Weekly Report & Reflection #6

Hey everyone!
This week has been a long week. I had to make a big decision on where I would like to go next year for teachers college, and I decided Hamilton! It is exciting and and nerve racking, but I am excited for whats next in store for me.

This week we were introduced to a 2.0 web tool called Evernote. To be honest when I saw that the elephant was the 'logo' for Evernote I got all giddy inside because elephants are my favorite animal! (A little bit more information about myself). I was excited to start this new tool and to do so I began by using the tutorial for Evernote on how to use it. It was fantastic and showed me step by step on how to use Evernote to the best of my ability.

Evernote, (CC) 2014

I found while learning about Evernote, that it was a bit overwhelming in how much this curating tool could actually do. I found that it could become very confusing if you just jumped right in a tried the tool out on your own. The first thing and most valuable thing that I learned from Evernote is that it can literally do anything and everything that your computer does to save your documents. However, Evernote is even better because you can access your documents from any computer, where ever you are. As a student who is constantly commuting back and forth to school, I do not have the energy or strength to carry my laptop everywhere I go. This tool makes it easier to access any document you want from anywhere you are. This tool can also make completing homework easier for any student. Having the ability to access work from anywhere, allows more time for students to focus on their work an become diligent in completing it on time.

The second aspect that I really enjoyed about Evernote is that you can organize your information into specific notes and upload or 'web clip' information into specific notes with the clip of a button. By being able to organize information right away when saving material you find on the web such as a URL, your life can become a lot more organized.  I found this made researching for my topic a lot easier because all the information that I found was in one place. In addition, Evernote makes sharing notes easy, so that when you are doing education activities or research with a group (Just like ADED1P32) your partners can see what you found.  This can make research projects very collaborative, informative, and allows everyone to participate without doubling up on information.

Throughout the course I have been learning a lot about digital literacy. The most important thing that I have learned is that all the web 2.0 tools are designed to make your life easier, and create you into a digitally literate citizen. As a future teacher, I can really benefit from this course because I  am finding ways to use the web to my advantage, and beginning to understand how everything works on a whole new level. For example, this week I learned how to evaluate online resources. While researching for my articles, I kept the article 'Internet Detective' from session 4 in mind because I did not want to waste time trying to search through unneeded or invaluable information. This is something I would have never done before this course because it was unknown to me. Every week I have come to a forked road in how to use each tool. Some weeks I have become more stuck then others, but the point is that I am learning how to embrace technology education and have fun with it. I have learned a lot about digital literacy and I will continue to learn more as the course continues.

This week, my Feedly feed of interest is an article on the creative Halloween costumes, in spirit of next Friday :) enjoy!
http://www.collegeblender.com/awesome-costume-ideas-halloween-year/

If you have not followed me on twitter yet, feel free to follow away!
@EmilyPedersen06

Thanks for reading!
Missemilyp