Final Gen2243 blog post

Well it's now that time of year where the semester is close to an end, the holidays are in arms reach, and finals have consumed my life completely. I must say, I have learned more this semester than any other semester in all my years of schooling, and a large portion is due to my course in social networking.

It's easy to learn in subjects that you enjoy (which is why my grades for my art courses are significantly higher than in my math courses), and I have enjoyed wasting time on social networks since the age of Myspace. Even though I was no stranger to Twitter, I did not fully comprehend why we use it. I used to think the purpose of Twitter was to tweet comical posts with an end goal of having more followers than your friends. It turns out I was almost right. The end goal is to have more followers, but in a way that improves your PLN in a likable and socially acceptable manner. I believe in this class I have learned how to do just that.

Of course Twitter etiquette was not the only thing I will take with me from this course. We had the opportunity to video chat with educators and professionals all over the world and discuss new and interesting ways to move forward in our particular fields. The video chat that resonated the most with me was when we chatted with European artist Kyle Lambert. Lambert gained notoriety in the art world when he started posting beautifully detailed works of art he created from scratch on just his iPad and the app "Brushes." I got to chat with him and pick his brain face to face. Later on I downloaded the same app and started making my own works of art. That leads me to another of my favorite aspects of this course: the bi-monthly "App Smackdown." Never before this class have I participated in a presentation about using apps to better your major or everyday life. One student Brittany started using a site called Statigr.am that I discussed during one of my presentations, and through the site she ended up winning a contest!

I have never considered my self a "tech savvy" guy, but it did feel good showing my friends a few of the things I've learned from this course. Above all, this class has helped me find better ways to get my art out to the world, and for that I am forever thankful.

An Educator At Rest, Tends To Stay At Rest

 Chapter 9 of Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach's "The Connected Educator," has a clear message: It is now time to apply all the tips, techniques, and technologies to achieve your goals as a connected educator, and then some. In the beginning of the chapter there is a quote from the Leonardo Da Vince "Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do." Okay so you've read the book from cover to cover.. Good job, but now the real work has just begun.

Leonardo was the original "Renaissance Man"and is a timeless legend for his innovations in art, engineering, and science. Plus he makes a good point. Now that you have learned about all the benefits of being a connected educator, go out and expand on them. Have you thought of new ways to invoke positive change at your school or institution that have not yet been brought to the light? Sure you can sit around and wait for things to change, but that doesn't accomplish anything. By reading "The Connected Educator" you have already taken bold new steps towards positive change in your career, but now it's time to keep walking forward. Remember, an educator at rest tends to stay at rest.

One way I will be moving forward is with a brand new website. I'm making the website with a website creator called Weebly. At first I was intimidated by the idea of creating a personal website from scratch, but it his ridiculous how simple a task Weebly has made it. Weebly allows any beginner to create a professional looking site for free (or you can purchase a custom domain name, or upgrade to a premium version).

The interface is simple, and it allows you to add and create elements to your website by just dragging and dropping to your website template. Still confused? Here's a site that will guide you through all the stages of creating your very own Weebly site. Till next time guys and stay tuned for the launching of my very own personal site shortly!

Diigo bookmarking

Hey guys I want to talk to you about an important bookmarking site called Diigo.com. I mentioned it earlier in a prior blog however I did not expand on what it does. Diigo allows people with an account (signing up is free and easy by the way) to highlight any part of a website, attach notes or anecdotes, and then share them with other users on Diigo. Or if you want to keep these notes or websites to yourself, you can choose not to share them however either way, they are all grouped together to your liking.

Whether you are sharing your notes with your connected learning community, or simply organizing them for research, there is no denying how useful this tool can be. To check out some useful material regarding connected educators, use the tag: clc-voc. Thanks guys till next time!

The Connected Educator : Chapter 5

This latest chapter I have read in the "Connected Educator" by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, focuses on all the different devices and tools to support connected learning. In the chapter it lists many websites to utilize connected learning. Among them are social bookmarking sites: Delicious, Diigo, Flickr, and Youtube; Blogging sites: Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr; and Micro blogs like Twitter, and twitter interfaces Tweetdeck and Hootsuite.

Social Bookmarking helps web surfers better organize the important content from websites they frequent by grouping them. Not only can you use bookmarking sites for personal use, but you can also share these sites with networks of your connected peers.

Blogging sites are simply websites that are continually updated with journal-like entries or posts. In the words of Nussbaum-Beach, "Blogs are great sources of ideas, information, and experiences about learning, leading and teaching."

Micro Blogs, especially Twitter, are essentially blogs however it is directly connected to your learning network and shares information quickly and efficiently.

Powerpoint Alternative for iPad

Hey guys in case you didn't know, I am an avid iPad user. I mostly use it for surfing the web or simply wasting time, however there are some really helpful apps out there. One that I have recently started using is Haiku Deck.

Haiku Deck is an app that helps you create simple, yet beautiful presentations. Haiku Deck is to PowerPoint, as the iPad is to the desktop computer. Haiku Deck is just the easier, more convenient way to make your presentation. Although you can tweak your presentation more with traditional powerpoint, Haiku Deck has a simple design that makes presentations impossible to clutter. Often people will make a presentation in powerpoint with long winded text and bulletpoints. Haiku Deck makes that impossible by restricting the amount of text in a slide to a minimal amount. Personally, this is what I love most about the app. Nothing bores me more than a presentation with a short story written on each slide.

I also learned about another cool feature in Haiku Deck from this article from chronicle.com. If you are unhappy with the simplicity of the presentation of Haiku Deck, you can upload your presentation to Powerpoint or Keynote. Whether you are presenting with Haiku Deck, or just using it as a rough draft before you upload it to Powerpoint, Haiku Deck can be an incredibly useful app

Nearpod 2

Hey guys here's a little extended information on my last blog about Nearpod. I read an article ( you can check it out here ) about a teacher who had discovered the app for his classroom. The teacher's name is Bryan Miller and in the article, he writes about how truly groundbreaking the app is. He first found out about the app after one of the founders of Nearpod, Felipe Sommer, visited the school and explained what it was. His school became the guinea pig and pilot school for the app, and now more then 40,000 educators are connected and using Nearpod. That's impressive growth, and truly an inspiring step towards better educating students!

Nearpod - The new powerpoint

Hey guys if you are a student, chances are you are familiar with Powerpoint presentations. Powerpoint presentations can be boring at times, (Am I supposed to be excited when someone puts a different animation for every bullet point?) and if you are sitting in a lecture hall its near impossible to keep your focus with every slide. This is why I'm pumped to show you a new app called Nearpod. Nearpod is basically an interactive powerpoint presentation. It is controlled by one person, let's say a teacher, who goes through slides while the students follow along on their Ipad. I know what your thinking, who cares? Well the slides can be interactive, which keeps the students engaged in each side thus enhancing the learning process. The students can draw, answer questions, type answers etc. Looks like no more napping in my art history lecture...oops!