Final Blog Post

"Exploring Your Digital Toolbox" Class Reflection

Professor Calderwood's class, "Exploring Your Digital Toolbox," was an introduction to the digital side of professionalism. This class has been an asset for my future, but more importantly, for my current job. We were first introduced to Twitter, Personal/Professional Learning Networks (PLN), as well as different methods of posting personal blogs online. We also had various live discussions via Google + with educators and other professionals who utilize PLN's. We were then taught about our digital "footprint". This is something many people overlook when posting media and personal opinions. We went over precautions to take while navigating the web, such as avoiding geo-tagging if necessary.This is so the internet can work for you, rather than against you when you apply for a professional position. I was just around this time in class when I was going for my interview for the position I currently have. This brought me some frantic awareness, resulting in me checking my footprint and reassessed the setting I had on social sites.

Throughout the first month of class, we covered many of the essential Google tools to aid in our professional endeavors and development. We dove into the many applications and features available to all users of Google. Some tools presented were Google +, Google docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and Google Forms. In addition to these Google apps, we were shown useful Google Chrome extensions. Some extensions that were shown are Readability, TLDR, SplitScreen, Tabcloud, Snag-it, Stickynotes, Adblock Plus, and Pocket. I use some of these apps now at work and for school extensively.

Our class also had the privilege to speak with some notable professionals this semester. These professionals were picked by Professor Calderwood to relate to the various majors held by my classmates. Each speaker would talk about how they utilize social media for their PLN and also various applications we can utilize. We were also given the opportunity to ask questions, which was great. Some of the speakers who chatted with us using Google Hangouts are Gretchen Thomas, Melissa Murphy, Kate Baker, David Malone, Adam Taylor, Caleph Wilson, Jaime Casap, and Scott Rocco. Jamie Casap, from Google, was probably the most useful in regards to being relevant to my major. He answered a lot of my concerns regarding overindulgence of technology.

Throughout the class, we have had a number of in-class projects and assignments. We also had some out-of-class assignments, which we would occasionally present in class. To aid us with creating effective presentations for class, we were introduced to applications Haiku Deck, Prezi, PowToon, Emaze, Keynote, Prezentit, SlideRocket, and Educreations. For my first presentation in October, I used Google Slides. I also used Slides for my Social Media Etiquette project. Educreations was another tool I used when making a tutorial on how to make french toast. Another project was completed using the storytelling app Pixton. This was a comic strip narrated by me, advocating for Stockton's computer science program. These applications are all very noteworthy, but I am still a huge Google Slides and PowerPoint junkie! 

We are currently working on creating a website that essentially promotes ourselves in the digital professional world. I am using Wix, which is an awesome online website editor. In conjunction with our websites, we need to add the social networking sites outlined in our course. Linkedin and about.me are two sites that I think will serve me well when I graduate.

Our bi-monthly "App Smackdowns" were a challenging task. Professor Calderwood asked us to find an application relating to our major, and to present it to the class. This allowed us to train ourselves to find useful information relating to our field. For me, finding computer science apps were the biggest issue. It seems that there isn't a huge collection of C.S. apps out there yet. Some of the applications I presented were Treehouse, Tynker, Wikr, and Sensor Box for Android, I can honestly say I have only used two of these applications after the week I presented them. I do now look through the app store more often for them, something I would never do prior to this class.

"The Connected Educator," and Untangling the Web, were the two textbooks assigned. These texts went over various applications for professionals to utilize and how to be up to date with our current technological age. I think these books were geared more towards educators, rather than just students, but I took away some valuable information nonetheless. Untangling the Web introduced me to a web-based curation tool called Symbaloo. I still use Symbaloo to this day to hold my different website links for different areas of life. 

Overall, I have learnt a great deal of information that I can carry into the workplace. Developing a PLN has helped learn to connect and learn from the professionals I soon hope to be. I think this course is very good for anyone who wants to become a more connected professional. I think the most valuable tools I have taken away from this class is the apps within Google Drive, Evernote, Symbaloo and forming my PLN on Twitter. I think all of these apps offer the end user the ability to collaborate, curate, and store other valuable information on the cloud for mobile use. I have already impressed my boss with some of these applications, and plan to continue the trend! The most notable part of this class was when we had a maker space. We used Makey Makey's to build a circuit, and eventually used that circuit to successfully develop a cardboard guitar controller and played it in a game!