#4 Technology and the Internet

• Twitter.... My experiences with Twitter before this class were very limited. Once in this class, I learned several things about Twitter. I believe that the coolest thing in Twitter that I have found so far is that many teachers and educational programs use Twitter. I figure that many educators use Twitter in order to connect with other educators. I assume that they switch techniques and styles online. On twitter, I've been following techlearning, U.S. News Education, Presentation Panda, EME2040, On Special Education, EdWeek Teacher, Active Minds, Inc. and many of the students in my class. I have interacted with Active Minds, Inc and EME2040. I have retweeted some tweets and replyed to some tweets too. Twitter might be helpful in my future career because it will allow me to connect with other teachers not at my school. It will also help me get different tips and techniques to use in my own classroom. I can also get ideas for classroom management and classroom layout/design.

• There are many different types of active learning software in the world today. These include academic software, productivity software, presentation software, and academic software applications. Academic software includes desktop publishing, graphics, reference, tutorials and drill-and practice, educational games, simulations, authoring systems, special needs, application software and integrated learning systems. Academic software applications include academic databases, authoring software, concept-mapping software, content-specific software, drill-and-practice software, educational games, and problem-solving software, simulations, and tutorials. There are several separate softwares within each type off academic software. Several students don't have access to many of these softwares. The digital divide is a term used to discuss those who do and do not have access to to technology. The students who don't have much access to technology often fall behind in class because many classes are implementing technologies. The homework assigned in such classes can be difficult for these students. 

• According to the Evaluating Internet Resources podcast, in evaluating websites, you should follow these points:
• Use ABCDT:

• Author: Is the author credible?
• Bias: Is the author biased or neutral on the subject matter?
• Content: Is the content accurate (spelling and grammer)? Is it current? Is it appropriate for the students using the website?
• Design: Is the website visually pleasing? Are all the pictures clear?
• Technical: Is it easy to navigate? Do all parts of the website function? Does the website load quickly?
• Site stability/ URL:
• Is it likely to change content or move links around?
• Who owns the domain name?
• What is the root of the domain?
• Is it the right type of domain for the website?
• Outlinks:
• Check links before allowing students to use the website.
• Advertising:
• Ads pay for many of the free websites.
• In evaluating websites, I check to see if the website in general is credible, not just the author. I also make sure that the website is appropriate for the age group and the individuals that I am working with. I use these criteria because each age group is different, but each individual person within that age group is different too.