Organization!

Previously I thought I was more of a paper and pencil organizer (for the most part). I would try to write down assignment on my calendar and try to keep all my notes in one place. No matter how hard I tried I happened to forget my calendar at home or misplaced some notes. It was frustrating at times because I would need the notes or double book events. I learned to appreciate technology more. I began to use my calendar on my phone (because who leaves home without their phone?) and started typing notes instead of just relying on my handwritten ones. But somehow I still managed to lose the bytes in my computer.

This assignment of having to research an organization tool was great for me because I got to learn a lot about organization online. These program can be accessed by a few clicks and can store important information. I had the assignment of researching Google Drive. It was amazing to see all the features that Google Drive has! One of the new things I learned how to use in Google Drive was Google Hangouts. This allows for groups to work together AND see the same document and work o it at the same time (groups anyone?).It can be tricky to use and sometimes it feels like Google Hangouts just don't want to work. But for the times that it does I think this is a great way to work in groups and get group work done without having one person keep all the notes. The notes/presentation can be saved in Google Drive.

Speaking of saving documents, Google drive works great as a storage for your files, yay! Google Drive allows you to upload files and access them when needed. For example, my EDUC 504 notes can be saved there and even if I forget my notebook at home I can still pull them up in my laptop and not have to worry about not having them. Google Drive also allows for the creation of forms. Rory was talking to my group as we were talking about Google Drive and he explained to us how convenient  the forms are.  They can e used to create surveys for students and gather information quickly. This is something I will be using to get to know my students.

We also learned about Evernote. I thought Evernote came really handy in organizing class lectures and for the future lecture plans we will all be doing. Grace talked about how you can arrange lecture notes for different classes in Evernote and access them quickly. I though this was neat to have a folder for every class and keep lectures organized and not having to go through all the documents to find that one lecture note.
Blendspace was another tool presented. This I found to be great for presentations and lectures. Megan modeled how a class lecture would take place. I really liked the fact that you could put in a quiz in the middle and have students answer the questions to check on their understanding and making sure they are all paying attention. You can incorporate pictures, videos, and quizzes in the lecture/presentation. One concern we had about using Blendspace was that it would be come too regular and the students would loose interest, how can we keep this form happening?