I am glad that Jeff and Rory had us research these three programs for this assignment. I learned to use two new tools that I hadn't heard of (Evernote and Blendspace) and learned an extremely useful new feature of Google Drive. Without this assignment I would have never known that Evernote and Blendspace even exist. Since I began playing around with Evernote a few days ago, I have come to realize how useful it can be. I rarely write things down in a planner but typing to-do lists or notes that sync directly to my phone are extremely helpful. Evernote is an awesome organizational tool and I can see myself using it an awful lot in the future.
Blendspace is a useful tool for planning lessons for new teachers. I like the fact that I can look at more experienced teachers' lessons and adapt them to fit both my teaching style and my students learning styles and capabilities. The seamless integration of youtube videos, pictures, and other media make it a hassle free way to create a powerpoint-esque lesson. Eliminating the downloading, cutting, copying, and pasting means a lot of time is saved. There are definitely limits to Blendspace but I can definitely see the value that it has for beginning teachers that are looking for sample lessons and lesson models.
A Google Drive feature that I was completely unfamiliar with was Google Form. There are so many features of Form that are useful for teachers. The fact that you can conduct surveys to test basic understanding is just scratching the surface. Jeremy demonstrated to Sam and I how to create a formative assessment that had some substance to it, which I didn't know could be done using Drive.
To conclude this post I wanted to throw a couple of questions out there that we either talked about in our small groups or that popped into my head. The first is does anyone else think that Microsoft Office is very close to becoming obsolete? The second is did anyone else find it difficult to try to get inside the mind of a middle or high school student to try to figure out what could be useful for them? I pose the second question mostly because I am mainly focused on myself and getting through these next couple weeks. It might be easier come fall. I would appreciate any thoughts!
Derek,
ReplyDeletelike you I also valued the assignment greatly. It pains me to admit I had never created a document with Docs prior to creating my presentation. I have seen the light, as it were, and will most likely never use a word processing program again. I agree, also, that these suites by Microsoft, etc. may be peripheralized in the near future. However, and I'll digress here slightly, the only problem I have with this digital usurpation of the pen and paper is that the distraction factor will greatly increase. I know, if we're using word-processing programs, we're using computers anyway, but if we're online on Docs, for instance, Youtube and Facebook are just a tab and click away.
Hey Derek,
ReplyDeleteI don't think Microsoft Office is leaning toward obsolete; I heavily rely on it for writing exams and making slides for my teaching. That being said, I could do the same thing on Google Drive without having to store more stuff on my computer. On the other hand, I get easily distracted by the wonders of Facebook, Pandora, and YouTube, so sometimes going offline is the only way can focus.
Also, until I read your post, I didn't even know Google Forms existed. Teach me!
I agree with MKiwi. I honestly think Microsoft office is far superior to Google Drive. While Google Drive is very handy and can do a lot of what Microsoft Office can do, Microsoft Office is way ahead of Google Drive when it comes to user friendliness. Maybe I believe this because I grew up using Microsoft Office, but I feel like Microsoft Office has all its functions well organized and it has features that I have not been able to locate on Google Drive. I'm sure sometime in the future Google Drive will improve its functions and add helpful features, but for the time being I believe Microsoft Office has it beat.
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