Website Review: Zoho Suite

Zoho is a great tool with many applications to help keep a business organized as well as school.  Zoho ranges from communication abilties to keeping youself oprganzied through calenders, notebooks, and planners.  Zoho can be used in the classroom in many ways.  One way it can help in school is the application to make reports.  It gives you the ability to make charts and upload data, aswell a visual analysis.  Another way this can be helpful in the classroom is the calender application.  This applications gives the ability to fill in your calender with the option of setting up a reminder in which an e-mail will be sent to you before your event/task is due.  Overall this is a very helpful tool that can be used in a variety of topics.  Not only can students use this tool but as well can grown business men/women to help them as well.

The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NET-S) Zoho meets:

-creativity and innovation
-communication and collaboration
- Research and Information Fluency
-Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making
- technology operations and concepts

Classroom Dream Computer

In today’s society computers have become apart of our every day lives and have constantly progressed to better technology throughout the years.  As a child, using computer technology was very basic.  Printers were only black and white, the internet was unbearably slow, and the only reason I would use a computer was to play games.  Today computers are widely used for educational purposes and much more accessories have been invented to only further the convenience and fun of owning a computer.  If having the ability to build my own computer full of helpful accessories to benefit educational purposes, this would be my classroom dream computer.  

After visiting dell.com I was able to personalize my dream computer.  I started out with the IntelCore i7-2600 processor. It is a top of the line fast performance processor for demanding applications, and content creation that will be used by the students.  The operating system would be ran by Windows 7 ultimate. I decided on a large 24” full HD monitor widescreen which would be a great way to capture the students attention.  I picked out the Dell wireless desktop keyboard and mouse, which can be easily used by the students, and would be a safe alternative than dealing with loose wiring.  Out of the many types of office software I decided to go with the Office Home and Student 2010 edition which would be essential to help student with papers, projects, and many other school related tasks.  The hard drive I picked out was the 500GB which will contribute plenty of space for pictures, videos, and music the students might need.  The additional 16GB dual channel memory I decided on will improve the memory, speed, and performance which will be helpful when a student is researching the internet.  A key accessories I thought would be very beneficial to the students is a Nikon D3100 digital camera along with a SanDisk 8 GB flash memory card, giving the capability for a student to capture and store many pictures or videos of school related items and easily able to load them to the computer.  The Corel Paintshop Photo Pro X3 and the Sony Vegas Movie Studio softwares are the perfect programs needed for the students to upload pictures or videos that have been created with the camera to create projects.  As the students might be in need to print out their pictures, projects, or papers I decided on the Dell V715w wireless all in one printer/scanner.  It not only has the ability to print from the computer but as well the option of easily hooking up the camera directly to the printer, with a LCD screen to view your desired picture before printing.  The scanner gives the students the ability to scan pictures onto the computer, which can also be very helpful when creating a project.  When dealing with creating video projects, listening to online lectures, or music, computer speakers are essential.  The Dell AY410 2.1 stereo speakers are the perfect choice for the students to hear a clean crisp sound.  At the end of the day, this amazing personalized computer came out to be $3,526.94.  Every penny will be put to great use.

As my personalized dream computer comes to an end, I feel as if this computer has many tools and accessories to benefit a student in his his/her educational experience.  Not only does this computer have many options but most importantly it was built for the students to conveniently use and enjoy.

Inventory Test

Inventory Tests

Dylan Yussman

After taking my two inventory test’s, my overall score in the the cognitive style inventory is that I am an auditory and tactile learner.  As for the learning style test I scored best in the category “bodily-kinesthetic”.  I personally believe both of these scores were very accurate for me.  I always seem to do better in a class when I have a professor lecturing as I take notes on what is being said.  I also highly agree with my test results for being a bodily-kinesthetic learner.  I am a very active person who loves sports and learn very easily from hands on activities.  When all three learning styles are being used when participating in a learning experience I tend to do very well, and if ever became a teacher I would include all three in my teaching theories.  Being an auditory and tactile learner, I would use these qualities in teaching by lecturing the class but as well taking particular important points and writing them either on the board or overheard to make sure the students key in on the important information.  As for the bodily-kinesthetic side of me, when teaching I would not only lecture and write down the important points, but also involve the students in a hands on activity to make sure all points are understood to it’s best potential.  I would possibly connect my teachings through sports, which would not only be helpful for the students who might have this interest but as well for me to be able to enjoy would I am teaching.  As for being a consistent learner through college and now knowing what my scores are through these online tests, I will continue with taking notes in lecture classes. As for now knowing there is a such thing as a bodily-kinesthetic learner, I will incorporate my note taking and studying process by using the concept of using the whole or parts of the body.  The cognitive style inventory test was taken by visiting the website www.personal.psu.edu and as for the learning style test I participated by going to www.acceleratedlearning.com.  

Website Review: Evernote

Website Review: Evernote

http://www.evernote.com/about/learn_more/

Evernote is a website created to organize different types of information to easily access.  It is a key way to organize notes and to also easily access this information through other types of technology such as a cell phone.  I like this tool because it not only can keep school and business work organized but as well specific personal interest such as to do lists or a record of your favorite wine.  It is also very helpful as it gives the ability to create pictures anytime, anywhere with a cell phone and connect it with this website.  This website can be very useful is education especially.  It gives you the option to create a to do list which can help you plan out your class schedule, homework, and upcoming exams.  The ability to take a snap shot of important notes in class that is posted on the board and post it on the evernote website can be very helpful to go over the lesson plan later on.  Also on the evernote website it has the ability to clip pages from a website which can be very helpful in research.

The National Educational Technology Stadards (NET-S) Evernote meets:

- Creativity and Innovation
- Research and Information Fluency
- Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

Website Review: Flickr

The Flickr website is a great tool to stay in touch with family and friends, upload and organize imnformation, explore, and make things such as card, posters, etc.  Many of the different categories does not only benefit your personal interest but as well help in the classroom.  The option to be able to design and organize a calender will benefit as a student to keep yourself more organized.  Also the ability to upload and organize pictures on the web could also benefit you in a class in which this could be needed.  The option to design a poster can be very helpful in the classroom as many teachers/students put posters to important use.  I personally like this tool as it gives the abiltiy for a student/teacher to become very creative.  The many different options in Flickr is a great way to personally create what might be important in your everyday life.

The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NET-S) Flickr includes:

-Creativity and Innovation
-Communication and Collaboration
-Research and Information Fluency
-Digital Citizenship
-Technology Operations and Concepts