Filling Your Toolbox (u03a1)

I have always been fascinated by the short url’s I’ve seen online, but figured it was probably a little tricky to make those. I was shocked at how easy it was when we had to try it this week. I’m investigative and decided to try all 4 of the sites given. Each shortened url links you back to my classroom website (which is in desperate need of updating https://www.dallastown.net/Page/2817).

The first one I tried was using goo.gl. (http://goo.gl/TNLFs ) I logged in with my gMail credentials, but didn’t notice any special custom features to personalize the link. Yes, it is easy to share, but it doesn’t have any sort of relevancy or significance to share. I then decided I would try using tinyurl.com.  (http://tinyurl.com/orevalley201)  I appreciated that you were able to try a custom URL from the beginning and it gave you tips as to how to increase the likelihood that it could happen for you. Next, I shortened my class website using bit.ly. (http://bit.ly/16wl1Cx) I didn’t choose to log-in because I knew it wasn’t a service I’d use often. I didn’t want another username and password just floating out in cyberspace. Finally, I gave one last attempt using ow.ly. (http://ow.ly/mTblW) I noticed that you could sign into ow.ly through your Twitter account, which makes sense because I often see tiny url’s from ow.ly on Twitter. I tried doing this through both my Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers, but neither would let me. I’m not sure if it’s just a glitch when I was trying or what, but I’d love to see the features it offers!

To say I was excited to learn this would be an understatement because I showed 2 friends right away! I like the ease of use from each site and the shortness of the url’s, but I was kind of disappointed that I couldn’t personalize any of them more. If I were to use this type of tool again, and I definitely will be in the fall, I think I would go with tinyurl.com because of its ability to personalize!

After learning to use shortened url’s, it was time to jump into the world of making QR codes. I have just jumped into the iPhone realm about a month ago so I was really excited to learn about QR codes this week. I found delivr.com EXTREMELY user friendly. I chose to link back to the Myrtle Beach website because I am vacationing there this week. The QR code was made instantly, and I liked the fact that I could save it as a JPG file to keep. In fact, I was really taken back because it was THAT easy! I downloaded a QR reader app and was so excited that my experiment worked! Below is my QR code that I created.

 When I was thinking about how I might use QR codes, I thought that it might be helpful to create a QR code that’s linked to our class website. Parents would be able to scan and save it during orientation, which could be helpful! As far as students are concerned, I’ve enjoyed reading a variety of blogs as to how teachers are using QR codes with their elementary students. I’m thinking that using them during a literacy center would be kind of fun for the kids. I envision one of my iPad users to scan a QR code, read the job I give them, and create a Screen Chomp for me to complete the center. We’ll see how that pans out! I’m always so ambitious and overly zealous in the summer and the reality of time and practicality usually hits the last week of August!

The final technological exploration for this assignment was to start using Bookmarklets. In the past, I’d always used Internet Explorer and was against having a toolbar installed. Recently, I’ve started using Firefox as my browser, and I am enjoying it much better. This week, I discovered the relevancy of using bookmarklets.

I was instantly drawn to the idea of quietube.com because of its possibilities in the classroom. As we discussed earlier in this course, there are great advantages to using YouTube with students, but the ads and related videos often make teachers uncomfortable. Using Quietube, you area able to see the video, but it puts it onto a blank white or black screen. This is beneficial for instant use and if you don’t need to save the video. Below I’ve included a screen shot of using Quietube. I really liked it, but was annoyed that there were still small “related content” ads within the bottom corner of the video and a banner ad along the bottom. I did this with several videos, and they all had bottom banner ads. I would be very interested in knowing if it’s possible that those go away other than just viewing the video in full-screen.

The final bookmarklet I chose to add was the one for Pinterest. I use the site often, and am not quite sure why I never installed it. The only thing I can think of is that I thought it was not worth it. I typically have only re-pinned on Pinterest, but if I use it as a legitimate curation site, the bookmarklet will be very beneficial. It might be too dangerous that I have Pinterest at my fingertips at all times!

These were very fun assignments to complete, and I definitely feel like my toolbox is getting more full, but not yet overcrowded or drowning in so many tools that I can’t find any to use!