Ready...Set...Go!

         This is my first blogging experience and I am really excited about it! I am a first year Education student and I created this blog for a course that I am currently taking at Brandon University called "Using ICT in Education". During this time, I will be posting videos, photos and talking about new ways to enhance learning in the classroom using technology. This week was the first week and introduction to the course. We were given different websites that as teachers, can use to integrate technology into the classroom and into our own lives. Sites that can help keep our ideas organized, such as videos (Youtube Channel), photos (Pinterest) and much more!
          I have always been intrigued by technology and how fast it is advancing. Looking back, having a phone that sends a picture or a computer that doesn't take forever to load was exciting! Now, I am looking forward to be able to learn new ideas and bring some information from this ICT course into my future classroom.
          I am a big fan of keeping things organized and recently, our professors suggested we sign up for Symbaloo. This is a great way to keep different websites stored in one area. The first thing that popped into my mind was that kids can easily find a website or game that is school friendly without having to search the internet consecutively to get a cool game. This site allows me to be able to keep track of websites I need for lesson plans as well as games or sites kids might enjoy. I can just see myself keeping it open on my desktop and going through it when I need to!
         Something that I would like to look into more is a 'cloud' storage so that I don't have to bring my computer wherever I may be. Dropbox is a sight you can use to store and find any document you have saved. It is easily accessed through a device or computer  online. There were a lot of great ideas rather than using bookmarks on a computer. Pinterest is a great way to share and find new ideas for lesson plans but it won't keep all types of videos and documents like Diigo can. Diigo is also a storage website where you can share and save ideas and information on a certain topic. Something similar to Pinterest was Pearltree- which is a very cool site visually. Same idea as Pinterest, but I like the fact that you can see a web of your ideas and share among those who follow you and vice versa.
         So far it has been a great start to class. I have only shared a few ideas that we have learned so far and which ones make it easier to communicate between teachers and students.  I'm looking forward to what is in store and getting new ideas for future reference!
         - C