Rating tech tools

MOODLE

Moodle is learning platform designed for students, educators, and administrators and enables them to use technology in the classroom. It creates a personalized learning environment that is secure. I would give Moodle a 3 out of 5. A 3 because I feel it is very convenient as far as being able to turn in assignments online, it allows students to keep up with grades and upcoming lessons, and students are able to chat and have discussions as well.

FIREFOX

Firefox is just another web browser that is
similar to Google Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer. What makes it different is that it is said to be smaller, faster, and somewhat more secure. I would give Firefox a 4 out of 5. A 4 because this is the web browser I use mostly all the time and I agree that it is faster, especially with downloads.

GOOGLE APPS

Google apps serves as an alternative to a traditional office suite. It consists of Gmail, google docs, google calendar, and google talk. I would give Google Apps a 4 out of 5 because it is very beneficial, especially when you have classes that require a lot of documents. Another benefit is, for example, with group presentations, it allows for multiple people to edit one document. It is also very user friendly and easy to use.

LIVEBINDER

Live binder is a digital 3-ring binder that you can put anything into virtually. It organizes a variety of things such as PDF, documents, videos, images, and webpages. It is made to keep all necessary digital things that you need nicely kept and safe in one binder. I find this very convenient so I would give this technology tool a 5 out of 5.

WEEBLY

Weebly is a web-hosting blog service that uses a drag and drop as its main feature. Like any blog site it sparks creativity and allows you to make it unique. It is said that as of August 2012, Weebly hosts over 20 million sites within a monthly rate. I would give weebly a 4 out of 5 because I use it and enjoy it but it just takes a little getting used to in order to form familiarity with all the different way to post stuff.

PREZI

Prezi serves as an alternative for traditional presentation slides. This form of presenting ideas is far more different than Powerpoint, whereas powerpoint is more on the business side. Prezi allows you to make it fun and enjoyable and more importantly to make it your own. You start off with a large canvas, which can be a bit intimidating at first, but you can pan and zoom and place anything wherever you please. I would give prezi a 5 out of 5.

WIX

Wix is another blog website builder with a drag and drop platform. You are given free templates to choose from so the website is not fully created by yourself. I would give Wix a 3 out of 5 because it was a bit confusing figuring out what the icons meant and how to fully use the website. But overall, when you get use to it, it seems very useful and the presentation is nice as well.

TURNITIN

Turnitin is a website where you submit a written piece (research papers, outlines, etc.) and it checks for originality and plagiarism. I would give this tehnology tool a 5 out of 5 because it encourages best practices for citing other people’s written material. It also highlights and shows where improper citing has occurred and it also provides the site or book that it came from. This is useful for both students and educators.

Safety is Key

With technology quickly advancing and having it be easily accessible by people of all ages, I feel it is very important to inform kids/future students about safety issues involving internet usage, especially with the advancement in technology. Out of the five topics that were presented on, the phishing and pharming topic would not necessarily be needed in my field. But textual harassment and cyber bullying, on the other hand, would be stressed in my class and I would inform my students on this topic, mainly because it seems as if children are getting cellular devices and other technological devices at younger ages so it is critical to inform them on the right and wrong ways that it can be used. A program of Goodwill Community Foundation shares that, Many kids are confident that they know how to be safe online. However, there are a few reasons kids are often more at risk. They may not always think about the consequences of their actions, which can cause them to share too much information about themselves. Kids also are sometimes specifically targeted by cyberbullies or predators” (GCF, 2016).

My group presented on phishing and pharming. These two safety issues would probably be the least stressed in the field of elementary because of the ages being dealt with, but definitely will not be ignored because both phishing and pharming are both very dangerous ways one can get manipulated online. Per Christensson explains that, “Phishing and pharming are two different ways hackers attempt to manipulate users via the Internet. Phishing involves getting a user to enter personal information via a fake website. Pharming involves modifying DNS entries, which causes users to be directed to the wrong website when they visit a certain Web address” (Christensson, 2005). With that said, my group and I shared some tips in which one can decipher whether or not the online site is legitimate or not. We also shared that if whichever site is asking for too much personal information, it would just be best to not put it on, giving that the Internet is something very dangerous to play around with and information and travel so quickly. 

Therefore, I find it very crucial to instill online safety to children of all ages.

Overall, this presentation allowed me to attain better knowledge on phishing and pharming  and I will also consider using the information on the other topics that were discussed in my future classroom.