Last week in GEN 2243, our class had the pleasure of hearing from Adam Taylor in a Google Hangout session. This high school science teacher created the website scistuchat.com where students can make connections between science and their world and interact with real scientists through twitter. Every second Thursday of every month student moderators from various high schools discuss and share information regarding a science related topic using the hashtag #SciStuChat. This was a great way to teach high school students how to connect with professionals using social media. The site includes a video on how to participate in these chats, as well as how to set up a professional twitter account. During our discussion with Adam he pointed out the importance of making connections on twitter rather than your amount of followers. This serves as a helpful tip to anyone looking to expand the quality of their personal learning network. He also recommends that we connect with professionals by making lists and sharing resources. A great discussion!
#SciStuChat
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In a heartfelt ted talk, blogger and author Neil Pasricha reveals the 3 secrets to leading a life that's truly awesome, which he refers to as the 3 A's. Neil was very open and honest with his experiences and has chosen to share his inspirational thoughts on how one should take on life positively. He reflects on Attitude, which he describes as making the decision to move forward despite pain that you may encounter. Awareness, he explained as embracing your inner 3 year old and remembering that you saw everything that you've seen for the first time once too. IF THAT MAKES ANY SENSE! The last A stands for Authenticity and he describes it as being YOU and being cool with that. When being authentic you end up following your heart and feeling fulfilled. His message was that there are so many things to be happy about including the opportunity to experience everything in life. Life is so great and we only have a short amount of time to enjoy it. Neil believes that with a great attitude, awareness, and authenticity you can live a life that is rich and fulfilling. This has been one of the most open and courageous ted talks I've seen and I applaud him.
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Chapter 3 of Untangling the Web discuss presentation tools that are an alternative to PowerPoint and veer away from the traditional presentation genre. He describes the effectiveness of a presentation that can stand on it's own using audio and live components rather than bullet points and a presenter. Once you identify the information you wish to share then consider the audience, you must decide your method of delivery. The author describe a few effective web tools. These include SlideShare, which converts your presentation for online viewing and allow you to share with professionals, Poll Everywhere, which is a response system that is intended to be used with mobile devices and is great for educators, Voicethread, which allows you to collaborate, share, and connect through audio and photos, and is highly intuitive to both teacher and students, and last but not least, Prezi. Prezi was the first site to actually break from the norm and demonstrate that a presentation could be more than a typical PowerPoint. 
Neil's comments about remembering how everything we're comfortable with was originally foreign to us is fantastic for motivation. No one's going to be proficient at something when they just start.
ReplyDeleteNice read.