Week Five Blog Post

In class this week, our focus was on communicative applications and the benefits they offer to the consumer. Then, we grouped up and presented the benefits of using communication applications for our specific majors. We also had the privilege to speak with Adam Taylor, a high school science teacher, and Caleph Wilson, a cancer researcher.   

  In class on Tuesday, we went over applications, Skype, Google Hangouts, and Google Helpouts.  Matt Waldron and I were grouped up to discuss and present what we thought would be the best tool relating to our major. Each providing their own functions, we thought Google Helpouts would serve best for the computer science student/professional. After reading Matt's blog, I do agree that we both were a little surprised by being called up to present randomly. Also, Since I plan on eventually opening a small business, I thought the article " How Google Helpouts Can Help Your Small Business" looked pretty neat. The article goes over how as a small business owner, you can offer services and ask question that will be answered by professionals in your field. I know how easily it is to run into problems when trying to fix hardware and software that doesn't seem to budge. I think Helpouts is a great asset for any small business. 

On Tuesday, we did a Hangout session with Adam Taylor, a high school science teacher from Tennessee. He's been teaching for 11 years and has got an award from Nature Magazine for connecting scientists through twitter. He listed a few hastags related to my major, such as #compsci #bitcoin, and #code. He also shared with us his experience with his creation of #scistuchat. Then, on Thursday, we spoke with Caleph Wilson in another Hangouts session. He's researches HIV at Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute. During the conversation, he answered many of our questions relating to his experiences as a scientist and using social media all the while. He also advised us to not post anything we wouldn't want our employers to see. Both conversations were enlightening! 

Week Four Blog Post

Week Four Blog Post

In class throughout week four, we were introduced to a few new applications to add to our toolkit. We also had an "app smack-down", which was pretty interesting. Tools that were introduced include Zite, Feedly, Pocket, and Evernote.  The first three mentioned, serve as a personalized news feed including a mash-up of your favorite sites. It really comes in handy when trying to stay updated on your professional area, or if you just want to waste some time. Evernote, being the odd-man-out, serves as a cloud-based notebook that allows you to access all of your notes in a matter of seconds. I have already created various notebooks within Evernote, including various lecture notes. 

I also have read up on Michael Hyatt's article, "How to Use Evernote If You Are a Speaker or Writer". It dives into the practical uses Evernote provides to a public speaker or writer. Throughout college and work, I have had to speak on multiple occasions, and I know being prepared is key. He mentions the documenting articles, digital books, blog posts, and traditional books can be extremely resourceful when writing or preparing a speech. He also mentions the uses of meta tags, so the user can appropriately search past saved documents without hassle.

For our "App Smackdown," I chose Treehouse and Tynker. Treehouse is an application for individuals who want to learn specific coding languages, with an interactive user interface.  It provides in-depth, instructional videos, between each exercise. I presented some code, and generated a preview for the class to see. The next application I presented was Tynker, an education based, coding app, designed for young learners. It presents pre-made games, and allows users to tweak individual components of the game, using code. It gives kids, or even adults, an easy environment to learn visually, rather than the traditional IDE approach. One of my classmates, Matt Waldron, introduced the class to ideone, a cloud based IDE. I think it a spectacular web-based application for both students and professionals. 

Lastly, in our textbook, "The Connected Educator," we were to read chapter two. This chapter focuses on the different aspects of learning communities, and the infinite possibilities for an educator to reach out and network.  These different communities, "local", "global", and "bounded", all have different advantages to others, and offer professional development opportunities.  We are currently participating within a local community in the classroom, where we share our ideas face to face. Professor Calderwood is now introducing us to a more global community, so that eventually, we could enter a more professional oriented network, or "bounded" community. 

Week Three Blog Post

Week three in class was so relevant to my current life experience, I used it as a wake up call. Leaving your digital "footprint" or "citizenship" on the internet is something many people overlook when posting personal media and opinions. Your footprint consists of information you post on the internet, such as social networks. Most people think that once media is deleted by the poster, the information is deleted from existence. This isn't the case. Employers sometimes hire third party organizations who are dedicated to seeing the ins and outs of a candidate. I have always posted rarely on social media because of the trouble I've seen classmates and loved one's get into, as a result of unfiltered posting. Aside from professionals being able to scavenger up your personal internet information, most people have access to a lot of it, but don't realize it.

Geo-tagging your pictures while posting pictures on social networks can give the public a view of your common patterns and lifestyle. I took this week as another wake up call to not only refine my public filter, but maybe consider posting on behalf of my professional endeavors. The video Professor Calderwood showed us in our class was related to an interview gone wrong. The applicant was lying through his teeth, while the employer saw obnoxious photos of him on networking sites. I had an interview the same day, and my heart skipped a beat. I was hired, so I guess my cautious posting has paid off.

On Thursday, we got in groups and discussed the pros and cons of being integrated through various social networks. Matt Waldron, Emile Dellane, and myself received Twitter as our social network. Summarized, the pros we listed were instant collaboration via hash-tags, ability to receive relevant news pertaining to your profession, potential employment opportunities, simplified user interface, and serves as a place to discuss current work related issues with individuals in your field. The cons, being limiting character constraints, not being a professionally dedicated network, not being privacy oriented, limited personal messaging, and the possibility of it being a distraction in the workplace.

As homework, we were to read chapter one of "Untangling the Web", titled "Curation Tools." This chapter first went into a quick history crash course of curation tools , how they developed from physical files to digital, and how it has changed how information is exchanged. There are different curation sites appealing to certain groups of people and their general interests. Symbaloo, diigo, and educlipper are all curation tools discussed within the chapter. It seems that symbaloo is a tool that isn't entirely focused on educators and can be utilized within a workplace. Having a"webmix" allows you to have a simplistic visual user interface. It comes with many features many people can find beneficial, such as the ability to embed a news feed, radio station, or other media such as YouTube videos. Diigo seemed to be focused more on just bookmarking and research, while educlipper being K-12 education oriented.

Week Two Blog Post

Week two in the classroom has been quiet the Google experience. We covered many of the essential Google tools to aid in our professional development.  We dove right into the features and applications available to all users of Google.  We then got into a Google Hangout session with guest speakers Kate Baker, David Malone, and Melissa Murphy, who interacted and taught the class the ways Google has aided them within their careers in education.

We were first informed about the many distinctive features that Google Drive provides. Google Docs, one of these apps, includes collaborative versions of the Microsoft Office programs Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Google's versions of these programs are Docs (Word), Sheets (Excel), and Slides (PowerPoint). We also learned about Google Forms, which is a great way to gather data collected from individuals. A lot of our in-class work involves working within these applications.

On Thursday Kate Baker, David Malone, and Melissa Murphy, all joined us for a little informative conversation. Kate Baker, a high school highlighted on the usefulness of Google Slides when developing any type of presentation. She explained how you can create a Table of Contents within 

your Slides presentation using hyperlink integration.

Melissa Murphy, a Special Education teacher, mainly spoke about the Google extensions she utilizes for optimal browser utilization. Some extensions she mentioned were Readability, TLDR,  SplitScreen, Tabcloud, Snag-it, Stickynotes and Adblock Plus (a personal favorite).

We also had David Malone, a Teacher on Special Assignment with San Francisco Unified School District's Information Technology Department and adjunct faculty at Touro University speak with us. He mentioned a lot of interesting extensions that I could utilize during the pursuit of my degree. Some mentioned were Shortcuts for Google, Extensity, Video Download Helper and Lazarus: Form Recovery.

It was pretty neat to experience my LiveBinder selection for this week, within Google Slides. I chose "Google+ for Higher Education". I think this topic really encompasses the objectives I hold to accomplish, being employed at Stockton. I already have a Google+ account, but it was really just used for my ex-girlfriend to keep a tab on my location. 

Speaking of location, I think Google + would be a great way to brainstorm with colleagues from other off-site campuses. A lot of time is dedicated to scheduling and travel for all of us to meet in person. I think I'll mention this to my manager to see what she thinks!

Week One Blog Post

Week One Blog Post

This being my first real blog post in a class, the past week has given me a lot of information regarding the formalities of stringing one together.  For our "Exploring Your Digital Toolbox" class, the week of September 8th was an introduction to Twitter, Personal/Professional Learning Networks, as well as two different methods of posting our blogs online. We also had a surprise live discussion with an educator residing in another state.

After getting set up on Edmodo, Professor Calderwood listed a valuable LiveBinder. This held information about Twitter and its resourcefulness for your professional development. After reading and watching the videos listed, I gained some insight on the value of having a PLN. I personally haven't even heard of such a thing before entering Calderwood's class. I regarded Twitter as a useless place where people could complain about things I didn't want to hear.

In the LiveBinder, I watched a video by Eric Sheninger, a principal, explain how twitter helped him connect with other people in his position across the world.  He said it helps you learn and prepare to be a professional, and later explains how Twitter has been better than any professional development program he has attended. Personally, it seems like a huge money saver when it comes to connecting professionally, and that always helps.

After watching Shelly Terrell's video titled "Connect to the World Using Twitter," I now have a better understanding of how Twitter can help me in my professional development. She likes to use the acronym PLN, as Passionate Learning Network. It helps individuals narrow the information they receive, into information they are passionate about. She also explains how you need to engage, educate and report. This includes joining conversations and projects, tweeting resources, and tweeting at conferences. Ultimately, I have learned about a new app called "RSS Flash G," which will help me receive other news in the Computer Science field.

Here's an awesome article about Intel's newest release!

The company says it's been working with Google to create the "Intel Reference Design for Android," a developer tablet designed to help device manufactures and developers get their products to market as fast as possible.

Here is also a video explaining this new technology!