Internet Detectives

While in university one day my tutor introduced me to a site called internet detectives. It’s a free, online tutorial site that will help develop your internet research skills for University (and college) work. Which is handy for me at the moment!

    The tutorial looks at your critical thinking skills which are required when using the internet, and offers advice on evaluating websites. The tutorial is divided into five sections and takes up to an hour to complete, (but is well worth sparing the time).

    When I completed this tutorial I was surprised at how naïve I am concerning the internet! I advise using this nifty little website to gain some insight! Especially if you’re at university and have heaps of assignments to complete!

 

http://www.vtstutorials.ac.uk/detective/

iPad Mini

    Over the Christmas holidays I was lucky enough to have a new iPad mini. Being someone who does not favour technology, (usually I break it as soon as I touch it), it took me a while to get used to.

But now I have I love it!! It’s a nifty little thing!

    It’s thin, light and small enough to carry around I my everyday bag without weighing me down. It has amazing graphics and display on a lovely size screen. It’s fast, fluid and so easy to use (once I got the hang of it) I use if for all my university notes and power points. As well as using it for work, I can’t help but play the odd games, or shop for new clothes with the apps I have downloaded (there are thousands of FREE apps to choose from!!) Flow being my favourite game at the moment- but it is highly addictive may I add!

    As soon as I got given my iPad which was a gorgeous slate grey in colour, I couldn’t wait to buy a case and accessories for it- and my goodness there was so many to choose from! In the end I decided on a cute, flowery, blue case from accessorize! Now, I don’t go to Uni without my trusty mini computer in my bag! J

Reflective Learning and the use of blogger.us

 

Bubbbl.us

    I created this reflective learning brainstorm using bubbl.us. It is a fun, free, visual tool to use; ideal for when revising for exams, (As I am now).

The Importance of Reflective Learning

    Reflective learning is useful to helping you learn something new which you have just been taught. Reflective learning involves looking back at your work, breaking it down and then making changes to what works or what doesn’t work, helping individuals to understand what they can do in the future to develop. It also helps to understand theories which can be applied into practise and helps to extend your knowledge and interest.

    The reflective learning process can be captured through numerous ways; as I have stated on my bubbl.us. Reflective learning is useful to draw out conclusions and determine differences which can be made. When doing your own reflective learning, there are three questions you should ask yourself:

1.  What have I done?

2.  What did I learn?

3.  What do I do with this knowledge?

Animation

This is my first attempt at an animation…can you guess what it means??

That’s right….A hole in one!!

I created this animation using 2animate, a programme introduced to me by a tutor. It a simple, easy programme to use. You draw a series of pictures; each one more detailed than the last, and once finished you have yourself a video of your ‘animation’. This programme tested my artistic skills as well as my computer skills, it’s quite difficult to accurately draw what you intended to,  but I think my first attempt is pretty good and easily recognisable.

Glogster

This is a glog I have created to display my bucket list. I was introduced to a website called glogster.com; on the website you can create an interactive storyboard that allows you to tell others about a topic that interests you through interesting and creative means.

    Although it was my first time using this website it was easy to use and navigate. I was able to upload pictures from numerous sources with just a click of the button. It was also simple enough to upload videos from YouTube to display on my glog.

Tag Galaxy

    After using tag galaxy for the first time I was very intrigued. It is a simple, visual tool which is lots of fun to use.

    When you get onto the site, you simply enter a tag (anything you could possibly think of, there are tags for pretty much everything) and away you go. The next page is a visual 3D galaxy. In the centre will be the biggest planet (your tag) and around it there are smaller orbiting planets which are the words relating to the keyword. When you click on any of the planets you zoon into a globe populated by pictures which are tagged to the word.

 

    In classroom lessons this Web2 can make a boring lesson more fun and motivate the students at the same time. For example, if there was a lesson on geography, you could use the name of a country for the keyword. Everything related to that country would come up in the orbiting planets, including pictures. It is also a brilliant way for students to explore the relationships between words visually.

    I would also use this idea as a way of revising. On paper students could use the topic title as their “centre planet” and then use the keywords of that topic as their “orbiting planets”.

http://taggalaxy.de/

Wikipedia

The Pros and Cons of Using Wikipedia

 

    Wikipedia is used by many students who are in education. It can be a useful site to gather information, as long as you are wary of it.

    Wikipedia is a useful tool and simple to use. By typing in your chosen subject into the search bar you can have all the information you need. The only problem which can occur (maybe not all the time) is that this information may not be accurate. Wikipedia is a site which is open to the public. At any time and on any subject a person can edit the page and change information. Even though Wikipedia is a site that is monitored for accuracy, not all inaccurate changes can be reviewed the time in which you, yourself view them.

    The way in which I would recommend using Wikipedia, is as a base to your research. It can give you the foundations to your subject in which you can further. A useful tool Wikipedia does have is at the end of the page, on any chosen subject, there is additional site references for you to look at.

    Overall, I think Wikipedia is a simple place to find basic information, as long as you keep in mind it is not trustworthy.