In reviewing Google tools, I identified with Google Alerts most as it provided options that are both applicable in the classroom and in my personal life. The premise behind Google Alerts is that you can have newly posted information sent directly to your email or feed reader as it is posted online. The program focuses on news, web, blog, video, group and comprehensive (a collage of the items previously mentioned). Personally, I have set-up an account to post information regarding my community directly to my Google Reader account for easy access. I felt this was the better option as I can review the information much quicker than if I had to open up individual emails. From an educational perspective, it offers an avenue to stay abreast of current events that are occurring in the world around us and changes in our respective field of study. As with many programs, you set the parameters of what information you would like to receive, then the program performs a data mine to retrieve the information for you. This is a great time saver and further maximizes the efficiency of the teacher.
The other tool I reviewed was the Picassa Web Albums. Being a big fan of Google, I thought that this would be a good way to share photos with other family members which is something I had never done online. Setting up an account was very easy, but I ran into complications trying to figure out how to add photos. Apparently, you need to download the Picassa software package as well to utilize this program and I was a little aggravated that this was not denoted up front; I actually retrieved this information when I searched the help section. I did not like the fluidity of the program, perhaps it is due to my own inexperience with posting online photos, and I decided that I will not be utilizing this service. My initial plan was to utilize the program to house personal photos for our family to review, as well as student photos that their parents could access to see what is happening at school. Despite the challenges, I am still a Google fan, just not this program.
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