Pinterest for Education

Pinterest is a wonderful tool to use if you are an educator. There are numerous projects and lesson plans for educators to choose from. You can even create boards for different areas or subjects that you need to teach. Need a new improved lesson? Head to Pinterest, but don't take my word for it take a look at this Adobe Photoshop Lesson for Digital Communications!! This assignment allows students to learn different tools and filters in Adobe Photoshop.The following pictures are in chronological order of the assignment. The last three are the different options that the students can choose from when creating the background: Paint, Filter ( this is a blur filter) and a combination of both.

Link to Assignment Sheet

Note For Dr. Benton

I forgot to mention the four blogs I commented on in my submission to the drop box. The four blogs that I am following on this page are the one's that I commented on.

10 Educational Web 2.0 Tools

Trip Wow!

Trip Wow is a Web 2.0 tool that allows you to create an instant slideshow for from your trip. Along with the pictures from your trip that you upload, it will a provide maps that will make your slideshow seem as if it is part of a tv traveling show. Considering EAST is a community outreach program for students and they do not have the freedom to go everywhere, this tool will allow students to see other and find other places. Along will allowing students to explore, this will also allow them to create presentations to show journeys, or other trips to their audience.

Wavosaur
Wavosaur is a free audio editing software that can be used in most windows operating systems. It has all the features to edit audio, produce music loops, analyze, record and batch record. It allows you to edit both WAV and MP3 audio files. Both digital communications and EAST classes will both use audio in any of their assignments/projects. This is a free software, so it will come to no cost to the school and will allow students to create and edit audio with ease.

Sketch up
Sketch up is a drawing program that takes regular drawings and scales them to real-life dimensions. In other words, you could begin to draw a simple house drawing in Sketch Up and the program will allow you to make it into 3D. You can push and pull surfaces to make them 3D, stretch, copy or rotate your drawings to make anything you like. In the EAST program there is a constant use of 3D creation software, however most are often difficult to use. Sketch up is an easy drawing software that allows beginner 3D artists to learn how to create without the confusion.

Chart Gizmo
Chart Gizmo is a free online chart builder. After you have created your free account, you can create colorful charts by just copy and pasting the information. It also allows you to import date from Excel. This is especially useful for people who want to visualize financial, scientific or any other types of data. This would be extremely useful for presentations in both a computer business class and EAST. Instead of having to go through the hassle of creating a chart, you can just type in the information of the chart into Chart Gizmo and it will create a visual of the data.

Kubbu
Kubbu is an e-learning tool for teacher and home a-schoolers designed to easily create learning activities for students. Anyone can easily create crosswords, tests and puzzles and make them accessible online for students. Kubbu also shows statistics from the activities and allows you to have up to 30 students on your account. Considering all the terminology used in computer business applications and digital communications, this is a great tool to use for vocabulary quizzes. Besides giving the quizzes, it also makes it easier for grading instead of having to track down paper quizzes to put in the grade book.

Clay Animator

Clay animator is a free animation tool that allows you to bring simple drawings to life. Basically you just draw your image and it will allow you to create a simple animation. It also contains lots of information on animation. This is great for creating small GIFs for powerpoints and websites. This would be a lot simpler than a student having to create several pictures to create their GIF for EAST or digital communications.


CamStudio

Cam Studio is a screen-casting tool that can allow you to create video tutorials and more. It allows you to add screen captions for subtitles or if you just do not like your voice. Best of all it is completely free and easy to use. One subject that is also taught in a digital communications class is screen casting and this would require something that is simple to use for beginner students. Most students have a hard time when it come to recording their voice so the screen caption feature will also be a huge help for self conscious students

Drop Box

Drop Box is a great free storage tool that allows you to take access your file anywhere, even with your phone. Similar to Google Drive all you need is an account which happens to be free. It is safe secure and allows your to share your files safely with friends. This is a great free alternative to the large network of storage that a student must their files to on their school campus. Both EAST classes and digital communications students would make great use of their tool, considering the large projects they must complete for their classes.

Ribbet!

Ribbet is a photo editing tool that has numerous features such as cloud storage. Besides photo editing it allows you to create collages and calenders. It is not free however, but it does have a free trial offer. Even though this is not a free tool, this does come to a much smaller price than the Adobe Creative Suite. This would be great to introduce students to photo editing and the different functions associated with it.

Bruce's Unusual Typing Wizard

Bruce's Unusual Typing Wizard is a free typing tutor software that is available to the Windows operating system. Unlike most typing tutors, this software creates unusual typing combinations to keep the person typing on their toes. It supports multiple user and saves the typing statistics, such as gwam. In the eight grade, most students are working on learning how to type and this would be a great and free alternative to tracking down multiple keyboarding games. This would also all the student to see their improvement from statistics.

Quizlet 

Quizlet is a great, free tool for anybody needing help studying for a test. It allows you to create multiple sets of flashcards and  even lets you look for sets that other users have created that you can use. Besides the basic flash card, Quizlet allows you to play study games such as space race. This is a fun alternative to studying vocabulary words off a sheet of paper for students.  Considering all the terminology assossiated with computer business applications and digital communications, a teacher can just plug in the word and definition on Quizlet and it will create a fun study guide for students. Quizlet  also has a mobile app so student can even study on the go.

Social Networking

I personally have never been effected by social networking, but I has helped me in communicating with friends from long distances. I believe that parents should really regulate what their children do on social media and how much of it they are exposed to. Overall there is a lot a advantages and disadvantages to social networking.


Social networking is used by almost everyone in our day-to-day activities. You see people on there phones everywhere either on posting a status on Facebook or posting another "selfie" to Instagram. Like everything else there are good and bad effects to what you do. In a Reader's Digest article called 5 Weird Negative Effects of Social Media on Your Brain by Damon Beres, there are some effects that we are not even conscious about.

1. Facebook might make you spend more money - Social media is also a great outlet for advertising. This can be an advertisement for the next new daily planner app or this could be an advertisement for the next best product. Whenever we use Facebook we will lazily scroll through our news feed for something interesting. This could be a new gaming app that will cost you a few dollars. This tend to happen over and over again with everyone.

2. It alters your appetite - Ever see all those picture posts of dessert on Instagram right after you finish your evening meal. Studies show that those pictures will activate the brain's reward center and cause some viewers to over eat.

3. It messes with your ability to think independently - Studies show that people are more open to peer pressure with social media networks. Sometimes a person will feel the need to "like" a photo or a status on Facebook to fulfill their peers needs. Example: Girlfriend gets mad at boyfriend for liking another girl's photos and not her's.

4. It hurts your self esteem - Ever find yourself comparing your self to others on Facebook or Instagram? Another study show that this causes lower self esteem because of feeling lonely or inadequate compared to others.

5. It can butcher real life conversations - If you talk to someone on an on-line chat room and then meet them in real person, find that it can get really, awkward really quick.

Even though there is a negative side to social networking, there is also a good side. In an article called The Positive Impact Of Social Networking Sites On Society by Dave Parrak , highlights the good qualities of social media.

1. Friends! - With social media you can always stay in touch with your friends. Some people are able to get in touch with old friend and classmates from years ago.

2. Speedy communication - Social media allows us to communicate to each other fast and easy regardless of where you are. If you have to get in touch with a friend about some urgent news, you don't have to wait for him to pick up his phone, you can just send him a message. Typing up a message takes but a matter of seconds.

3. You can talk to anyone around the world - I have a large part of my family in Mexico and my dad likes to be able to stay in touch with them. He used to spend tons of money on international phone plans to talk to them everyday when I was a kid. Now he just sends them a quick message on Facebook.

4. Building Relationships - There is no doubt that social media can cause break ups but it can also create new relationships for friends and couples. Friends can find each other an rekindle their relationship

5. Finding Common Ground in an Open Society - Social media has always people to find other people with shared interests. Think you are the only person who likes to play a certain game? Search around! There are hundreds other people who share the same interests that you have.

About Me

My name is Abril Reyes and welcome to my blog! I am a college student attending Henderson State University in Arkansas. I am currently working on my business technology education major in hopes of me obtaining a job as an EAST (Environmental and Spacial Technology) facilitator. The reason that I want to teach is because I want to be able to make a difference in the world we live in now and want to be able to help several generations to become more that they could ever hope to be. I am a first generation college student so education for me has always been an important subject.  Besides school, I am either working at McDonald's or at home with my huge family that always seems to keep me busy.

I have worked at McDonald’s since I was 17 and still in high school. I have stayed with this job because it is one of the few jobs that are willing to work with my college schedule and the management there has always been supportive.  I tried to find a better paying job at the beginning of my spring semester, however, there are not many other places that will work with my college schedule besides McDonald's where I live. My family consists of my 4 brothers and sisters and my awesome mom. My parents divorced when I was in middle school so I also have my dad. He eventually re-married and now I have two step sisters. When I finally have some down time (which isn't a lot) I will play video games or read. The reason I have created this blog is actually because of my chaotic lifestyle. I would like for more people to know about the struggle and journey that comes to being a full-time college student with a part-time (sometime full time) job along with helping with five other kids at home. I would like for more people to understand what it all that it to get to a college diploma.