May 10, 2012

Today was out final technology tool and we had a choice of which one we wanted to explore. I chose Evernote: I really like Evernote! I use it to take notes during the department chair meetings on my iPad (the only problem is that I can't get the notes to email successfully to myself at work - I think it's an Amphi problem and not necessarily a Evernote problem). I have also used it to save emails that are really important and that I want to make sure that I have access to in the future (it seems like once my email gets archived, I can't ever find it again!). It's a great tool!! My son loves Xtranormal and Voki! He uses both in class and for class projects.

May 7, 2012

Today I learned how to create a QR code. I posted one below. The one that I created will take you to Evan's website. I can see using the QR code creator to create a link to the CAS guide once it is posted online. It will make it easy for the IB students to find the guide without having to remember the web address.

QR Code

April 19, 2012

Today I perfected my Prezi skills!! I had played with the website once or twice before, but tonight I really figured it all out....and it really is as easy as they say it is! Here is the link to the Prezi I created: http://prezi.com/zbctgz5tqe5h/cas-creativity-action-service/?auth_key=1e647a5749587a57f5923263e9573d644150998f. I had put together a boring Powerpoint for this presentation, but now I am going to be able to use this Prezi instead. I'm really looking forward to the reaction that I get from the parents and students! I can definitely see myself using Prezi from now on instead of Powerpoint.

April 14, 2012

Today I learned about Weebly - a site to make websites. I decided to let my son help me create the website and we used a book that he recently read to try-out how he might use the site as a tool for creating his book projects. The result can be seen at: http://bignategoesforbrokebookproject.weebly.com/. It was very easy to use and a lot of fun to do! I can see him continuing to use this in school as a way to share information, either about his books, or about a topic he is studying in class. It could be used the same way in high school.

April 2, 2012 - Animoto

April 2, 2012

Today I finally came up with an idea for making a screencast-o-matic! (I've been putting it off because I was having a tough time coming up with a good use for it). Here is the link: http://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/clfecHkjY. I'm not sure that I would use this tool very often, but it's definitely great to have it in my toolbox!

March 15, 2012

Today I learned about Audioboo. So easy!!!!!
I made an audioboo with directions for students on ordering an official transcript (I've posted it below). I could see using this to create answers to many of the frequently asked questions and posting them on the counseling website. What a great tool!

My Audioboo - How to order an official transcript

listen to ‘How to order an official transcript’ on Audioboo

March 2, 2012

Today I switched over to Goodreads for my book cataloguing because Goodreads has an app for the IPad and Shelfari does not. It's great to be able to access my list of books on my IPad!!
And, the Goodreads app has a barcode scanner (which doesn't work great - but for those books that it works on it's a time saver!!) for entering your books quickly - cool!

March 1, 2012

Today I learned about several book cataloguing sites and, ultimately set up an account on Shelfari. I can see great use for this for myself in that I currently carry around a typed list of all of the books that I've read by my favorite authors in my purse so that I don't accidentally buy the same book twice! I have shrunk my list down to the smallest font that I can and I'm still out of room on the page, so having a list online would be great! It will, however, take a great amount of time to add all of the books that I've read into my account....but it might very well be time well spent!
I'm not sure how much I would use this site for work, but I'm definitely glad that I learned about it for my personal use! :)

February 20, 2012

Today I logged into my Twitter account for the first time in 1 1/2 years! Twitter is the tool of the week. I first signed up for a Twitter account in order to get updates on the buses at Wilson, but I didn't really understand how it worked at the time, and I've never gone back into my account to check the status of the bus! I was under the impression that the information would be emailed to me - ooops! Now I know better, but I'm still not sure that I will use my account. I added 3 people/institutions to follow, but I didn't find anything useful in the tweets that I saw. And, the tweets that I saw were very difficult to understand!?!?!? I think that I'm fairly open-minded to trying new things, but Twitter is one that I'm having difficulty remaining open about! :) I'll play with it a little bit more before I make my final judgement.

February 17, 2012

Today I learned about Storybird and made my first book (thanks to Amy for the idea of using IB content for my book!!). I embeded the book on this blog. It was a lot of fun to make and very easy to do! I think, however, that I will use this tool more with my son than I will for work related projects, but.....who knows!

My "All About CAS" Storybird Project

All About CAS by mbarcani on Storybird

February 12, 2012

Today I set up my diigo account and added a few bookmarks. I'm thinking that I will end up deleting most of the bookmarks I have currently marked in there (or just create a new group of bookmarks) and create a group of bookmarks that the IB kids can access to help them with resources for their CAS activities. I need to play with it more to figure out how to group/tag bookmarks to see how broad my use with this tool can be! I'm looking forward to playing with it more on another day!

Lost Generation Video

My first try

This is my first try at blogging. I am not sure yet if/how I will use this with my students, so this is a great opportunity to try it out and see how it might be incorporated at work. I already have a website with information for students. In addition, I will have the ManageBac system to communicate with my IB students. I'm excited to discover whether or not this might be a tool to use in addition to email, websites, and ManageBac!