Fun Technology Tools

I learned so much about web tools this last week! The most exciting one I found, though it may or may not prove to be the most useful, was the Jing application. I have always wondered how people make video tutorials with the live screenshots, and now I can see how simple that process will be when I want to teach my students how to do something on the computer. I also loved using Picnik.com to edit pictures for free and save them on my hard drive. I know for sure that I will use Google maps, maybe when I teach social studies units where I want my students to have the experience of making virtual tours or finding directions, etc. I don't think I will use video chat very much with my students because I'm not really big on chat programs anyway, but it is a very useful thing to know. I really liked learning about how to create a class website with all the fun little doo-dads, but I admit to feeling in over my head, so it will take some practice.

The most difficult thing to learn, for me, was the PB works website. I had a hard time figuring out the navigation in order to get back to the pages I created, rather than the default ones they give you to start with. I think I will just have to get used to posting things online and embedding pictures, movies, graphs, etc. so that I can become more comfortable with the process.