Weekly Report and Reflection #12

Hello Everyone,

I am sorry that this blog post is a little late, but I cannot wait to share my final thoughts about being a digital citizen with all of you! 

Before writing this post, I was asked to google myself to see what I would find, which I found to be quite interesting. As most of my accounts online are private or under slightly different names, I could not find myself easily, which I prefer. However, that being said, I have learned a lot about the importance of having a positive digital footprint. Everyone should make a conscious effort to ensure that they are not on bad sites for the safety of themselves as online users, but also to make sure that you are not tainting your image with what you are looking at. I think connections can definitely be made between your digital footprint and your learning online. If you have a more positive footprint, I believe you will be a better digital citizen and have better etiquette online, rather than someone with a negative footprint. 

Parent Paperwork. (CC) 2016.

By having a more positive footprint and being a better online citizen, I think it makes you a better person to interact with online. As people who have more negative footprints do not care about their online tracks, they can be in areas online that are dangerous, dealing with less etiquette than positive footprint users frequent. I think by respecting people online and ensuring that you do not take credit for other people's work allows for a positive atmosphere among digital users. It is also important to treat people how you would like to be treated, reporting other people who are not being friendly online users. This will help to maintain a better atmosphere where other people can feel safer perusing the internet. An example of reporting online users could be found on Twitter or Youtube where you are able to mute or report people who are being rude online. This also allows for people to feel that they have more control over what is happening in their surroundings, while teaching other people that they cannot just say whatever comes to mind. 

As a digital citizen, I think it is important to correct people online when they are getting too rude, while also ensuring that you are not getting yourself riled and giving people what they want. The best way to help others is to lead by example or perhaps creating a blog that I can stress the importance of being a good digital citizen. I think the most important take away from being a good digital citizen using your digital platform to educate others. 

It has been awesome writing this blog for you and I may write again in the future, but for now, I will continue to grow my digital literacy and increase my footprint.

Until we meet again,

Nicole

Weekly Report and Reflection #11

Hello Everybody!

Can you all believe that this is my 11th blog talking to you guys about my experiences with a variety of technology? This will be the second last blog from me, where I will be talking about my experiences exploring tools such as SoundCloud and RecordMP3.

Wikipedia. (CC) 2016.

For this week in particular, we were looking into the world of webcasting and the different types of tools that can be implemented for this venture. I learned that creating a podcast is both deceivingly easy and difficult all at once.  As I was navigating around SoundCloud, I found that creating a membership was incredibly easy, and the site to be straightforward. I easily could find the steps on how to start recording and how to redo my attempts. However, I became frustrated while I was using the tool, as one of my attempts became unusable after I tried to 'rewind' it too many times, resulting in an annoying static sound and another clip got lost after I mistakenly clicked the wrong button. Both of these situations could very well be my inability to work a computer properly, but I would like to believe it was SoundCloud. I also explored RecordMP3, where I found it was very similar to SoundCloud and quite easy to follow. However, as I tried to create a clip, the tool would not pick up my voice.

I can see both tools being very useful in educational activities, even implementing either tool into projects. I think they would be a great starting place for children who are wary of public speaking and children who excel at it. I also think it is valuable to have more people speaking out about topics , which could include school projects, allowing for other people to hear from the perspective of another age group. I also think these tools are excellent, as it allows the listener to connect more with the speaker and really listen to what they are saying. I would definitely include this in my PLE under my education blurb. However, I would have to ensure that when listening to other people who have implemented these tools, I look out for the citations to determine if the facts are true.

After reading Andrea's post this week, I liked how she related these tools to VoiceThread, as I never made the connection myself. It is interesting to see that although the tools are similar because the main selling point is the use of your voice, I never saw them as being similar. This may be because I prefer to type, where VoiceThread gave me that option, as SoundCloud did not. I also liked her idea of multimedia with incorporating these types of tools in blogs, to give your words a literal voice. I also found it interesting how Andrea and Tyra  spoke about enunciation and interviews in relation to tools such as SoundCloud. I did find that I had to speak more clear, but unlike the ladies mentioned, found it to be bothersome because once I started to script out my speech, I started to sound robotic and flustered. However, I do see how these tools would be excellent to use in practicing for future interviews.

Wikipedia. (CC) 2016.

This week, I found an article from Feedly that ties into the digital aspect of the course and the school year drawing to a close. Nielsen's blog post focuses on the use of LinkedIn and the important role it plays in career readiness. If this topic intrigues you, please check out Nielsen's blog!

Until next time!
Nicole

Weekly Report and Reflection #10

Hello Again!

This is a two-part blog post, so I want to give you a reflection of everything that I learned from Animoto and my thoughts about my continuation as a Digital Learner!

As I mentioned in my latest post about Animoto, I had a good time using it, but I never went into the problems that I had with that tool. While using Animoto, I found that I would become stressed with the tool because it was lacking a lot of the features that should have been customizable. The text was something that I had the most problems with because it was very inflexible and did not allow for creativity to be expressed. As you must pick your design before you create the slideshow, you virtually have no control over the font, size or colour of what you want to write, On top of that, you also can only fit in a certain amount of words into your slideshow, which I found to be highly inconvenient, causing me not being able to get my point across. I was able to see how Animoto would be convenient because it walks you through the instructions on how to use it and the format is quite easy to follow, but I would still prefer to use Word's Slideshow.

Prezi. (CC). 2016.

I do believe that someone would be able to use Animoto in an educational context, yet I think Prezi would be more useful. I have found that navigating Prezi is much easier, plus I have had professors who have told me that they prefer Prezi. It is for that reason that I would choose not to include Animoto into my PLE.

With that being said, I did learn more about being a digital learner this week because of Animoto. I learned the importance of respecting copyrighted work, as well as coming to the realization of how many images are under copyright online. Smart Copying talks about the importance of understanding what copyright is and you should definitely take a look at their site if you have any lingering questions!

Wikipedia. (CC). 2016.

This week in my Feedly, I found an article from Michael Geist that relates to the constant battle that the Copyright Board fights with the Education Board. I found this article to be very interesting because I noticed that professors were becoming more wary about the content that they were allowed to scan onto the computer. If you want to see the progress the two Boards made, you should check out his blog!



Until next time,
Nicole

Weekly Report and Reflection #9

Hi Again! (x2)

As you may have noticed, this is my third post this week, as I have been doing many different things this week to talk about digital citizenship. I am aware that I have already given my opinion on VoiceThread, but I will touch upon this tool again for my weekly reflection. 

VoiceThread. (CC) 2014.

As I have previously mentioned, although I do see how VoiceThread can be useful, I do not personally think I will be implementing this tool in the future. My favourite part of this tool is the fact that I can hear the voices of the people leaving comments on this site. I listed this reason because you are able to actually hear another person talk about their opinions on the topic that you have clicked, which can help you establish a sort of intimacy with another user. This can also help to ensure that there is not a misunderstanding between what a person is saying because you are able to actually hear them (something that is a problem if you are just reading a comment). However, as I thought about this more, I realized that because there still is an option to just type out your comments, the possibility of misunderstanding is still there. I also thought about how this site may not be the most useful for people who are deaf or hard of hearing because they would be missing out on the voice comments. 

That being said, I still would not know how I would incorporate this site into my life as a student and for that reason, I would not include it in my PLE. I could understand why someone would want to implement this tool into their PLE, although I have no idea how they would do so. I feel that I would prefer to just find a blog and provide a written comment, that I would have to ensure makes my point clearly. 

Polldaddy. (CC) 2016.

Another site that I looked into was PollDaddy, which I thought was interesting. I like the idea that you can create your own polls, surveys, and quizzes. I find that this would be more useful than VoiceThread, as I could see how I could put this tool into action. I would recommend PollDaddy to psychology students, as it has been in those classes that I have had to create polls for. However, as I am not a Psychology student, I would also leave this site out of my PLE because I would not need it. 

I decided to read other classmates' blogs about VoiceThread to see if they shared my opinion of the site and found that Andrea had brought up an interesting way in which it could be used in the future. I was pleased to see that Andrea would not implement it currently, which made me feel slightly relieved that I was not missing out on a great way to use the tool. I highly suggest going over to her blog and seeing her perspective!

From this weeks Feedly, I found Richard Byrne posted about three updates that Google Docs has done this week. Although this does not relate to this week specifically, I have written about Google Docs! These updates will definitely make you a more efficient digital user and encourage you to use Google Docs more. One update in particular could be useful to teachers, in allowing people to export the docs to an EPUB format. If you are interested, please read more at Byrne's blog!

Until next week!

Nicole

Technology Use Scenario #1

TeachThought. (CC) 2016.

Scenario: Sean decides to create a website that is a parody of his school's website. Sean uses the same website style as the school, but makes up stories and misinformation about the school, such as features about weekend drinking parties. Because he is in the class that makes changes to the real website, he is able to direct people to his website instead of the real one. The principal, Ms. Martinez, finds out about the change when an angry parent calls to complain about a story on the website mentioning her daughter. Ms. Martinez contacts the school technology- support person, Mr. Jones, and requests that he remove the parody site. She also asks Mr. Jones to find out who is responsible. 

It is quite evident upon reading the first sentence, that Sean is not being appropriate. To be a digital citizen, it is important to keep your digital footprint as clean as possible, which is something that Sean is not keeping in mind. It is also important as a online user to be respectful of others, just because you are typing from behind a screen, that does not mean your words are not effecting someone else. Sean has conducted wrongful behaviour by creating a parody that is misleading others, posting false, offensive and hurtful content, spreading awareness to the site and by using the class meant to promote his school in negative ways. TeachThought blog talks about 20 rules to abide by to be a good digital citizen. Sean has failed to consider his digital footprint, has not considered the people that he may be hurting in creating his parody site and has made his site personal by attacking people and his school. On top of that, he did not properly think out the consequences of his actions to not only himself, but the people he has written about. Sean should have first thought out how he would feel if someone were writing untrue words about him and what would happen to him as a student if he went through with his idea. That alone should have prevented him from creating this site, as I think none of this should have ever happened if he properly thought out the repercussions. 

I want to know if you have any ideas of what Sean should have done differently or if you agree with me that there was not one thing that Sean had done right. He was committing identity theft in stealing an institutions identity, slandering their reputation. I would also like to know how you think Ms. Martinez should punish him and if there are any ways to avoid this situation in the future.

 

Reflection #8 - Wikipedia

Hello Everyone!

I am back again this week to talk to you about a topic that I am quite familiar with. This site is one that I have been prone to peruse from time to time, but have also had experience creating pages. Of course, if you read the title of this blog, you would see that the topic this week is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an interesting site because you can create your own page about anything you would like for the public to see. This tool also allows you to easily add pictures and references, while integrating a coding component, which is fantastic for tech savvy individuals. Unfortunately, as I have mentioned many times, tech savvy are two words that are not associated with me.

Wikipedia. (CC) 2016.

I have created two separate Wikipedia pages within the span of a year and found that I absolutely hated my experience. Both of these projects did happen to be group projects, but it was not my partners that made my experience so awful. Although I do see how Wikipedia can be useful, I was always taught that it was not a reliable site because anyone can create a Wiki page. I understand that you can virtually find any topic and can incorporate various components such as images with a variety of texts, while being able to have multiple people input data at once. However, it was the coding aspect which I absolutely despised. As coding is very sensitive, if you are off by one slash or character, you cannot complete the function you were trying to accomplish. There are various errors that you can encounter while coding and you may not know how to fix them, which makes working with Wikipedia incredibly frustrating for me. I very much prefer Google Docs, both when working solo or with groups because I find it to be more straightforward and it is easier to understand.

Wikispaces. (CC) 2016.

I think that Wikipedia could be a great tool to gather information for a project, but I also do not like how anyone can create a page. I think this makes the pages suspect, as you do not know how accurate some of the information is. I also would not recommend creating Wikipedia pages as a project because I do not think it is fair to mark someone on designing and coding, if that is not their forte. I could understand if the class was specifically aimed at coding or websites, but I think it is unfair for a class that does not involve either. I do see the importance of becoming more tech savvy, but as my experiences with Wikipedia have been awful, I would prefer to learn in other ways.

To end this week's blog, I wanted to share Lisa Nielsen's article this week called Don't Waste Student's Time with Note Taking. Something Better. I felt this was a relevant article as a fourth year student, that tackles the issue regarding student note taking. The article stresses the importance of children being supplied the notes prior to class, so they are better able to focus on what the teacher is saying to create meaningful connections. If you are interested in this point of view, feel free to check out her article!

Until next time,
Nicole

Reflection #7 - Google Docs

Hello Again!

You know what time of the week this is! I am back to write on another technological tool and discuss what I liked or disliked about it! For this week, Google Docs was the assigned tool, which I was immediately pleased with.

Spanning.  (CC)  2016.

Now I should probably explain why I was so happy with the chosen resource. The truth is, I first discovered Google Docs and Slides last year when I had a group project with four other people. If you have ever been in a group consisting of five members, you know that it is often very hard to be able to meet with all members of your group due to everyone having different schedules. However, one of my group mates introduced us all to Google Docs and Google Slides and my life was forever changed as a student.

This tool is so great for collaboration because it allows for people to work simultaneously or independently on projects, where anyone is able to edit anyone else's work. This is great for a student in a group, who has a tight schedule, as they could input all of their data into the document and help edit when they have time. This also allows for people to see everyone else's progress in the group, which could lead to less stress (or more stress if your group members are not doing their work). I have found that Google Docs is great for group essays, which I have done recently. I especially encourage using Google Docs because each group member can post what sources they will be working with to ensure that no one is using the same source twice.

I also have used Google Docs academically for note taking during class, as there are many functions that allow me to organize my notes. I especially like the various highlighter colours and fonts that can be used. I also found that because Google Docs automatically saves what you are typing, I do not have to worry about losing the information that I have typed. I also think the ability to easily insert pictures is another awesome tool because you do not need to have the picture saved, but can simply use the URL.

Since discovering Google Docs, I have also used it when completing statistics assignments because of the quick save feature and the table insertion. As Word also allows people to insert tables, I found that Google Docs is much more easy to navigate and that adding tables is faster. I have also used Google Docs at work in the summer, as I had to keep a daily journal of the amount of people that I called with notes and found that it was extremely efficient in a Google document.

In regards to my PLE, I had already included Google Docs under my two categories of Education and Communication. I will keep it in this position as it is a tool that benefits both of these areas. As I was already aware of Google Docs and Slides, I did not think it made that much of a difference on my digital literacy. However, as I did play around with more of the functions, I did become more knowledgeable, thus improving my digital literacy!

Blogspot. (CC) 2016.

To end my post for this week, I wanted to share an app that I found from my Feedly. Hack College reviews the app ColorNote, which is an app that is synched up to your phone and Google account, that helps you to stay organized. It helps to keep you aware of checklists using colour coordination, that I think could be incredibily helpful for a student! If you are interested, you should check out their review!



As always, until next time!
Nicole

Reflection #6 - Evernote

Hello Again!

I was off for a week enjoying some time to myself, but I am now back and ready to blog! This week, my class had to focus on the tool Evernote and use this site to help us get ready for one of our upcoming assignments. While working with Evernote, I found that I had many mixed reviews about the site personally. I do not know if I have mentioned this prior, but I am not a tech savvy person, although I can easily maneuver the web tools that I am accustomed to (after a VERY long trial period). So my first experience with Evernote happened to be today, which I found to be an infuriating struggle. I did find that the actual set-up process was quite easy to figure out, which I enjoyed, yet I found the clipart attachment was bothersome to download as it took some time. That being said, I found that the clipart tool was extremely handy, as it is easily accessible. Another pro was that the tool allows you to clip anything you want back to Evernote, including images, videos and various text. I also really liked how it gives you the option on whether you want to only take a portion of the text, everything or just include the link. Another benefit I found was that it is extremely organized. Evernote allows you to create your own different types of notebooks, so when you are clipping from a website, you can put that information into whatever notebook that you want to. Due to its ability to easily organize, I can understand how this would be a great tool to compile sites and information for a project. Although I did initially dislike Evernote because it was like nothing I have ever navigated before, I did find that once I knew what was going on, I could easily figure it out.

http://mergy.org/wp-content/uploads/evernote.png

In a sense, Evernote reminded me of an RSS Feed that you are personally creating, that you can later look at everything that you have assigned. Due to the share feature on Evernote, you could also share your notebooks with partners if need be. However, a downside of Evernote is that you are the only person who is able to edit your notes, so if you did have a partner, they would be privy to your information, but ultimately powerless. If I am honestly speaking (or writing), I could see the benefit of using Evernote in a group, but would prefer to use Google Docs myself because of the ability to edit others work.

I will definitely be adding Evernote to my PLE despite the mixed reviews that I have given the tool throughout the entire blog. I do see how someone could thrive using this tool and I could put it under Education, as I would personally not use it for any other reason.

http://alumni.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/image/mosquitoZIKA.jpg

Another topic I would like to discuss with you all today is something I found via Feedly! The article is called Canadian Mosquito Tests For Zika Virus Transmission Begins. Within the article, you discover that Brock University is testing for the Zika Virus in Canada to discover if our mosquitoes can carry the virus, which is extremely important to us as Canadians. Without my Feedly, I may not have noticed this article and would not have even thought about the potential that our mosquitoes could start infecting us too.

Until next time!
Nicole

Weekly Report & Reflection #5

This week, I found our topic to be especially exciting because we had to work with Twitter!

http://cdn.dexmedia.com/media/twitter-hashtag.jpg

Twitter is a social media that I have brought up in my blogs before this week, so I was excited that I would be expanding my PLE with an educational twitter account. As I have mentioned previously, I really enjoy Twitter because it allows you to filter using hashtags and follow people or accounts that interest you. It is very similar to my Feedly in that way, as I could also decide to put notifications on certain accounts in case I do not want to miss any of their tweets. 

As I mentioned before, I had a Twitter account prior to this class, which I used mostly for entertainment purposes. If you look back at my week 2 for my PLE, I had connected Twitter to two of my main categories of Communication and Connection via Social Media. However, with the inclusion of my educational account, Twitter may also fit below Education. As I do not think I will be able to connect Twitter to three different components in my PLE, I will distinguish between my main and educational account as they serve two different purposes.

https://mobilescience10.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/twitter-for-education.jpg

Before this class, I had never though of Twitter as an educational tool because that is never how I used it in the past. On my main account, I use Twitter to interact with my friends and tell jokes about my life and the people around me. It had never occurred to me that Twitter could have an educational side, which I realize now, was not correct to assume. Looking at the features on Twitter, I could see how it is a great educational platform and how it has been used like that in the past for movements such as #BlackLivesMatter. By implementing a maximum 140 characters count, it allows for people to be concise and get to the point of the issue at hand. It also allows for you to constantly be updated about issues surrounding you, where you can easily check your phone.

As always, I have "mastered" one more media site, allowing me to become more tech savvy and add to my PLE. I cannot wait for next week!

Until next time!

Weekly Report & Reflection Blog Post #4

This week, our topic revolved around curation on the web! I found this topic to be interesting, as it is not something I actively think of, yet I find that I am drawn to quite easily. For those of you who are unaware of what curating means, Whatis  describes content curation as the "gathering, organizing and online presentation" of topics with a similar theme.  Creators seem to have a problem with curators for their lack of originality, but I would argue that not everyone can be a creator and curators make my life much easier. 

Part of this week's journey, I had to use bookmarking tools, which I had used in the past. I have found that this tool is very helpful in short term situations, but that if you need to remember multiple sites, it can become cluttered- which is something I do not like. I find that bookmarking does make my time on the internet much more efficient, instead of just remembering all of the tabs yourself. I find bookmarking the most useful in regards to academic journals that I want to include in some of my papers, which can easily get mixed up with other journals, so by bookmarking, it helps me keep track of everything.

http://www.bloggersideas.com/new-best-high-pr-do-follow-social-bookmarking-sites/

I also enjoyed looking at curation tools this week such as Google Alerts, which was very easy to navigate as I already have a Gmail address. I found what was best about these types of tools is that it reduces the amount of time that I would spend looking for a topic because the tool naturally does that for me. It reminds me of Pinterest, as I only need to let the tool know the topics that I need more knowledge on and it brings the topics to me. This is very useful for a university student who needs more information about a topic that she is studying or even about what is going on at her school or in her hometown. 

http://s40.photobucket.com/user/coolcatteacher/media/digitalcitizenship.jpg.html

As each week goes by, I am learning more about being a digital citizen because I am being exposed to so many new components of the internet that I never knew existed. I believe that I am becoming more digitally literate, especially in regards to the curation tools, which is beyond helpful as we are in a digital era. I know that my knowledge as a digital citizen will only continue to grow as the weeks pass in this course.

Until next time! 

Blog Post 3: RSS Feeds

Hello Again!

After utilizing the RSS Feed throughout the week, I found that it was quite interesting, but I also did not like that I had to address all of the articles that I had missed. One of my favourite parts of the RSS Feed is having CP24 News on my RSS Feed. I like to stay updated on what is happening locally in Canada and found that by implementing CP24 into my feed, I was able to stay connected. Also, as I previously discussed, Brock News was very helpful in allowing me to see what is happening on campus. I felt that both of these sources helped my learning not in a conventional setting as a student, but to educate me on what is happening around me. I think it is extremely important to know what other students are thinking and what Brock is planning on doing, as well as being informed of what Canada is doing politically or main issues that can be talked about in class.

I think it is obvious that RSS Feeds contribute greatly to building knowledge about digital literacy, responsibility and citizenship. As I have already discussed, both the sites mentioned above keep me in touch with my surroundings through a digital context. Without RSS Feeds, I would miss a lot of what is being offered by the web. I feel that RSS Feeds allow you to take responsibility for yourself to ensure that you stay educated and continue to learn about important factors that affect your life. By implementing a digital tool, you are also becoming more tech savvy and can improve your digital footprint (or at least be more aware of it, through a RSS Feed). In regards to citizenship, it makes you an active user of the internet and for your country, if you are looking into the right channels and becoming more educated about your country.

http://cdn.agilitycms.com/hockey-canada/Stock/640x360/Misc/rss_640.jpg

Most of the tools that I have set up in my RSS Feed would fall underneath Connection Via Social Media or Education in my PLE. I find that both Brock News and CP24 would both be categorized underneath Education, but could also fall under Connection. This also relates to the Blog posts that I follow, as I am becoming educated by what they are saying and they deal with the education system- but, I am still being connected to these people via media. However, I think that sites that fall under multiple categories in a PLE are more valuable because they can benefit you in more ways than something that falls under only one category.

I will continue to add to my RSS feed to improve my digital knowledge and expand my PLE. Talk to you next week!

My Experience With RSS Feeds

Prior to the requirement for this class, I had never known what an RSS Feed was. As the sites that I frequent the most tend to be Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and CP24, I had never needed to use an RSS Feed. It should also be mentioned that sites like Youtube and Twitter have their own version of a RSS Feed, if you are subscribed to them, allowing you to know which people’s videos that you have missed when you were not on the computer.

https://blog.vanillaforums.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/rss-feed-subscribe.jpg

So, what is an RSS Feed? According to ProBlogger, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, which is often related to a newsfeed. This ties into what I have already previously discussed with the similarities found with people who are subscribed to Youtube. RSS Feeds are commonly used by various people who frequent multiple different sites. By having an RSS Feed, it allows for people to ensure that they will not miss a posting from their favourite blog, news station or website. CommonCraft helps to explain RSS Feeds by highlighting the difference it can make to your website perusing. Instead of the user actively going to all of their usual sites to see if anything new is available, the RSS Feed sends the available reading material to the reader via a notification. Whether that user chooses to then read that material is up to them. 

One site that I thought would be the most useful is Brock News. The article that will pop up upon clicking the link deals with the bus transit in St. Catharines and the opinions of the students who need this transit. I think not only this article, but following Brock News is very important. As I am a student of Brock University, I feel that it is extremely vital to know what is going on with my school and factors that would affect me.  I find that having this site in my RSS Feed will allow me to stay connected to the school and allow me to take more of an active role in the school community. 

I will continue to use it throughout the year and keep you all updated! 

Blog Post 2: Personal Learning Environments

Hello Again!

For this post, I wanted to talk about a variety of subjects including Personal Learning Environments (PLE). Until today, I had never heard of PLE's, so as to be expected, I did not know what it was. Digital Study Skills describes Personal Learning Environments as your own digital toolbox, showcasing how you organize, communicate and generate content online. They are created by you and for you, which each PLE unique to each person. I did not think much of creating one myself, but as I was undergoing the task, I found that it made me realize how much I do rely on technology. I find that PLE's are extremely helpful for people to not only be aware of the technology that they are using, but how they could increase productivity in certain departments.

Moretti, N. (CC) 2016.

By looking at my PLE above, I noticed that my organization did not have as many bubbles stemming from it, as my other categories. As I continued to think about this, I also realized that I am often not an organized person and could benefit from implementing more tools that would help me stay organized. As I have stated in my introductory post, I am striving on becoming a teacher for primary/junior children, so hopefully that is where I will be in 5-10 years. However, as I am quite disorganized, becoming organized is something I wish to change and have resolved for this time. I also want my PLE to change to include the school board I will be working for (with a new email) and the new sources I will be utilizing as a teacher.

I am aware that the job market for teachers right now is less than ideal, so I am aware that my location may change. However, I know that I will need to be somewhere with great internet connection, quiet for when I need to study (as I still have two and a half years of school if I include teacher's college) and an area where I can be social. As communication is a very important factor of everyday life, I feel it is something that can be constantly improved and can be by your environment. I find that social media such as Twitter and Facebook actually stimulate me and allow me to communicate long distance. Another habit I must acquire is punctuality and not procrastinating with everything! This however can be helped with calendars and setting timers earlier than necessary to ensure I am aware of when I need to leave.

Moretti, N. (CC) 2016.

After creating my word cloud, I found that I was very proud of myself. I felt that the words that I could easily pick out of the hand print directly related to what I wanted to get across from last weeks post. I also enjoyed using Tagul's tool because I find it is a different way to get a message across creatively to a lot of different people!

For the future, I will definitely be utilizing Tagul and I think you should try experimenting with it too! It's creative and is not hard to do at all! 

Until next time!

Blog Post 1: My Digital Footprint

Digital Footprints are something that essentially everyone has with the younger generation having a larger "footprint" than the older generations. Digital footprints pertain to your online path and the various media sources that can all be tracked back to you. If you look at everyone's footprint, you would see that it creates a different digital identity per person, allowing you to understand various things about them including their interests, thoughts, and even possible future actions.

With this being said, it should be expected that digital footprints can have both a positive or negative impact on someone's life. A positive digital footprint can be used as an example for people to find jobs online, find opportunities to volunteer, or even chat groups. By having specified chat groups, they can be used to help people struggling with a problem and get on the right track, such as Alcoholics Anonymous. I found that especially in this generation, youth have taken action via various types of media to fight for what they believe in. I found that this is commonly seen over Twitter with issues such as #BlackLivesMatter or with Facebook and the petitions that are commonly seen to stop Animal Abuse.

However, as I mentioned, negative digital footprints do exist and can be quite harmful to your future. It is imperative that you do not post anything on any media that you would not want your family or future employer to see. If you do need a place to vent, such as a blog, anonymity can be a good solution, however it does not guarantee that someone will not find it. Privacy settings are also important for media such as Facebook and Twitter because it allows you to control who views your profile.  Another preventative measure would be to not go onto sites or participate in things online that you know you should not. If you know that what you are looking at is wrong, then do not do it.

Virginia Shea (2011) discusses the term Netiquette and its importance on the web. Netiquette includes ten rules that everyone should follow while they are online to be polite, exactly like etiquette in reality. If a person were to follow all the rules, the chances of that person having a good digital footprint is very high. I especially think that Rule 10 - to be forgiving of other people's mistakes, is a rule that often is not followed and one of the most important as we are all human. That being said, I found that I do not always have perfect Netiquette and the rules reminded me of the importance of maintaining civility over the internet. I need to work on not fighting with others online, even if they are being rude because I am just giving them what they want.

Are there any rules that you need to brush up on yourself? You should take a look and ensure that you maintain a positive digital footprint too!

All About Me!

Hello Everyone! 

Let me start this blog off by giving you a proper introduction to who I am and why I have started this blog.

 My name is Nicole Moretti and this is my fourth year studying at Brock University. I am majoring in Child and Youth Studies with a minor in English. Once I have completed this final year, I am looking into going to teachers college and pursuing my dream of becoming a teacher! If you have not guessed yet, I love working and spending time with children. This is probably due to the fact that I have a large family with many younger cousins, which I often had to babysit for.

I was originally born in St. Catharines, but moved away at a young age. I ended up choosing Brock University to go to school because the program is excellent and my family still lives down here. I also volunteer in classrooms both in St. Catharines and my hometown, yet I work with different age groups. As I am looking to be a primary/junior teacher, I need experience with both age groups, yet I have not decided which group I prefer because they are both great in different ways. In Newmarket, I volunteer in a Grade 4/5 split class, which can be very rewarding because the children can better understand what is being taught. They are also much more vocal, which is both a good and bad thing. It is great because they let you know when they do or do not comprehend a lesson, yet they are at the age where I find that they can act out more.

In St. Catharines, I volunteer with a Junior Kindergarden and Senior Kindergarden split class. These days are long and tiring because the children do not have a set plan and have so much energy. However, the children are very appreciative and affectionate, which is rewarding in and of itself. I also find that helping teach children how to count, spell their names, and learn their alphabet is incredibly satisfying because these are basic foundations of education that they will be using for the rest of their lives. Plus, seeing children spell their names on their own for the first time (sometimes with backwards letters), makes me feel proud.

If you really want to get to know me, it is important that you know that I am a really big family and friends person, but I can be very shy in new settings. I also used to play both soccer and basketball and love watching baseball (even before they were cool). I am a huge dog lover, but I also love most animals in nature, which I continue to learn about through Animal Planet and various documentaries. I love food, especially desserts, and I am always down for movies. I also quite enjoy writing, which is ideal, as this blog is an educational blog for my ADED 1P32 class.

I hope you will enjoy reading this as much as I will enjoy writing it!