Technology Tools Summary 515

     Wow, the many different tools presented in this class will certainly give me a lot to chew on for the rest of this summer.  I'm not even sure where to begin.  I remember asking Louis Loeffler the question "How do you keep up with all of this and stay cutting edge?"  He basically told me that you have to schedule an hour a day to read and do research and make it part of your routine. (or whatever seems necessary) I didn't quite grasp it at the time but with all of the useful tools out there I think it is a must if I am to be a successful technology coordinator/integrator.  Here is a list of tools that we covered(mostly for my purposes when I look back at this post):

• Graphics programs
• Presentation programs
• Search engines and searching (Net trekker)
• Word processing
• Spreadsheets
• Google Calendar
• Technology integration
• Screen capture
• Google sites
• Software evaluation process

     I think I can take a little something from each of these areas but there were a few that really seemed to fit some of my current situations.

     Presentation programs have so many uses in so many content areas and teachers are always coming to me looking for different options than PowerPoint.  Up until now I've really only had experience with Prezi, which is a nice alternative option but the flow can be distracting if not used properly.  Now I have several other options to give to my staff.  I particularly liked Empresser, Slideboom, and 280 slides.

     We definitely explored some of the vast tools offered by simply having a Google account.  I have had exposure to Google Docs but it was nice to do a more detailed analysis of how they work and more importantly how they can be used.  I have had several talks with my administrator and tech committee about using Google docs more but I've never really had the in depth insight to convince them of any other uses besides our school email.  I'm hoping to bring my school some more valuable feedback regarding Google docs and their potential uses.

     The suggested screen capture resources look really cool and I know I can use them for creating tutorials of lessons.  The advantage of providing students with this alternative method of getting instructions and reinforcing the classroom content is evidenced by the success of a website like Khan academy (thanks Nate).

     Google sites is great - I had no idea all of it was free.  In my blog post prior to this one I addressed many potential uses for these...including getting rid of my school's paid web hosting service and saving my school approximately $800/year.

     Lastly, and perhaps the most useful topic for me was the software evaluations.  Our current system for choosing software was/is somewhat of a mystery to me which is one of the main reasons why I joined our technology committee this year.  I came back last summer to find we had made the jump from Microsoft Office 2000 to Microsoft Office 2010(much to my surprise).  I was extremely angry that I was not involved in this process and even more angered by the fact that I wasn't even told about it.  I made it known that I would like to have some say in any future software purchases.  After looking at many evaluation tools and achieving a better understanding of how the process would work I have a lot of suggestions and feel much more confident presenting these ideas to my administrator and the tech committee.

     Overall, great class.  In think Kristy said it best in her blog post when she said something to the effect of "I finally got a chance to explore the many tools that are out there - even it was by force", haha.  Dave, thanks for making the class enjoyable and your teaching style really enhanced the discussions with your politely probing line of questioning.  One thing I would have liked to have touched on is Student Management Systems (SMS) like Gaggle or Moodle.  Maybe that'll be in a different class.