In addressing this assignment, which was to assess 8 technology tools, I first had to create a rubric that each of the 8 was to be rated on. The rubric I created included three categories: user friendly, navigation, and variety of application. The scoring was as follows: 3 being the highest, 2 being the midpoint, and 1 being the lowest. As for the final total score, 8 - 9 would rate the highest, 6 - 7 mid range, and 5 below would be the lowest. The following paragraphs will present how I rated the 8 tech tools.
Firefox was not as user friendly as I thought it was when I explored it, even at its home. And although there were all sorts of features and icons, there was just too much text. I, as a user, would want to be able to just point and click on an icon instead of reading a whole bunch of info and instructions that would be too time consuming as well as uninteresting. As for a variety of applications, icons would have been nice on the first page, but there were none. I rated Firefox a total of 6 points which is good enough, although I really do not see myself in utilizing it very often.
The second tool I rated was the Moodle site. This is fine for the way the university uses it for certain classes, but it really would not be as useful for anything else. As for being user friendly, it rates a 2 with me because there are really no directions on how to use the site and an instructor's key is actually the only way (at least that I know of) to go in and view the classes or anything else. And navigation is awarded a 2 because although the navigation is simple to use, there really is not much to navigate to except what an instructor puts into their class pages. The category of variety of applications is very limited and so I gave it a 1. And it is for this reason that I won't use this tool very often and so the final score I gave it was a 5.
As for the Delicious tool, I rated it a 3 for being very user friendly. For navigation I gave it a 2 because although easy navigation is possible, there really is not a whole lot of different things to navigate to. But with this said, I have to say that this is a very good site in terms of research, especially because there are other peoples' bookmarks that can be added to one's own bookmarks. And this is crucial because there are tags and notes that others have already attached which saves time and effort in research. As far as applications, there are few but as I mentioned, they mainly involve adding resources and people, so I rated the tool a 6.
The Google applications have so far met my needs and automatically rate a 3 for all three categories. I have been introduced to many of these applications through my technology class with Dr. Cyrus. And although the applications were right there all the time I would never have known they existed, nor explored. Learning to use these tools has been a wonderful experience for me and of course will come in handy for future educational purposes, as a student and also as a secondary teacher.
Yahoo is another tool that I rated. And although I use it as my primary email, it is the only actual reason I use yahoo. Yes, it is user friendly and easy to navigate, and so it rates a 3 for both categories, but there are just so many ads. For applications I gave it a 2 because it did not have as many or as varied as google applications, as least that I could see. All in all, the final score for Yahoo is an 8, right after Google applications.
Slideshare is another technology tool that I and my group had the chance to experiment with for our game presentation. This tech tool made putting together a movie, a short video clip and a Microsoft word document, fairly easy. Adding audio is also an option but one that we could not figure out in the short time allotted. And now for rating the tool, I rated it a 2 for user friendly and a 3 for navigation. And lastly for application, I rated it a 2 for a total of 7 points. This is definitely a tool I could use for educational and/or personal purposes.
Apple applications is similar to google applications as far as variety, but specifically for Mac users. As I perused the apple.com page I came across the text to speech segment which my classmates and I were introduced to and practiced using. Also on this page were other assistive technology devices that would provide accessibility to students and persons, in general, with disabilities. I rated this tool a total of 7 points only because of the limitation for Mac users.
Tokbox was the next technological tool I rated. I gave it a 3 for the categories of user friendly and navigation. And for application variety I rated it a 1 because there was very limited applications available. But in terms of it being a great medium for students and teachers to introduce themselves, its great. With this tool the students can introduce themselves to their instructors and be comfortable without all the eyes of the classroom watching. And for the teachers, it is a great way to learn students' names and link a name with a face. This tool seemed pretty easy to use all around.
After rating these 8 technological tools in terms of user friendly, navigation, and variety of applications, Google applications rated the highest. Now that I have tried some of the other google applications such as google docs and spreadsheets, I know that I still have many other tools to add to my teacher toolbox. I also liked the other tools I rated but found that I would probably use them for certain things.
References:
Apple Applications
http://developer.apple.com/appleapplications/
http://developer.apple.com/appleapplications/
Delicious
http://delicious.com/
http://delicious.com/
Firefox
Moodle
Slideshare
http://www.slideshare.net/
http://www.slideshare.net/
Tokbox
http://www.tokbox.com/
http://www.tokbox.com/
Yahoo
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ReplyDeleteThis is too difficult to read. Use some formatting tools and re-submit the URL.
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ReplyDeleteThis revision allows for easy reading. Now, you need to work on APA format for your reference.
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