Eight Technological Tools Assessment

Moodle

MOODLE: the most convenient and excellent website for students and teachers. This website is the easiest to navigate because all the works that students need to accomplish are set and arranged in correct order for the entire semester. It is basically the online syllabus for all students and teachers. Thus, it enables students to be right on track with the assignments they submitted and other assignments they will have to submit in the future. Have you ever had a teacher who tends to lose your work? A teacher who sometimes forgets the grade she gave you? Well, MOODLE gives you the “no worries” feeling. Once your work is graded, you automatically get an e-mail notification that is connected to your MOODLE account. Furthermore, you could start a forum with your classmates without knowing their personal cellular phones. Rating: 5.

Google

Looking for a website that has anything and everything? Google is the answer! A great search engine that can help you get reliable articles from Google scholar, images by searching Google advance image search, and locations from different parts of the world through Google Earth. It enables you to sign in immediately to your Gmail account, blog, page creator, and etc. For school purposes, students can create a Google Docs that everyone can access at the same time.  Instead of downloading the Microsoft Office, simply having an account in Google will enable you to use the presentation tool that looks like the Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel. This saves you money at the same time. Furthermore, you do not need to download different chat tools like Skype and Facebook messenger because Google has the Google Hangouts feature. It works similarly as the different chat applications on your mobile devices. This saves your storage. Rating: 5.

Chrome

Chrome is the best application that can quickly direct you to different websites. It enables to you to several tabs with varying search engine on each tab. For instance, you can open up YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and ERIC simultaneously. It provides bookmark feature, which saves the search engines you visit almost every day. It permits you to check your history and perhaps, reload a search engine you wanted to re-visit. It sets up automatic updates for all users. It is always the first application I turn to each day I go online. Lastly, it is one of the safest tools I have ever used. Overall, I am satisfied of its features. Rating: 5.

LiveBinders

In the beginning, I thought LiveBinders was really difficult to use because I have never heard of it prior to attending this class. After learning how it works, I fin it as an amazing tool to have in keeping all-important files for personal, school, and business purposes. It enables everyone to make an account for free. It allows users to put their binders either publically or privately. It is a good tool for segregating your tabs. It saves time because instead of typing each website’s name on your tab, you could just go directly to the binder you have labeled that website and click the link.  It permits everyone to edit his or her binders anytime and anywhere. What more could you ask for? LiveBinders is such a great tool for storage. Rating: 5.

Emaze

Getting tired of using PowerPoint for your presentations in every class? Well, Emaze will surely AMAZE you. All users can sign up for free. It contains templates that are well designed. It gives users an option to upgrade, however, with a price. It has a feature of sharing your presentation to your peers. Furthermore, you can also have the option to publicize or privatize your work. It works almost similarly as PowerPoint, but with better templates. It is a versatile tool and enables you to edit your work wherever you left off. Navigation in Emaze is easier than PowerPoint because the tabs for editing are lesser and bigger. Rating: 5.

Powtoon

Powtoon is another tool I have enjoyed utilizing. Like LiveBinders and Emaze, Powtoon was new to me. I really liked using Powtoon because it has different features. It consists of animated characters, unique backgrounds, animated texts, shapes, transitions, and many other more. It enables users to put voiceovers and music on the presentation synchronously. Instead of using iMovie, which is difficult to navigate, Powtoon is more recommended. Additionally, users may choose one of the templates provided by this tool. Right when you create a new presentation, instructions how to use Powtoon automatically pops up. And this truly helps the new users. Rating: 5.

ooVoo

This web conferencing tool works similarly like Skype. But ooVoo is better because the video is clearer than Skype. You can see the person you are chatting clearly. Furthermore, downloading ooVoo in your mobile devices consists more features. For instance, ooVoo application in your cellular phone has various facial templates. It is a great conferencing tool for messaging, video chat that works for iPhones and Androids. Another advantage of ooVoo is it allows you to chat with up to 12 people at the same time. It contains a privacy option as well. Having ooVoo downloaded from your computer enables you to screen share with your peers. Rating: 5.

HaikuDeck

HaikuDeck is another presentation tool that I got very familiar with. It is very easy to maneuver because the tabs for editing are lesser. However, I am not very fond of it because there are only little slides available. It limited users to be creative in designing their slides. Additionally, inserting graphs and tables was really difficult because there was only a fixed space that the slide has laid. The fonts were also restricted. It does not have fascinating templates unlike Emaze. If I were to use another presentation tool besides PowerPoint, HaikuDeck will be my last resort.  Rating: 2.

Incorporating Digital Safety in the Classroom

          Criminality comes in different forms. It may be through physical abuse, sexual harassment, online identity theft, fraud, and etc. Perhaps, inappropriate digital use is one of the most prevalent crimes in this generation. The advancement of technology seems to be the first one to blame. Many people, young or old, have been victimized, and therefore, led to destruction of their reputation. Finkelhor, D. et al. (2000) state that, “one in five regular Internet users had received an unwanted sexual solicitation or approach in the last year” (p.15). Informing and educating students about digital safety prevents them from getting associated with online delinquencies. Furthermore, this will help them learn the proper way and process in dealing with this problem if ever they come across such circumstances.

          Almost all people in the world have at least one technological device, whether it be a laptop, computer, Ipad, Iphone, Android, and etc., they use every single day either for personal, business, school, and organization purposes. These five topics (cyber bullying, copyrights and fair use practice, phishing and pharming, sexting and textual harassment, and digital safety and privacy) surely fit a cohesive, educational unit because teachers and students incorporate and utilize technology in their classrooms and homes in many ways. Teachers give students projects that include technology in their presentations. Students give out their cellular phone numbers to their peers for communicating and accomplishing their projects or assignments. Most students use the Internet and browse several websites for gathering data such as images and written texts, shopping, entertainment, and research. Incorporating and discussing these topics in the class’s curriculum provides viable knowledge about the correct application of any information students see online. After listening to each group’s presentation, I would add Guam’s statistical report (if there is any) regarding the pervasiveness of these topics because it will be more relatable and meaningful for us. Probably, giving students a simple outline about the coverage of the presentation would be more convenient and suitable. There are a lot of information mentioned in each presentation, so an outline is beneficial for making annotations and other necessary notes. Furthermore, this outline could be a guideline and a future reference for the students when using the Internet.

         To teach students ways of being safe on the Internet, I will first direct them to Netsmartz. It is a valuable website that students could access for information about safety online usage. All grade levels, teachers, and parents will be able to use it by signing up for free. This is a good website for obtaining substantial information about the Internet. This website covers different issues such as cyberbullying, sexting, file sharing, and etc. To have creative and interactive activities for the students, they will be placed in groups and given a scenario formulated by the teacher to act out. Other students will then have to identify what actions are violating the rules governing each digital safety components. Another way is by posting different sentences and scenarios on the wall and let the students identify which are and are not considered as violations. Students may take the quizzes found on the Netsmartz website to test their knowledge about the topics discussed.

          In the beginning, we tried using the Join.me application as our communication tool to try something else besides Oovoo. We set a specific time and date for our online group chats. However, our connection was really bad during our conversation due to our Internet connections. My screen was lagging and freezing. We decided to switch back to Oovoo. But the same problem occurred. In this meeting, one of my group mates had a problem with her Internet connection. So it did not work out as well. In the end, we communicated using WhatsApp and through the Google Docs we had for this project. We called each other and assigned our individual parts. I think that Google hangouts is better to use because as long as students have a Gmail account, they will be able to access it easily. It has the same features as some of the web conferencing tool; and there is no need to download it.

          I believe that all the presentations about these topics are awesome and well developed. Having every group provide an outline for all the students in the classroom is the only thing that I would suggest. Each topic contains a lot of information, so giving an outline will enable students to easily process and grasp the information stated by the presenters. 

         Teaching digital safety in the classroom is definitely a critical lesson students must be informed about. As I mentioned in our presentation, the chance of creating an excellent work is diminished if students are not aware of the proper guidelines surrounding this topic. Advising these topics to students may prevent them from having low self-esteem. For instance, when someone tries to spread rumors that you are plagiarizing, you will be able to defend yourself with the enough knowledge you know about the policies surrounding the correct use of digital safety.  

References

Finkelhor, D. et al. (2000). Online victimization: Report on the nation’s youth. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 1-61.

www.netsmartz.org