Activity 8- I google Page

Just finsished setting up my I google. My daughter set up one through school so it will be nice to compare stories. Great variety of options and user friendly. Will be able to sort all links and news stories all into 1 area. Look forward to playing around with and developing a deeper understanding of its capabilities.

Activity 7-google Books

I have just sold all my shares in Dymocks & Angus and Roberstson book stores. What a great way to review or try before you buy. Unfortunately however another reason not to get your butt of the chair and walk around the shops to buy a book. Just sit back and at the press of a button it will come to you. Another example of technolgy making life simpler but at the same time encouraging us to move less. 1,2 3,4,5 ....50. Sorry just finsished 50 push ups...where was I...oh yeah loved the site

Activity 6-Google maps

This is a tool i have used before and found it amazing. Like a time machine with virtual travel at your fingertips. Great for directions and property searching or just looking at the development over time as some of the maps are a few years old. i understand councils are also utilisng this service detecting unauthroised buildings etc so be aware.

Activity 5- Google Docs

Opened a spreadsheet,created contacts list,shared file, created graphs and had all contacts update the spreadsheet at once watching live graphing which was Ok until someone started sabotaging and we could nolt work out who. This got us to thinking how would it be if 30 studetns were in the classroom working on the file at once, could present a problem. i am sure their will be ways to incorporate with a little more experience. Setting up the contacts list could be time consuming as all will have to have a gmail account.Hoping there may be an easier way to update 150 studetns into contacts list.

Activity 4- Web 2.0

Finally got to writing this blog after reading all the materials. Some interesting points. The great challenge is sifting through the information and grabbing what is relevant now and letting the rest go for another day. Feel at times bogged down with the amount of information/resources out there and the stress of not finding sufficient time to dig deeper and utilise all of it. As a PE teacher and sports advocate i am con cerned at the attraction of internet activities and the impact on physical activity and live social interaction. I struggle to vision a digital school for all but the highly motivated with stable family life. Schools provide much more than curriculum information and teachers are much more than just educators( i will not list all the things here as most teachers will undertand where i am coming from). Certainly the interent provides a great resource for information and we as teachers need to ensure students are equipped to extract this information and critically analyse to formulate their own opinions. With the web now available on most mobiles accessability to the Web is a constant and we need to teach students appropriate use.