Computer Problems

Okay, so I have been having a problem with my laptop for sometime now. Last semester I downloaded symatic virus protection onto my computer. It was working great till about a month ago then it started telling me that it was not compatible with windows vista. Now everytime I turn on my computer it trys to install symatic again and just keeps telling it won't work. But, it just decides to randomly try on its own. Its hasn't affected the functionality of my computer so I have just ingored it thus far. I just hope it doesn't get worse.

Challenges

The Google Sites layout is pretty straightforward so I haven't ran into to many problems so far. However, I'm sure as I progress I won't be able to say that anymore. One of the challenges I have encountered thus far is making my site pleasing to the eye. I want to make it seem like I know more about creating websites than I actually do by making it look good. I found a couple of tutorials on youtube that have helped a little bit but if anybody knows any tricks to make my site look better please share. Here is one tutorial that has good information about simple things to change the appearance of your site, you just have to put up with her monotone for 9 minutes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW3OElLssgE

Resources

I thought that many of the resources we reveiwed would be helpful in furthering my learning. Every new technology I learn about to make things simpler and faster. I am a history teaching major, Zotero will be extremely helpful when I write my many research papers. Diigo will also com in handy for that same reason. Before I would always copy and paste viable research into a word document to save it for later, it will be so much more convenient to have my highlights on the actual website. Jing I think wil be fun and useful for both personal and teaching reaons. I think it will come in handy most when other people are visually taking me through the steps. Google Docs is a great resource for when I am trying to work in a group for a project or in a study group. It is great that we can share ideas without actually meeting. Google Calendars will also be very handy as a teacher when parents want to come in and talk about their student. Its a great way to schedule things without a middle man. I had no idea these types of resources were available.

My Gadgets

The gadgets I used are the picture, the adding of text, about me, the RSS feed, my blog list, my blog archive and my videos. The picture is of my mom, sister, and I at Thanksgiving. I added text welcoming visitors to my blog and as a caption to my picture. The videos in the my videos section are from my mom's youtube channel.

Technology Background and Goals

I know how to work the basic technological programs that are available. I can create a document with Word, I can create a Powerpoint presentation, but I do have some difficulting with Excel. I also am relatively confident with my Internet and Emailing skills. I can navigate my way through Photoshop as well. As far as teaching with multimedia goes, I am not quite sure what that means, so I can conclude that I don't know how to do that. I hope that by the end of this class I can take advantage of all the technological resources at my disposal to better enhance the learning of my future students. http://www.cs.mun.ca/~brown/multi/home.html, this is a site that had a couple of ideas that could be used in teaching with multimedia.