 

Life Behind PowerPoint

In our lives we have used several different forms of presentations whether it be poster boards, show and tell, or PowerPoint's. However as we continue to grow and learn as young educators, we learn different forms of presentations that could be beneficial to use in several different business setting. Most of us have heard about Prezi, which is pretty much an updated version of power point that actually gives the audience something exciting to look at. You can change many features, though if you are one who gets sick on roller coaster rides, Prezi is not for you, but don't be discouraged because Slideshare is a social hub that allows you to upload and share your presentations with educators around the globe. This is useful especially if you have created a Linkedin profile or have a Facebook. The reason for this is because in Untangling the Web, it says it helps you to discover content that your colleagues have liked, viewed, and posted. 

Another helpful and useful tool you can use is Poll Everywhere. This is a tool useful for mobile devices, being in a digital age. You can ask a question and students can respond through text messaging. Check out it's webpage for more features about this tool. Another tool that may seem similar to Instagram, as you can share photos and videos online with the ability to comment on them, is a tool known as Voice Thread's. However, instead of being used for personal references it is proved to be highly intuitive to both teachers and students which could help for those Education majors out there.