Beta testing, it's a good idea.

As part of the last assignment we had to set up an online meeting. I used it to pre-test some video conference options we were considering for an upcoming trip. Good thing too. Three laptops running windows, one android tablet, and one windows 10 tablet and five or so conference options later, we did manage to get Google Hangouts working acceptably. Not perfect, but acceptable.

http://www.google.com/drive/about.html

I already use google drive to move files between computers. I have used shared drives, network drives, usb flash drives, and probably some others. Between computers at home, network drives across the LAN are the way to go. However, if one computer is at home and another at school that doesn't work. Google Drive has been reliable for uploading files and keeping the designated folder current with the online version. By keeping things like my in class slideshows in the Drive I can work on them at home and then use them at school. However, if there is an internet connection problem either at home or school or somewhere between, it can be a problem. Doesn't happen often, I think only once since I started using it, but one does have to keep in mind it can fail.

https://www.dropbox.com/

My school already uses dropbox quite a bit. In class, I prefer to use some physical flash drives I had on hand since they don't depend on a data connection or online sources. However, if students need to transport something between school, home, or work at the library, a physical drive can all to easily go missing. So, setting up a dropbox for them to keep classwork in tends to be a better solution. This does still require a data connection and a computer, so frequently limits my students to working at school or at the library (lots of them don't have any kind of computer access at home).

https://join.me/

I have participated in join.me video conferences before. A few of the online continuing education courses I took as a lawyer used it and it always seemed to work well. From my end. This was one of the tools we tried on our own computers and setting it up was a somewhat different story. I'd like to make more use of something like this to bring classrooms together, say conferencing between my science class and the other 6th grade science teacher so our classes could compete during test review or something like that. However, that would mean two teachers being on track that day and I well know that the other teacher and I are far too alike (aka not well organized) for that to be likely to happen without a LOT of preparation. Still, would be cool.

Module 5 Blog Post

Technology is wonderful and can be a truly useful tool...when it works. When it doesn't, it can easily double our workload to troubleshoot whatever went wrong and also make some way to accomplish what we were trying to do before the gadgetry died.

Case in point, online submission of work can take a lot of problems out of collecting assignments. Right down to enforcing deadlines, since the way they are turned in can just shut off at a particular time. Unless the time gets set wrong or the time tracking device goes haywire. Hence, right now I am unable to submit the quizlet homework. It is done,

https://quizlet.com/127330109/etec4810-flash-cards/?new
password: etec4819

In this unit we have taken a look at even more potential technology resources.

http://quizlet.com/

Quizlet I had seen previously. It does let you make an online repository for questions and quizzes, as well as using ones made by others on the same topic. Personally, I don't have any real use for it. For this to be a useful tool, it must be accessible for all students. My students do not have sufficient and consistent access to reliable technology for me to rely on online questions or tools. Basically, if I counted on students accessing something like quizlet, there are some students it would be guaranteed to be left out. So, I avoid the problem by simply not relying on that sort of tool.

http://www.activelylearn.com/

Actively Learn looks to be useful for enhancing text for in class reading. This actually would work really well with how I have set up my in class social studies matierials. Students are able to run the smartboard to display the section summary, select sections to read, take turns reading, and answer the questions in the summary. With this, I could import the pdf summaries and add even more to the reading, which the students could also control through the smartboard. The downside, and what will likely keep me from integrating this anytime soon, is that the preparation time and pre-planning needed will be fairly extensive. Right now, that time just is not available. If I teach social studies again next year, it will definitely be worth it, but that is far from certain.

http://www.quia.com/web

Quia is the one that looks most useful right away. There are a number of already constructed quizes and games based on a large number of topics. I was able to find over a hundred in the area of sixth grade science. One I plan to use is a battleship style game that asks questions you have to get right in order to keep your "hit" (https://www.quia.com/ba/334435.html). While this also requires computer and internet access, this could be used in the classroom setting with school computers as part of review exercises. I have used battleship style games before, and ran into the problem that students were not familiar with the actual Battleship game, so the variant was just confusing for them.