Google Spreadsheet

Using Google Docs is a breeze, as I stated in a previous post, however I'm having difficulty finding ways to collaborate using the spreadsheet. I think that the spreadsheet sharing allows for the document to be shared and viewed, however for our current project I am finding it difficult to add and adjust the information in the document. Possibly since the assignment was so open ended, it's difficult to organize and adjust open ended data, when it is all from different sources and may not necessarily be broken down in the same fashion. I do however think the spreadsheet would be convenient if students are keeping track of data at home with group members. They could all access the same bank of data and it would stay organized. I think if given a little initial structure, the spreadsheets could definitely be a good use of internet resources.

Connect Meetings and web conferences

The first connect meeting that I attended was for this class and also was my first real experience with any type of web-conferencing site. I have not even had this experience with social networking software or websites. Although initially the first meeting we had for the class started with a bit of technical difficulty, once we got going, it was actually a pretty successful meeting. I think that the issues that some of the users had revolved more around personal Internet connections rather than problems with the site. Overall I felt that this web tool would be very convenient for long distance work. I feel that for college level coursework, especially for instances such as this online course, that web conferences are definitely a necessity for communication. Although we have been communicating via discussion boards, nothing beats a more "face to face" conversation with your peers. For me personally I feel this would be most helpful for collaboration between colleagues if a in school meeting is difficult to set, although primarily I'm not sure how helpful the resource would be in a high school setting such as the one I am in. I think that this is definitely helpful for students to learn about and figure out how to use, because web conferencing can be a very useful tool, and I think will be much more prevalent in businesses and possibly education in the future. The biggest problem. besides working through the initial tech glitches, is finding a common meeting time as we have seen in this course so far. I have been able to only attend one of the meetings, however I feel that it was an extremely helpful meeting and am looking forward to future meetings as well.

Flickr

Browsing around the flickr sight was relatively easy. I actually had to search out the group for class and I found it first thing and I think that sharing pictures with captions is a way to really relay a lot of information to students. I was thinking about ways I can use this in my classroom, and I use so many models in my class, that providing virtual models and videos could be a great way to use flickr as a resource. I found it interesting on our poverty site that people chose to not only share images of poverty or a representation of poverty, but also maps and diagrams representing national statistics. I also thought that it was valuable that you could also use maps to pinpoint where the pictures were taken or what areas the images may be representing, and also an area for group discussions.

I really think all of the resources that we have been investigating are amazing and helpful, but I'm a little overwhelmed as well thinking of ways to incorporate all of these resources into a class with state standards and assessments without running out of time. I can think of so many ways which they could help my students, but now I have to think of ways to efficiently add these resources.