Technology Tools Assessment

**** Awesome Technology Tool

*** Good Technology Tool

** It's an "Okay" Technology Tool

* Terrible Technology Tool

1. Moodle- ***

In my special education courses this website is required to be signed up on in order to access school assignments and other important information about my courses. There are some pros and cons that come with this website. The pros are: Many of the courses require a password given by a professor, the information flows in chronological order (you are able to see the dates and what is due) and it has a blogging and chatting capability in which students can interact with the professor and one another. The cons for this website are: dull and plain appearance, it does not have an ability to remind students when assignments are due ( it can be inconvenient when students have more than one moodle class). I give this website tool three stars...

2. Google Apps- ****

As an everyday technology user, Google has always been my # 1 choice for browsing and e-mail. However, I never really utilized many of the other features (applications) it had to offer. Some of the applications I never used was: Calender, Documents, and Google Reader. I truly enjoy Google's email, "Gmail" in such that I could customize my gmail with creative templates. It gives a greater excitement in checking e-mails, especially if they are school related. The calender feature is extremely helpful and I found it to be a wonderful tool in reminding me about important dates and events that I had to remember. The Documents app was a great feature because it allowed me to use an excel feature to save my many passwords and usernames. But ultimately my most favorite trait of Google Apps was a thing called "Google Reader Play". It is an application that is quite enjoyable and a stress relieving tool. All you do is view spectacular and interesting photos and like or favorite them. I give Google Aps "4 Stars" for being a well rounded technology tool.

3. Delicious- ****

I cannot stress enough how grateful and glad I am to be introduced to this wonderful technology tool. The ability to access your favorite websites or helpful websites on any computer at any time is splendid. I definitely tend to favorite alot of websites, and in the case of using someone else's computer I stress when I cannot remember the address of a website I need to get onto. This website diminishes that worry by allowing you to "bookmark" the website, add a description and tags online! That way all you have to do is remember your username and password, and your bookmarks are readily available when signed into your Delicious account.It also gives you the ability to share with other people within networks, as well as organize your bookmarks that is far more extensive than the regular bookmarking tool on a personal computer. I give this website "4 stars" for being awesome!

4.Firefox- **

As a MAC user I am already fond of Safari, and its ability to make "top sites" really pulls me in on using it as my internet browser. Sometimes being such an instant person I just want to "click" and get onto my favorite websites. However, I do love how I am able to change the template of my browser when I am "Firefox". Overall, I did not come across any phenomenal features that pull me away from using my "Safari" browser. I give this technology tool 2 stars...

5. Blogger-****

Ever since I was in the 7th grade I've had a blog. I have tried many different blogging websites: Xanga, Livejournal, Melodramatic, Geocities etc. , but "blogger" is the apple of my eye! You can choose many different interesting templates and customize your layout to your liking. The formating tools are friendly and appealing. I find this blogging tool to be one of the best out there in the cyber world. I give "Blogger" 4 stars for being awesome!!!

6. Prezi- ***

I love creating technology presentations as long as it gives me opportunities to be creative. "Prezi" is a really interesting type of presentation tool in which it allows the presentation to be dynamic with an intriguing moving transition. Mind-blowing zooming and minimizing capabilities to capture the audience, and a rather pleasing appearance with some of the templates it has to offer. However there are some minor downsides with this tool because it has a limitation on types of font to choose from, video uploading capabilities and it can be difficult to work when first introduced to this website. However, it is not behind the pack of presentation tools. I believe this is a great tool to rebel against the usual "Powerpoint" presentation which tend to be dull and uniform.

I give this presentation tool 3 stars.

7. Voicethread-***

This is an interesting website that students and teachers can utilize and spice up presentations. It allows you to upload pictures and documents and create a "voiceover". You can explain the concepts or ideas of your work or simply give a presentation "life". The website also allows you to share your files with other educators and students within the website and give "voice" feedback. What I find very convenient about this website in comparison to other voice over websites is that you don't have to necessarily use a phone to create a voiceover, you can use a computer mic. One of the major fallbacks about this website is that you are not able to have the presentation with voiceover saved onto your computer. I give this website 3 stars for being a good technology tool.

8. Camtasia-****

Camtasia has got to be one of the most spectacular technology tools I have used. It is a website that allows you to: make on-screen tutorials, take pictures of your desktop, narrate photos, etc. This technology tool is quite expensive, but you are able to download a 30 day trial that has all the wonderful features to use. This software allows you to be extremely creative with tools that can zoom into a particular part in your screen, blur out backgrounds and add various touches to make a tutorial dynamic. This is a fabulous technology tool that deserves 4 stars...