MixBook

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

MixBook

View Sample Photo Books Create your own Photo Book

For my final Emergent Technology, I used MixBook. MixBook is an amazing technology that allows you to create an online scrapbook. You can upload photos, choose from various layouts and backgrounds, and also add stickers. I found this technology extremely user-friendly! I personally enjoyed picking some of the theme pages, but also had fun making some of my pages from scratch. I really liked how I had the option of deciding how EXACTLY I wanted my pages to look. I know I will be using MixBook in the future for personal use, and I also believe it could come in handy when I begin teaching. For example, I could use MixBook to create an online scrapbook with my students. The students and their parents could then go online to look at it. I am sure the students would enjoy the many different colors, designs, and stickers that are available to choose from. MixBook was a lot of fun to experiment with, and I look forward to using it again. My advice to future users of the technology, is to FREQUENTLY save your work! A few times, something went wrong with my computer, and I had to start the page I was working on all over. So to be safe, save constantly!

PhotoShare

I used Roxio PhotoShow for this assignment. At this website, I was able to create my very own slideshow, full of pictures from my computer. I had so much fun creating the slideshow! I believe this will be a useful tool to use in the classroom. For example, I could make a slideshow of the students and share it with their parents. Also, the students and I could make a slideshow of activities we have done throughout the school year. This technology was extremely user-friendly. I found it very easy to upload my pictures from my computer. I then explored the website and had fun trying out the various settings in the Personalize section. I thought it was so neat that I was able to adjust the style, music, captions, and borders on my slideshow. I had the option of adding dialogue bubbles or stickers, but I decided not to. I think I will definitely have to add some bubbles and stickers next time, though! The website was easy to navigate and I can easily see myself becoming addicted to PhotoShow. I already have some gift ideas I plan on creating! :)

My advice to future users of this particular technology is to take your time exploring the website. There are different settings to choose from for your slideshow, and it is better to know all of your possible options. Also, it is a good idea to have an idea or theme planned for your slideshow, so then it will be easier and faster looking through the various settings.

RSS Feed

I definitely believe this RSS Feed will come in handy. I really like having my favorite sites in one place where I can easily find them. I used Google Reader and after searching for particular sites, I subscribed to them. I was then able to put my sites into folders, so they will be even more organized and easier to find. I also liked adding this link directly to my blog, so that when I am on my blog, I can easily check out the news/current events on my favorite sites. While looking through my sites, I found valuable information. I really liked The New York Times Technology site, the U.S Department of Education site, the Food Allergy sites, and the Medical sites that I found. I look forward to revisiting these sites. Google Reader was pretty easy to navigate, and I enjoyed searching for my sites.

Del.icio.us Site

http://delicious.com/emily.cespedes

I thought it was so neat to learn about social bookmarking. I had no idea what this was prior to the assignment. I really enjoyed exploring the Del.icio.us website. I tagged various sites that I thought I would like to re-visit. I really like being able to tag the sites, so that they are easy to find later. I know I will take advantage of my Del.icio.us account now, and it will be extremely helpful once I become a teacher.

Podcast-audio recording

A Podcast is a great technology for anyone that wants to share an audio recording. As a teacher, I could record something and then play it for my students later. The students themselves could have fun with this by recording their voices, and then listening to their recordings.

Creating this Podcast was challenging for me. I was able to download Audacity okay, but then it took me longer to download the Lame MP3 Encoder. I think the problem was that I was not following the directions very well. I then made my recording. I love Bon Jovi, so I had them playing in the background during my Podcast. :) I was careful to save my progress. Next, I used Divshare to transfer my audio recording onto here. I found out about Divshare while looking at a fellow classmate's blog [thanks Dana! :) ]. I believe it is important to check out other people's blogs, since there is usually helpful advice there! Figuring out technology is difficult for me, so this assignment took me a long time to finish. My advice to others is to take your time and read the instructions carefully. Also, allow yourself plenty of time, and take breaks when you feel frustrated! I had to "back away" from my computer a few times during this assignment!

I Hope You Enjoy My Blog! :)

"Yesterday's history.
Tomorrow's a mystery.
All we have is today and
it's called the present
because it's a precious gift."
~Anonymous