Final Day

Some of the final presentations on some of the professional learning networks made me realize how skiddish I have become around joining these different networks.  I don't have facebook, twitter, or follow any other groups.  I have the technology to do these things but have felt like I would be overwhelmed and unable to keep up in regards to the amount of time they would take.

So, my question is, "Do folks find that they get caught up and overwhelmed by all these different groups or do they really gain a lot in terms of valuable resources?"

I think in looking towards the future, a goal for me might be to push myself towards trying one of these networks, just to see what I might gain from them.

Google Play

Last night I was poking around and looking at the different settings and options in my google account.  It is amazing how many things can be synched up just through a google account.  I realized that all the music I had on my laptop, I could access through my smartphone by using something called google play music.  I haven't been all that motivated to explore all the google tools, but now that I am getting a little taste of all the things I can do, I am more excited.  I am especially curious about what we will be able to do in terms of communicating and sharing information amongst students and across classrooms once we have a google domain that is being commonly accessed.

Spreadsheets

I really liked working with the spreadsheets and charts today.  In my program we collect a lot of data and today I became more familiar with how I can input data, create visual graphs or charts, and collectively share  the results with individuals.  This may also be a tool students can use for tracking their own data.  I could also see our program using a google doc spreadsheet for tracking things such as group community services hours, our physical fitness movement hours, etc....

Google Calendar

I did something new today.  I learned how to use google calendar.  I have always been a live by my appointment book kind of girl and even though I have had a smartphone for a couple years, I have never converted myself to the electronic calendar.  Next year, our whole school is moving to an electronic agenda book for students so I thought, maybe I should give it a try.  It actually wasn't that hard, and I even figured out how to sync it to my phone.  I know its a baby step... but its one more thing I can do that I couldn't do yesterday!  Share something you did today that you couldn't do yesterday.... maybe I'll give it a try.

The Beginning

This is my first post.