It's been a little over a week since my 518 colleagues introduced me to these tools. I've been using some of them a lot (Wordle and Google Forms). For example, one of my classmates had to miss that particular class session, so I wrote up my notes and gave her specific directions on how to use Wordle. This forced me to think through what I had learned and how to teach it to someone else, a process that is always instructive! With regard to Google Forms, I found myself talking to friends throughout the week about how useful this tool can be. I made up several mock quizzes to show them how powerful this tool could be in a classroom context. I even created a survey using Google Forms for my work -- it looked very professional and was easy to edit. I'm sold!
At first glance, I wasn't drawn as much to Google Earth or mind mapping. In the case of the former, I have used that before and while it always evoked a "gee whiz" response, I'm not sure how to use it effectively in a classroom setting. I know that sounds STRANGE given that I'm planning to teach social studies, but ... My preliminary idea is to show it to students and let them show ME how it can be useful in their learning. With regard to mind mapping, I've always been a huge fan of graphic organizers (i.e., mind maps), but I'm not totally convinced that the technology version is preferable to the old-fashioned hand-drawn version. I think I may simply need to play around with the technology a bit more. For example, the technology version may be more effective if a great deal of text is involved because it's much easier for me to type than to hand write. This is definitely a tool I need to consider at greater length.
In reflection, that's the greatest value for me in learning about these tools. I don't have to use them, but I need to have them in my toolbox so I can use them for a particular "job" I need done!
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