Week 2 of productivity

This week has been another interesting week of online learning.  We had to compare search engines as well as discover new ways to make our searches more productive.  Up to this point, I have used Google for the good majority of time when I need to search information.  I don't think that is going to change, though after looking at some other sites, I think I will be more inclined to use them if I feel my Google searches aren't producing exactly what I need.  I did look into Exalead, another search engine, and I found it's home page a lot more welcoming than Google's.  You are able to book mark your favorite pages and they are bookmarked as pictures, not text.  You can also access your computer from this website, no matter where you are are what computer you are on.  It was nice to see something that was a little different than Google, but again, Google has seemed to work well for me and I probably will still use Google a lot. 

Another thing that we did this week was look at more online word processing websites.  During this class, we have been using Google docs for our papers and presentations.  It really has been a great tool because  you can do your work from anywhere and you are not dependent on your own computer.  You can also share your work with anyone and they can edit the work (great for group work).  The two other programs that I looked into were called ThinkFree and Zoho Writer.  ThinkFree is a lot like Google docs.  You can do word processing documents on it, spreadsheets and slide presentations.  You can also share your work with others, like Google docs.  Although I will be continuing to use Google docs for class, it was nice to see something different in case I need to use it for work or in some other aspect of my life.    Besides ThinkFree, Zoho was also another interesting online word processor.  It felt a lot like Microsoft Word, so I liked how i felt familiar with it, even though I never used this particular program before.  I did notice that this sight only offers word processing, and not spreadsheets and slide presentations like Google docs and ThinkFree does.

Overall, this has been an eye opening week.  I feel that I may not be changing everything I do because of what I learned this week, but I may be doing some things differently in order to get more work complete in a faster manner. 

On to the third class!

This week I started my third class of my online cohort, Using Productivity Tools Effectively.  One of the things that we are supposed to do is make a presentation using a presentation product other than Power Point.  We need to use one that is web based.  I have to say, I am pretty pumped about this because I do use power points with my classes, but they always seem to be a pain to interact with the students on their work.  In my district, there are community folders where students can put there work and I can look at it, but it isn't very easy to put comments on their work.  I'm hoping that a web based presentation program will be easier to make comments and help students as they are working.  It will also be nice to be able to see the work from any computer I am at, home or school.  In addition to that, we are also going to be making a graphic for the class and then posting it.  I'm still not sure how I will use this, but I'm sure I will find some way to incorporate it into what I do.  This class has a little different twist to it because we actually have a text book!  Wow, I feel like I'm going back in time actually having a book for a class!   I just got finished reading the first chapter and it basically got me to think what is technology's place in the classroom?  Do you need technology all the time?  When is it or isn't it appropriate.  It has been pretty interesting and I think my ideas of what technology should do for me is very similarly in line with the authors prospective.