Google Docs Account

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Google Docs and Calendars

In class we learned about Google docs and Google calendars. I was so impressed with the program igoogle. I have never used that before and I found it to be very useful already in my schooling. One of my favorite things is Google docs. This can help eliminate the problem of loosing your thumb drive, or forgetting to bring it to class...which I have done multiple times. It is great to know that you can pull it up anywhere at anytime.

Some ways that I think it will be beneficial for my classroom are, using the calendar to help students to be know upcoming events and homework for the future. Google docs can also have a profound affect with accommodating to those students who lose their papers all the time. If you had a handout in class that applied to their homework you could post it on your Google docs and they could grab it right off the internet.

One thing I think that would be very useful and cool for the students to know how to do is the gab cast. You can walk your students step through step on assignments that might have been a little confusing in class. This way if students are confused on a step they can just replay it and listen to it again and again.

I am sure that all of these things will be very beneficial in my own classroom blog. When I first learned we would be doing blogs, I thought that there was no point in having them. After learning everything you can do, I will be sure to have one in my own classroom.

First Post!

I am so excited to enter the world of blogging. I know this is where technology is taking us next and I can't wait to learn all the tricks and trades. I am Taryn Lougee and I was raised in Provo, Utah and just barely graduated from Snow College which is located in the small town of Ephraim, Utah. It was a great experience to live down there, but I am so excited to be back here in Provo and continue my education with UVU.

In the summer I took the first computer technology class, so all the new things I learned are still fresh in my mind...hopefully. I had so much fun learning new things that we could incorporate into my own classroom. I never realized how much the current technology could be used in the schools. I am thrilled that I get to learn even more ideas to enhance the learning in my own class someday.

When I think about using technology in the classroom, I think about using overheads, powerpoint presentations and television monitors. I never thought about using digital cameras, smartboards, and computer editing programs. I definitely think that using current technology in our classes will help engage the students and really bring them into what we are learning about. The way our society is headed is technology driven. Soon everything we use will be digital and better yet, everything will have a touch screen. I believe that using technology is one the most important things we can learn in this program. The children that we will teach, their basic knowledge and foundations will be based about electronics and digital imaging. That is why we as the teachers need to be prepared to teach the children of the future.

Some of my goals of this class are to become more familiar with using Microsoft Excel programing, and become more familiar with web quests. I know that I can learn a lot just within this class. The thing that is crazy, is that after we graduate all this knowledge that we are acquiring now will be old news. That is why it is important for me to realize that I always need to continue learning and updating my knowledge of current technology trends.