Delicious left a Bad Taste in my Mouth.

Delicious is the worst. Literally the worst site sharing website I have ever seen.

I logged in and was instantly lost. It is a white window with a left handed blue navigation. It is dumb. I started looking for all my classmates. It took me 7 minutes to find one person! For some reason the search did not like my "@name" searches or any variation of that. I finally found one person and when I did I just started following everyone she had. I assume they are all my classmates! Dumb.

Agreed.

I am actually surprised we are still learning about Delicious. Especially since there is this amazing thing called Pinterest!! Pinterest is my friend. The week that I found Pinterest I was "pinning" like a mad woman!

I have 62 boards and more than 4,000 pins and it is AWESOME! Everything is all organized and I can actually share links with my friends (Delicious and I still have not figured that out). It really is the "new Delicious".  Many of my teacher friends use it. They have tons of boards dedicated to lesson plans, field trip ideas, classroom decor ideas and more. My boards are more of the food and drink recipes, gift ideas, home decor, and holidays. Geez-there are more than 4,000 pins-go and check it out!

Pinterest even looks better than Delicious. Pinterest uses pictures to show of its link's content. Wait a second....that concept sounds familiar....OH YEAH! That is exactly what this degree plan has been preaching since EDTC 602. Using images to help instructors relate information to the learner! WHOA. Thats makes a heck of a lot of sense doesn't it? Which one do you want to work with just by looking at these images?

My Delicious Account.

My Pinterest Account.

I think the choice is clear. And I am also craving french fries. Dang you, Pinterest and your wonderful recipes and great ideas!!! 

As soon as this class is over my Delicious will be deleted. I am undeniably, happily addicted to Pinterest. I have to be loyal. 

Goodbye, Delicious. You kind of suck.

My Tweets on Twitter: HASHTAG HASHTAG HASHTAG!!!!

Cute!

I have 2,690 tweets, 79 followers and follow 274 other Twitter folks. You might say I am a Twitter fan! Shoot one year for my friend Lindsay's birthday I spent the majority of my day "friendly harassing" Josh Groban on Twitter asking him to wish her #happybirthdaylindsay AND IT WORKED. We are both huge fans and this was just awesome!

Best Day EVAH! #forthewin

I am considering adding this to my resume. I am a dedicated to social media, have a mature understanding of its user opportunities and all it's networking capabilities.  (I kid-I kid! Hahha....mature.)

Seriously though-Twitter is fun and it definitely is a great way to communicate and share with people from all around the world! Even celebrity "boyfriends"! I can not remember the reason I joined Twitter but I am glad that I did. I like to keep up with TV shows, celebrities and friends online and Twitter is a neat way to do it.

Some have complained about the 140 character limit, I like it. It helps me keep things to the point and witty. I do confess that I have sat for at least 4-6 minutes thinking of the perfect tweet...but you want to make sure you use those 140 characters wisely!

A remember some of my friends predicting that Twitter would die off soon. It would just fade away and be forgotten. Well Twitter will be celebrating 8 years on March 21 and I feel that it is stronger than ever! More and more companies and institutions have realized that quick, short messages can peak interest and draw consumers to your websites and/or events. 

And then you have this great phenomenon of the #hashtag. 

The hashtag is just great! Comedian Jimmy Fallon (I follow him) made this great video with Justin Timberlake (follow him too) all about the #hashtag! It is hilarious! But describes and explains this hashtag thing is such a great way! Please watch it! 

I have actually found myself saying hashtag-like it is part of my sentence. (ex: Made homemade pizza tonight #AWESOME #getinmybelly) It is so lame but it is what it is. 

Keep on Tweeting, guys! I think you'll enjoy it!

My Thoughts on PLN

"Back in the day" networking with people was usually done through face to face interaction. Things like business conferences, workshops, career fairs and word of mouth were usually the way people met one another, expressed their opinions, shared ideas and became colleagues. Today with the help of the Internet these types of networks are formed without the members even knowing one another or having to meet.

This week's lesson introduced the Personal Learning Network (PLN). PLN was define as a collection of tools, communities, and services that you will collect to direct your learning and to stay informed and in touch with the world. In this blog entry I am going to tell you more about what I think of PLNs as well as  my connections through my own learning network.

As I began thinking about PLNs I realized that I needed to learn a little bit more about them. I googled PLN and found a few YouTube videos on the subject. Below I have embedded a video.

The creator of this video talks about how different people have different views of how a PLN is created. They explain that some "see it as something you build where others see it as something that grows". They finish the video with their own opinion-that a PLN is a mindset that begins with a question-how do my life experiences make me a better teacher? And then they change the question to-how do my life relationships make me a better teacher? I definitely feel that both experiences and relationships  have a factor in the outcome-becoming a better teacher. 

Good Teacher

Bad Teacher

I joined Classroom 2.0 for this assignment and was instantly slammed with emails and message board invitations about various topics. I read over several forums and saw some great ideas. I also have accounts with Google+, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, tumblr, and Skype. I check most of these daily and enjoy conversing with friends and strangers about thoughts and similar interest. 

But there is still an important question: how much should we rely on these online learning networks? 

I think that PLNs are great resources for finding new ideas, sharing experiences and thoughts, as well as exchanging media (pictures, lesson plans, links, etc.). But the Internet can not always be trusted. 

For example...the YouTube video that Dr. Broussard shared with our class has been terminated and is no longer available. I just watched it on Tuesday! And now it is gone. Who is to say that these forum based websites aren't shut down or the content exchanging option is removed? 

*oops*

The Internet has made things very accessible and convenient but I feel that one on one interactions and communication is still very important. I hope that this type of learning is not lost in a super technology driven society. It is definitely one that I am fond of.

The Fellowship

Social Media is Revolutionary

Social Media Rules the world! That is what I learned from this video! You can watch it here on YOUTUBE.

This video was created by Erik Qualman and some of the statistics in this video blew my mind! 

-mind blown-

I had no clue that Facebook could be consider the 3rd largest country in the world! I did not imagine that 1 billion people were on Facebook! The impact that social media has had on society is amazing. Everything from relationships to business is now shaped by social media.  The term "Socialnomics" that Qualman referenced in the video makes total sense (and cents)! He explained that Social Media is not a fad, its a fundamental shift in the way we communicate and it is always the way we "shop". Word of Mouth is generally the concept but it is taken to a WHOLE new level once social media is introduced. Now the products we want find us! Have you every noticed on your own Facebook or Twitter-if you EVER search for anything on Google or Amazon-you'll soon have promoted ads in your feed? Well that is because 93% of marketers use social media to promote their business and products. 

Somebody just got a million sales. Thanks Social Media!! 

I feel that I am definitely not clueless to this world of social media. I am part of several including Facebook, twitter, Instagram, tumblr, and more. I am definitely one of those people that checks their social medias several times a day. And this has become more frequent thanks to my smart phone! I'm addicted!!

PUH-Lease load "Most Recent" posts, FACEBOOK!!!

 But this video did surprise me and the facts that I am still thinking about is the digital footprint of 92% of US children (that is nuts AND scary) and people actually join LinkedIn. What is that?? (HA!)