Prezi

     My buisness teachers in high school introduced me to Prezi during my senior year, and I love it.  It makes typical presentations much more interesting.  Its kind of the same to PowerPoint in the ways that it displays text, video, phots, etc.  However, the way they are displayed is less, routine and boring, and more fun and new.  In my opinion I think Prezi is much better.  As for ISTE NETS standards i belief this would cover standards 2, 3 and 5.  My presentation was created as part of FBLA's state competitions.  We created a sample promotional video and were then judged on our skills.  The following is a link to my Prezi presentation.  Additionally it is embeded below.

FBLA PBL 2012 NLC Promotional Video on Prezi

Photo Story

Having a great grandmother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's is the reason I chose to use this project to educated people about the basics of the disease.  In my video I provided some basic facts as well as my personal involvement with the disease. You can view my video by following this link, or by clicking on the embeded video below.

PowerPoint

As a future elementary school teacher I chose a topic I found sort of difficult as a child. To me, the water cycle seemed so complex. In my PowerPoint I broke down the different parts of the water cycle, and in my lesson I would explain them in great depth. I also included two videos that I found online that are very helpful. By breaking down this topic I am able to make it more understandable to younger kids. Follow this link to view my PowerPoint.

Google Earth

I've always been a fan of Google Earth, and I find it a great teaching tool. By using this in educating you can show children what famous landmarks or monuments look like. It adds more depth to the lesson. Since I live in such a small town, when I tried to find my house I could only type in the city. From the city I had follow the road from there to my house. When I finally got there it was very low resolution, and it was basically just a rough outline. When I opened my field trip file It gave me much more clarity. Below are some images of my map in Google Earth.

I would use Google Earth many different ways.  The following link goes to a site that gives lessons plans and ways to use Google Earth. 

Google Maps

     For this assignment I typed up a basic summary of what our plans were and where we would be visiting on our trip.  I chose to create a hypothetical field trip to D.C. because I love going there.  Children get learn so much about our past and present by visiting here. Follow this link to see my maps document.

Batchgeo

     This was the first time I had ever heard of this site, but I must admit that what it does is pretty awesome.  Using this site makes me a 21st century educator first and foremost because it introduces students to technology.  A technology that is not commonly heard of. 
     This site allows teachers to show their students where they are in relation to other places in the state, United States, or even the World.  This site will be beneficial in helping students learn locations of states, landmarks, etc.  When doing online teaching such as this class it allows you to see where all of your classmates are from. 

View Instructional Technology in a full screen map

  This map allowed me to compare my location to the location of my classmates.  Had I not created this map I never would have known that I even had classmates from other states.  Especially ones so far from where I am.  This site will be a great tool to incorporate into my teaching. 

Jing Screencast

     I must admit that I had fun with this assignment and my video is a bit long.  After sitting for what seemed like hours thinking my video was never going to load, I was finally able to publish the post.  I decided to use this opportunity to teach people how to use Windows DVD Maker.  I went through the program step by step to show the process of creating a DVD.  By using Jing you can make a video of on screen images, videos, document, etc without having to use a digital camera.   The Jing "sun" has three prongs which are capture, history, and more.  Capture allows you to create the image or video.  History shows you all the previous images or videos you have captured.  Finally more allows you to adjust settings, send feedback, or ask for help.
     By clicking the capture button you can adjust how much of the screen you would like to show.  You can save a screen capture by either saving it to your documents, or uploading it to screencast.com.  You can retrieve the image by going to your Jing History, or you can look it up within the area, such as documents, videos, or photos, that it was saved.  Screencast.com is the site used to upload your image or video to the Internet.  It is very simple all you have to do is click the "share via screencast.com" button. The image or video will upload and give you a URL to paste wherever you would like. All Jing videos save as SWF files.  To view my video you can follow the link. 

Jing Graphic

     After graduation I plan on becoming an elementary school teacher, so I decided to use Jing to explain how to write a friendly letter.  From very early on children are taught about the parts of a friendly letter.  I used this tool to show a clearly labeled image of all the parts of a letter.  This will allow the kids to get a better understanding of what goes where. 
     You can view the image one of two ways.  First you can see it by following this link which takes you to screencast.com.  Additionally, the image is embedded in this blog for your convenience.  If you are interested in signing up for Jing all you have to do is click here.



Self Assessment

Over the past couple of weeks my discomfort level has been very minimal.  The small amount of discomfort that I did have was not related to my ability to use the programs, but it was more from balancing the work from this class with work and other activities that I have going on.  I am dealing with it by doing as much work as possible when I can.  Overall I feel I am doing very well in this class.

Diigo

I've never really used any web browser add ons so this was all very new to me.  Once I got started though I realized that it was actually very simple.  I always use google.  I've always found it the most helpful.  Add ons make your experience better with additional help, animations, etc.  Overall they make your online experience more fulfilled.  I haven't really used many add ons, but so far Diigo seems very helpful.  I believe add ons go most with NETS A standards 2,4, and 5.

To check out my Diigo page just click here.