Week 3: Exploring new technologies

While I wouldn't describe myself as tech-savvy, I've been able to hold my own my tech needs. However, having the opportunity this week to explore a lot less obvious tools and apps has been so helpful.

I was most intrigued by Flipboard. I hadn't heard about it before and now I'm raving to my family and friends about its offerings. I love the idea of curating an assortment of stories that interest me from a wide variety of publishing platforms. While I'm a die hard New York Times fan, I do like the idea of having information from other sources coming right too me instead of me tracking them down. I think this is a great tool for students to help them develop an appreciation, love and eventually reliance on getting a daily dose of non-ficton information in one's reading diet.

LiveBinder is a brilliant concept and an app I had not heard of. It makes total sense to have an assortment of lesson plans grouped by theme, all available on-line. I like the collaboration component of LiveBinder-- very web 2.0. I also like how the main binders for the education component are not based on traditional subjects, but audience (substitutes, parent resources, admin, etc).

Padlet is an app that I found so appealing because of its ease of use. My school has a lot of iPads and I can easily see myself using Padlet with confidence. I like that students can each "have a voice" during a lesson without me necessarily having to call on them. I also like the idea of using Padlett at the end of class for anonymous feedback regarding what worked, what didn't, etc.

Finally, I humbly admit I know nothing about RSS stuff. After exploring the 10 RSS link, I'm going to give Digg a whirl and see how that plays out.