21ThingsBCK Thing 1 Reflection About Basics

Some of the shortcuts I use the most often are ctrl z for undoing something that had been deleted, ctrl s for saving, and ctrl a for selecting all the text on a particular page. I use these all the time when I edit written work. As I read through the forum about keyboard shortcuts, it reminds me that some other adults have no idea that there is a simpler way. It makes sense to teach some shortcuts first as people become more familiar with using technology.

During the summer of 2011, I began using delicious.com as a way to organize web pages for a careers class I taught.  It was great to organize around different “stacks” that students could access. During the summer of 2012, I was introduced to diigo through twitter. I love diigo even more because it allows me to annotate the web pages so I can remember what was so cool even after significant time has passed. I also like the feature of being able to highlight text and sort through my different tags to find relevant web pages that I can use with my students. I also use an integration between twitter and diigo to save my “favorite” posts from twitter to diigo so I can remember the pithy things people say.

This year I have improved my career class by using diigo with my students’ career projects. Some examples of the assignments and activities would be students bookmarking scholarship opportunities, college, career, and job search information. Diigo will be a great tool to improve their researching skills. Students in my careers group can look at what other students have bookmarked to see if what has been found already might be something they would want as well.

As I consider Marzano’s work, I think that this lesson on social bookmarking makes the best connection with cooperative learning. Those of us in this 21 Things course can share what we find with each other, thereby curating content so others don’t have to spend as much time searching for the elusive webpage or web activity to fill a certain need. With my students I hope they can use diigo to share information about colleges, scholarships, and careers that they find which will help each of them develop a college going attitude.

As I consider the NETS for teachers, I think the one that Thing 1 aligns well with is Standard 3: Model Digital Age Work and Learning. I am showing that I am technologically fluent and can transfer what I already know into a novel situation with a new technology. I am also modeling the emergent use of a tool like diigo to my students so that we can all be lifelong learners and sharers of learning. Locating, analyzing, and evaluating technology is so necessary if I am to use the technology in my classroom. I am doing that more and more each day as I work through these “things”.