I am so grateful that I took this class, and I have learned a lot of new technology. Technology is forever growing and will always continue to grow. I can really look back on this class and say I enjoyed every bit of it. Now, the work was tedious and busy, but hey I did learn in the process. I really think this class should be included in the English department because you write, I mean type, so much.

With all the projects, I would have to say that VoiceThread, Ning, and Wiki were my favorite. I truly enjoyed these specific projects. I will continue to use all of the projects, but these stood out from the rest.

There is so much to learn and explore. I would have to say that Dr. Yuen’s blog has been the most helpful blog I have ever visited. I learned new things alsmost daily and I love technology. Most helpful of all, most of the software applications that were mentioned on the blog were practically free. Now, I know what Web 2.0 means and thats an amazing discovery. I will always keep up with his blog, because I dont have time to keep up with all the technology out there.

Overall, this class was wonderful and I would recommend it to anyone that wants to take it. It has my stamp of approval. I came to learn new things and thats exactly what I got out of IT 780.

Slideshare has become a favorite of mine. Its easy to use features and functionality is a major plus for me. I am really excited to have been introduced to this technology. Hopefully, in the future I can use it. I will present Slideshare to my employer that way they will be rewarded with the good benefits that Slideshare offers. I will also show some of the teachers that I plan to work with next school season , how to use Slideshare. I can already see the smiles on their faces.

My VoiceThread

Oh, what fun this project was. VoiceThread was such a delightful and entertaining project. VoiceThread will be useful in the future especially for educators that teach students on the elementary level. Eventhough it seemed a little juvenile and not fit for college level students, I still think the fun of learning it was incredible.

I can see myself using VoiceThread again in the future. Its possibly the best project I have done so far. I will also create a lot more stuff with this software because its so easy to use and I can easily share it with friends and family. My next project with VoiceThread will be a family fun project.

I had heard about Ning before I took IT 780 from Dr. Yuen. I had read an article on Ning that discussed the social side of it, but when I had to actually use the application.. I was delighted. Ning is a great social networking tool that by far beats facebook and other social networking sites. Don’t get me wrong, facebook is good, but Ning is even better.

After creating my Ning site and distributing it among the class, I noticed that I can do a lot of things with Ning. It’s a social networking site that allows you to invite people or stay public and people contribute to your page. I rather any day to keep my stuff private and only invite people that I know.

I did my page on Country Living, which that’s where I live, in the country. I showed all kinds of things, videos, pictures, and even some text about country living. This was an exciting project and I will use my Ning daily. I also had to use Ning in IT 780, which gave me the experience to create my own Ning site. This was a fun project and Ning has become a favorite.

http://shenettab.ning.com/

Now, this is my favorite part, the Wiki created in WetPaint. I found out about Wikis when I first started working at BearingPoint. I didnt know anything about them, until we had to create one and link it to QA Wiki. Now, I was already in the unknown land but eventually it grew on me and I started liking it.

When I started taking the class and noticed that we had to create our own wiki, I was like, yeah! When it came down to creating the wiki, I was happy that I could do the work and confident enough that I made 4 more pages, which includes this assignment. The wiki page is how I keep up with friends and others. I even created one for my family to use.

I like the fact that you can add people and make them administrators, so they can erase, add, modify, or whatever to that page. I use most of the templates that WetPaint provided to create a variety of different topics, pictures, and other things.

I will continue to use WetPaint program as my wiki application. There is nothing like it. It’s future in education is vast. Teachers can use it to create different things for students and students can also use it to create things for the teachers. They can even use it for personal use.

Link to the wetpaint site:

http://shenettab.wetpaint.com/

Honestly, I didn’t too much care about this project. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun, but what was the point? I particularly liked the fact that I can create a mobile website. Of course it was intriguing, but I am not a big advocate of mobile anything for high school students. Now, for college level, this is great.

Overall, I liked that fact that I know about this technology. It is great talking to friends and mentioning “Mobile Web Sites” and getting those strange looks on their faces. LOL. I guess that would be a great advantage on my part.

Shenetta’ s Mobile Site

This assignment was very fun and entertaining. I had so much fun with this project that I continued to make more podcast for my niece to listen too. She is enjoying it and so am I. Podcasting is one of the few technologies that I see a need for in schools today. It is very helpful, especially for students that miss class because of illnesses or other things that keep them from coming to school.

Podcasting will always have a future, because it is so user-based. I can listen to anyone, anywhere, at anytime. Its easy to use. All you have to do is create some audio files, which we used Audacity, upload them in an rss feed generator, get the code, place it on your website, then paste that website in iTunes.

I am going to continue my research in podcasting, for my sake and my dyslexic niece. I like creating podcast for the simple fact that its technology. Technology that works like a charm.

The Link to my Podcast:

 http://orca.st.usm.edu/~smbooth/podcast/Shenetta.xml

Blogging to me is a great way to get news and information to people worldwide. It can even be a way to get news to people you only invite. Blogging in education has become very widespread and almost all schools are using it, from elementary to high school to college level.

There are so many wonderful things about blogging that I can talk about, but being able to create one in class has been a real treat. Blogging is enlightening and can be a very powerful tool to create so many wonderful things. I really enjoyed this assignment because it gave me the knowledge to choose a good blog ‘host’, such as WordPress. It also gave me a chance to self reflect on the many things that I love.

Future of blogging for me is very opened. I am ready to continue blogging for as long as I can type.

http://shenettab.wordpress.com

And… drum roll………..Michael Jackson still has it. He’s the greatest pop rock star of all time. The hit album Thriller has come back bigger and better than ever. Well, that’s the opinion of most people.

My opinion, Michael Jackson should have released his version with a better sound quality with his original songs. I listened to most of the songs on the new 25th Anniversary Edition of Thriller and I thought it was ok, could have been better, but ok.

I am so disgusted that the remixes of some of the most incredible songs sound so poor. I perceive the remixes as a way to make the artists rich and they will sound very outdated by the end of this year. However, the original songs from the Thriller album will always sound great. I’m so happy that a DVD is included with Thriller album. This give people that have never seen the videos a chance to see some of Michael Jackson’s greatest work, such as, Billie Jean, Beat It and the most glorious Thriller video.

Attention Techies……New gear for the year!

Scosche’s new product:
iPod DIY Bluetooth Car Kit with Hands Free

This product is the best do-it-yourself car kit with no installation required. I own one and so far I love it. I can speak and hear my cell phone calls through my car speakers. It also comes with a transmitter to listen to my iPod or MP3 player also through the car speakers. If you are a techie like me and like to have gadgets that are fun and exciting, please get one. It also won an award at the CES 2008 Innovations Awards this year. Here is a link to the Scosche site:  Scosche Products