Mobile Technologies - Wk 4

Mobile Technology

Soundcloud is a mobile and desktop application that provides you with the feasibility to upload and download podcasts. Soundcloud can be accessed through: www.soundcloud.com.  The podcasts can be filtered by topic or category. The advantages of using podcasts to educators are unlimited. Educators can record their classroom time and share it with learners or other educators. This provides users to go back to discussion time. Even the educator himself can access prior lessons to see the flow of the discussion and to plan for future adjustments.

In addition, and according to www.educatorstechnology.com, podcasts can provide an important research tool for learners.  Prior to reading about podcasts, I always saw them on my desktop and never really thought about using them. I can now benefit from them a lot.

I will use soundcloud in order to record my classes which learners can access and especially those who could not attend class. In addition, I will use soundcloud to record and share all seminars that I attend, which I will share with my learners as well. I work in a field where the resources are considered limited and the knowledge is available through limited individuals. Thus sharing this  would be a helpful idea.

Another mobile technology is KO-SU which can be reached through www.ko-su.com. With this application, users can create mobile activities, set up a class, achieve tasks, review answers and download results. All this can be done using the mobile and the desktop.

I chose this application because I believe that class time shall be used to its ultimate time without any unwanted interruptions. In addition, the educator shall provide room for all learners to voice their opinion on questions and ideas.

This application provides me with lots of room to my learners participate in my class. I will use it to gather opinions on certain topics prior to my class. I want to know what the majority of class thinks about a certain topic.

Reference:

Top 4 tools to Create and Share Podcasts with your students. Educational technology and Mobile Learning retrieved on Sept 24, 2013 from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/09/top-4-tools-to-create-and-share.html

Two Social Networking - Wk3

In our world today, almost everything seems to be technology dependant. Every person tries to build his/her own network through interaction with others. This network of people has been digitalised with the help of social network. People create their own network by using programs or software that is available on the Internet. 

One social networking tool is Sixgroups. This website can be accessed by www.sixgroups.com. Just like many other social networking programs, users can post comments, share thoughts, comment on others thoughts, build communities. There was one feature that attracted me to this application. This feature is the fact that Sixgroups can be integrated to any website. This feature transforms any website into a social networking website. For example, an educational website can have users post question, receive answers, ask for clarification from the writer, and any other options. It really helps improve the productivity of each website. So, this tool is very useful for adult education as it can help each adult educational website receive feedback from learners and readers which could result in an improvement to the services of each organisation. 

Another website is Wiggio, which can retrieved from www.wiggio.com. With Wiggio, users can do the following: host meetings, create to do lists, assign tasks to users, poll groups, manage events, and share files. The reason I chose this website, is because it makes your agenda and computer a shared one with all your community. 

I opted to stay away from the two most famous websites on the internet: Facebook and twitter. I wanted to see what else is available on the internet. This is the reason why I chose these two websites. I also wanted to see what other social networking programs might offer. 

I will be using Sixgroups website in my own website which I will develop for Sexual Education. I want to help learners share what is in their mind with the different topics that I will have. Another use of Wiggio is in my classroom environment. In sexual eduction classes, I normally ask my learners to pass over what they learnt into other communities. This can be done through Wiggio by creating tasks and events in each community and have my learners share their experience in each event with others. 

New Educational Technologies Wk 2

Tophat retrieved from www.tophat.com is a software that helps students coordinate with their educator during class time. Through this application students can ask/answer questions, launch demos, start discussions and many more options.

I really like this application because of the following: 1) It saves time to educators by avoiding interruptions to their class time, 2) All students have equal opportunity to participate in class, 3) Students who are uncomfortable speaking in class can benefit from this tool, 4) teachers can understand their class much better.

I will use this application to answer questions of all of my students during the lecture time. I ask students to list their questions on tophat rather than speaking during class time.

Another example of how I would use this application is by asking questions to students so that they can answer it and I would obtain answers from all students.

The second technology that I will use in my classroom is Lore, which can be retrieved from www.lore.com. This software has a similar platform to Facebook. This social network allows professors and students to communicate, follow one another, and discuss class work and lectures. In addition to the social aspect, it allows for document uploads, calendar sharing, and a grade book option.

I like this application because it provides students with the ability to communicate with each other even after class time. Differences in opinions, agreements, and elaborations can be available all the time.

The first example of using this technology is to provide open discussion to all students so that they can access these discussions, post their understandings and opinions. Another example of how I would use this application is by sharing the calendar of the course so that students can gain a complete view of their duties and tasks.