Blog Post #5
Diigo Experience
Diigo is a very helpful tool to help educators and students easily mark up, highlight, and comment on PDFs electronically. At first glance, it is very simple to set up the Chrome browser extension, which is always a good first step. I also enjoyed how easy it was to click on the extension and upload a PDF for marking up. There are not too many options or commands to choose from, so it is very user-friendly when attempting to highlight or annotate the PDF. I did enjoy the fact that you could change the color of the highlights and I could have different meanings for each one. The overall experience with Diigo was positive, and I would love to incorporate it in my future endeavors as a possible educator.Blogging Experience
Before this class, I had never used Blogger, whether for educational or personal use. I enjoy blogging for the most part, though I do think it is not as user-friendly as Diigo. It was hard to navigate and try to change the layout to the way I wanted it to look. I had problems with the font choices and what was popping up on different computers and browsers. I did like the fact that we got to link it to our Twitter, and see the tweet updates as we added to our PLN. So far, I've learned that blogging is a great place to put your thoughts out there on the Internet and interact with others who want to comment on your opinion.
Web 2.0 Tools
I would love to teach with a Web 2.0 tool, such as Virtual Reality. With the rise of innovation and technology, VR is becoming more and more common. Not so common that every person owns a VR set, but it is more accessible than it has been. VR has been a great addition to gaming for entertainment, so it definitely has the potential to benefit teachers and students in the classroom. Imagine talking about a specific geographical location and being able to immerse your students in that place with Virtual Reality! Here's a link to educational use of VR: http://www.classvr.com/virtual-reality-in-education/
I think that VR in the classroom would be a lot of fun! Using it to teach Geography would be so much fun for the students (and me.) Imagine talking about China and then being able to take your students to the Great Wall. I think in the near future people will definitely be teaching with VR.
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ReplyDeleteI also had a positive experience with Diigo after getting used to it, and completely agree with your statement about how it is more user friendly than blogger. I struggled with blogger as well because I am inexperienced with it and there are so many options and ways to set up your blog that it becomes overwhelming. Incorporating VR into your future classroom would be so interesting!!
I really like your views on blogging. I also like doing it and seeing what other people have to say about what I have written and reading what others have to say on the topics we have discussed in class. I am glad that you got the hang of Diigo, I was not so lucky.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post! I completely agree with your opinions on blogging and it not being as user friendly as other applications. I also really loved how you chose Virtual Reality as your web 2.0 tool as I believe there are so many advantages that come with using it within a classroom setting.
ReplyDeleteWhile Diigo is easy to use alone, I feel like it gets very messy when trying to use it collaboratively. Or maybe I'm just slow! And I completely empathize with your difficulty with font and format, it was kind of a headache. I'm really interested in seeing the Virtual Reality in the Tech Sandbox this week. I wonder how it might revolutionize teaching in the future.
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