Technology+Toolbox

**Technology Toolbox Analysis** The technology toolbox is an analysis of 13 various technology tools that exist or are available on the web, These tools are for users to interact, collaborate, share, create, etc. This analysis is based on a 1 - 5 Likert Scale, with 1 being Very Weak and 5 being Very Strong. The criteria include User Friendliness, Cost, Instructional Value and Advertisements, followed by personal comments about the tool.

Friendliness __** ||= **__Cost __** ||= **__Instructional Value __** ||= **__Ads __** ||= **__Comments __** || (iGoogle) ||= 3 || Free ||= 1 || None || For a teacher it has a lot of personal interest and learning opportunities. However, with igoogle you need to log on with your password and username, thus making it difficult to use as an instructional tool (ie: students can’t look at it unless you share the same username and password) || Word Processing ||= 3 || Free ||= 3.5 || None || Google docs is a perfect collaboration tool. It also for many people to work or share documents which is great. It is an easy way to share such things as worksheets, syllabi, and other tools. I like the fact that you can allow anyone to look at the docs but not edit them, which is useful if you would like to put them into a widget. However, trying to mess with the options of Google Docs can be somewhat confusing. || Spreadsheet ||= 3 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Free ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">2 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">None || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">This version reminds me of a simple Excel 2003 version. I am sure if I had a few days with the program it would be a gem. I do like the fact that it follows similar rules to excel (formula setup). However, I find the applications in class somewhat limited compared to google docs word processing. Although it is still a nice tool to have if you need to use it at some particular time. ||
 * = **__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Program __** ||= **__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">User
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Mozilla Firefox ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">5 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Free ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">1 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">None || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Firefox is a great addition to any computer. Although it is just another web browser, there are a lot of little advantages that one will find once they explore the possibilities. Firefox has made great strides from being the browser that websites did not accept 6 years ago. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Google Reader ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">3 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Free ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">None || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Google reader is a spectacular tool for future teachers. First and foremost I like the ability to use my Google account for this and other applications (One username and one password). Furthermore if your students are studying something you can always check what is going on with that subject in the news with RSS feeds and this program. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Del.icio.us ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">3 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Free ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">3 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">None || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Del.icio.us is a program that is tricky to really review at this time. It is not the simplest program to figure out, but once you start rolling there are a lot of options. As a teacher you could set up. The most useful aspect of del.icio.us is the ability to organize your bookmarks by the tags. You would be able to create all the books marks the student or teacher needed for a particular unit by tags alone. You could also use secret codes for tags so your class could share research they found which could be very intriguing. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">HotBot ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">5 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Free ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">1 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">None || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Hotbot is wonderful for the ability to choose three different search engines. I think it will be useful to show students other search engines to help them with research or everyday life. I think it is hard to train them to use anything other than google, but it’s good to have other options. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Google Personalized Homepage
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Blogger ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Free ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4.5 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">None || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Pretty simple to set up and get started. It does get tricky if you really want to go above and beyond with your blog. However, with a little knowledge you could do spectacular things. A great perk for blogs is the ability to have the discussions; however you need to make sure your can monitor it some way. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Wikispaces ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">3 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Free ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Yes, but can be taken off for a monthly fee || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Wikispaces is like a lot of the other programs, you need to have some technology training in order to make sense of it as we have seen in class. However, I have seen this used in class and there are almost endless possibilities. As long as students are able to read it can be a valuable resource in all classrooms. I do wish that you had more customization options (XML/XHTML). ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Google Docs
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Google Docs
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Glypho ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Free ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">3 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">None || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">First and foremost, I like the fact that you can RSS the stories. In classrooms that this site is applicable you could have rss feeds from all your students (But they need to have emails to start accounts). This program is awesome for English classes and upper elementary students. However, beyond that it is somewhat limited. I also like the fact that you can share ideas and other people can suggest ideas. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Rubistar ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Free ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Yes || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">This is an excellent site for teachers who would like to create, retrieve, and share rubrics online. It can be used to search for pre-made rubrics by other educators and it gives creators several suggested topics and criteria to help create their Rubric. It also has a Spanish translated website, and the website gives you printable copies of the created rubrics. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Podcasts - Audacity ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Free ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">3 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">No || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">This program like many other audio recording programs is fairly simple to use and has many different features that come built in. Making a Podcast is as simple as hitting record, saving, and uploading to the internet. I think a teacher could easily record his/her lectures or discussions and share them with students online. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Screencasts - Wink ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">2 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Free ||= <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">3 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">No || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">After downloading this software I was able to make a screencast rather quickly and easily. This program requires the user to have some basic knowledge about videos and key vocabulary (frames, render etc.) This software could be great in several computer related classes or simply to show students video from the teachers station. Here is a sample video rendered as an executable, without any audio to minimize size. It is being shared on MediaFire.com, a free hosting site.

||