Whitney Hammond's Blog for LBS 850

This week has a been a little stressful! It seems as though cold and flu season officially has begun because I have been out of commission for a few days! But I am back to almost normal! Anyway, I did a little exploration of the assistive and adaptive technologies and tools available at the current school I work at. My boss pointed me in the direction of the Center for Learning and Academic Success and I am glad I got to learn more about this program and the efforts of these teachers to help students who may need more assistance when it comes to learning and understanding the material they are presented in class. I also took a look at some articles this week including "Assistive Technology: 10 Things to Know," which was very interesting and informative. I think steps two and three are important to note. We should be aware of the different technologies and tools that are available to use that are assistive and adaptive for students. A lot of these tools are also free, which ...

This has been a really great week because I've been able think more about my social media journey and to get to know more about my boyfriend's journey as well. Before we moved in together this past July, he warned me about his love for playing World of Warcraft . This is the only game he plays and he only has the time to play it on his days off and sometimes for a little bit when he gets home from work. This is his hobby. My hobby is reading and watching too much television. His hobby is World of Warcraft and I refuse to judge him for this. I mentioned in my paper that at one point he was addicted to the game and some may think this is a cause for concern. However, I am not concerned because the game does not consume his life like it  did when he was a teenager.  Jared has a  job that he loves, a better relationship with his parents, friends that he cherishes, and an overall better outlook at life. I don't mean to make it sound like a "happily ever after" situa...

Ahhh social media. This is something that has been apart of my life for about fourteen years. It all started with AIM instant messenger. Back then I was known as Dolly34501. I remember in fifth grade we'd pass notes in class that said to write down our screen names. Then I'd rush home, log on to my family's desktop computer and add the screen names of my classmates that I collected that day.  I would wait until I heard that little ping sound that meant someone signed on and start chatting. This was my first step into social media. The second step was when my sister, Emily, told me it was time for me to make a Facebook profile when I was thirteen. It was the summer before 8th grade and I was always curious about why my sisters were always on this site called Facebook. I had no idea what it was but since I am the youngest sister, I always wanted to do what my sisters were doing. So one day Emily asked me if I wanted to make a profile and of course I said heck yes! I was t...

What a week it has been! I explored some new tools, I took a stab at using Animoto , and oh I started my new job! It has been a super busy and super crazy week, but I think I am back on track. Or getting there at least! Anyway, I really enjoyed finding different videos and podcasts that fit into my topic. I especially liked listening to the podcasts because I rarely listen to podcasts as I mentioned in the discussion board this week. But it really wasn't that bad and I kind of want to start listening to a podcast series. I'll need to ask around for some recommendations! As for the multimedia I had to make for this week I decided to use Animoto! I have never used this tool before but after exploring it last week I decided I wanted to test it out. I thought I would really like it but it just wasn't for me. Basically, you have the ability to upload a picture, insert text, change the colors, add in music, and that's it. It doesn't allow you to move around your media...

This week was a lot of fun because I got to explore some new apps and programs that I have never heard of or tried before! I'm adding all of these sites to my bookmarks as we speak! For this post I think I'll go through each of the tools that I had to explore this week and share my thoughts about them. I have used Flickr before when I was in high school. I think I used it mostly in my art classes, specifically in Photo I. My teacher meant wanted us to practice critiquing photos and thinking about the choices the photographer made. I do like this site because there are so many photos to look through and it could be used well in certain classes. After I looked around this site I opened up BigHugeLabs and Glogster , which I also enjoyed. I really liked BigHugeLabs because it's free and it provides some great templates .I didn't like Glogster as much because of how difficult it was to use it without being a paying customer. I love the  idea of it and the templates they h...

Another week in the books! I've enjoyed exploring new apps and tools this week. I especially liked working with Padlet because I had tried using it in the past and my first attempt didn't go so well. However, this week I realized that this site is fairly easy to use and I really like the layout of it. The only downside of it is that you can only create three Padlets before you have to start paying for a membership, which is $8.25 a month. It's a new way to create a blog and I love it! I just wish it was free because I would definitely use it more! Some of the tools that I looked at were familiar to me, such as Tumblr . I blogged on Tumblr throughout my high school years, but I used it mostly to connect with other people that liked the same bands and music I did or the same books. I loved Tumblr but then with all good websites the ads invaded. I was seeing more ads then posts! I know it's hard for tools and apps to make money if they are free but the ads just always r...

Well it has been quite a week for me! In August I applied for a library assistant position at Saint John's Prep in Danvers, MA. This past Friday I had my second interview for the job and I got it! In the interview the principals wanted to learn more about what I could bring to the library and how I could incorporate what I am learning in my own classes into it. I talked a lot about the new educational technology that I have been learning about in this class and in past classes. The principals found this important because at this school they constantly looking for new ways to teach their students and to incorporate more technology into the library. Last year, their library had a total makeover with the addition of an iMac computer lab. The school is definitely moving towards using more technology and I can't wait to start this new journey at the Prep. It felt like Flipgrid was not my friend this week. I probably made about thirty different videos until I finally made one I was...