Teachnology vs. XTimeline

Well, the first assignment was to generate a timeline using Teachnology. The second one was to generate a timeline using XTimeline, using the computer history handout in class. Personally, I enjoyed XTimeline more than teachnology because it wasn't so limited with features. You could upload an image for each date, and insert tags and keywords. I liked this site because it is user-friendly and not so limited.

WebQuest

A WebQuest is a webpage/website that is used for educational objectives. Our webquest assignment was to choose a topic, and develop a webquest on that topic. Our group chose Social Studies, 6-8th grade, and the topic was World Religions. The demos really helped put the assignment into perspective. It was a very easy site to use, and I really enjoyed the assignment. I really liked this site. The only thing I did not like was that there was no "help" or "FAQ" option. I did not know how to insert a link. So, I guess you need a bit of computer knowledge when creating a webquest. I think webquest can be used for every subject and every grade level. Our group chose 6th-8th, and another chose kindergarten. It's really an all around tool for everything. I think that this would be a great tool for the annual book fair that takes place on island. You can insert links to sites for children to research their book topics, check definitions, search for images, etc. The possibilities are practically endless.

Timeline

Today we used www.teach-nology to generate a timeline of 8 major events in our life. Mine was titled "Livia's Life," and my timeline was about my educational career. I found that site very useful for the elementary level, but personally it was too limited for me. I would like to be able to add more personal flavor to my timeline. It would also be more convenient if the site could automatically put the events in order..... I think this would be a great assignment for the first day of class. What a good ice breaker!!! Also, this could be used in Social Studies (A timeline of the discovery of the Americas), Science (A timeline of inventions), etc. This was a good assignment.

Online Word Processing Software

Today we were broken up into 3 groups. Our group, #2, was given buzzword.com. We were to log in, create an account, explore one feature, and rate the site from 1-10. We found that the features were very limited, and the program would only be useful for simple documents. It was nearly impossible to get in, but we blamed that on the computers and the network connection. Afterwards, Mr. J invited us to use google.docs, and showed us how to use it. It was a really neat thing because we could all log in and edit the same document at once. I think this will be a great tool for group work.
In the future I believe that google docs will be very useful in group projects. Even everyday assignments can be done using this wonderful tool. To check the students' editing skills, perhaps I could do something similar to Mr. J's assignment. Have each student edit a section of the document. We can all talk about it as a group and everyone can see what's happening. It's a great thing!