Initial Thoughts on Using Twiiter in the Classroom!

I've always been pretty skeptical of tweeting, since I have only heard people and celebrities (namely Miley Cyrus) bashing people through their Twitter. I thinking using Twitter in the classroom could be a useful tool if it is used only for educational purposes and isn't used to degrade anyone in anyway. To me, since Twitter already has a negative connotation to it, I think that it would not be as useful as a class blog. The information that I found on using Twitter in the classroom was essentially the same was using a blog, except for it seems to me to be more open to the public and more susceptible to rambling on petty subjects. I think I might use Twitter in my classroom if I became more comfortable with it, but until then I think I will just stick to personal responses or blogging.

My Thoughts Using Google Docs

Recently, we have been exploring the features of Google Docs and I find that it could be a very positive tool in the classroom. Although a person would be able to have Microsoft Office word, powerpoint, or excel on their computer, it is very useful to have it on the internet as well. Not only is it very easy to share with others, but it backs-up your projects so they do not accidently get lost or erased. I find this to be the major positive in using Google Docs; it seems in every class I take there are students (including myself) who have lost jumpdrives or forgotten where they saved an assignment, or even having a glitch in the system and not saving it at all. The downfalls I see of Google Docs are that not everyone has access to the internet at all time; if a teacher is just using Google Docs, it could be difficult for some students to complete assignments. Additionally, there are some features missing from Google Docs that can be found on regular Microsoft applications. For example, in our group Google Doc project, I was in charge of the powerpoint; however, I was not able to use clipart in the Google Docs program. This is a very small inconvience, but it was an inconvience all the same. I think Google Docs could be useful in the classroom but, like all technology, I believe, it needs to be balance with other resources to give every student the same opportunity.

WIKIS.

When we started talking about Wikis, I thought it was a pretty exciting concept...being able to change whatever you want when you want on a post makes a person feel empowered. Although it is a pretty fun and interesting thing, it could be extremely frustrating sometimes. I felt Wikis were a lot more complicated than I expected, especially when every one is trying to change the Wiki at once. Stuff got erased, we had to re-do everything multiple times...it just seemed difficult. Also, changing the format was a little too complicated for me. I think I would like Wikis a lot more if they were simplified a tid bit!