Social Bookmarking

I define social bookmarking as a place to keep the favorite websites that you have visited for easier access.  Also with social bookmarking other people can see the websites that you bookmarked.  It is a public website to bookmark.  Social bookmarking could help me as a student to save websites that I need to write papers or for projects.  It could help me as a teacher by saving websites for good teaching lesson plans or activities.  I think social bookmarking in a good idea because it also gives other people help when trying to find certain websites. We can go to other peoples bookmarked sites and get a look at their ideas as help for whatever we need help with.

Microsoft Word vs. Google docs

I have used microsoft word for many years and I am very familiar with how it works.  I have used Google docs only once and am still unsure of how it all works.  If I had to chose between the 2, I would chose Mircosoft because it offers many more programs than Google docs does.  Mircosoft can be more complicated to some people, but it has many options for many different things.  Google docs is a very simplified version of Microsoft.  I think they both work and both get the job done, but I think that Microsoft serves the purpose a little better.

Reflections on Excel

I have never used Excel before this class, and I think I was always intimated by it because it looked so confusing and complicated past anything that I could do.  But after using it, I found it not so intimidating and kind of easy to use.  There are many things that could be done with Excel.  Five things that could be done in the classroom with Excel are: (1) grades: teachers could use excel to map out students grades and keep track of  them.  (2) Students could use Excel in signing in the morning for attendance.  (3) Students could use excel for many projects, such as daily temperatures or use it to graph or chart things.  (4) Students could use Excel to keep track of their own grades.  (5) Excel could be used by students to help them solve math problems.

Technology as a "language"

I agree with the readings from our text and the perspectives that the students state.  In chapter 7, someone made the comment about how they would be lost without their computer or cell phone.  I would too!  I am constantly on my computer and cell phone.  We use technology, especially computers and cell phones, for so many things.  It is a little sad I think how dependent our society has become on the use of technology, especially cell phones.  A cell phone just isn't a phone anymore.  There are so many more things that we can do on them now; they are like mini computers.  My grandparents got a computer a few years ago and I can remember myself trying to convince them to get one and all they kept saying is "what do i need a computer for?"  They went without one for 70 something years, but now that they have one they use it everyday and I think they would be bored without one.  They don't know how to use it to it's fullest potential, but they know how to do the basics like check e-mail and play games.  Technology does have it's own language.  Especially in IM; people use abbreviations for words all the time.  It is essentially its own language.

Google Docs

So this was the second time I have ever used GoogleDocs.  I think I am still a little confused about how to share things with other people and how the whole responding back and commenting thing works.  But as far as typing on it and using it as a word processor I think that it is the same as using word.  Well, sort of.  GoogleDocs is simpler than word, but it has the same basic concept.  I definitely need some practice and probably more help using it.