Emerging Technology: Skype

For this emerging technology, I decided to toy around with the Skype program (www.skype.com). This is a multimedia social networking device available for free download to your computer. With it, you can connect to anyone, anywhere in the world, as long as they have Skype as well. Your connection with that person (or persons, as you can Skype multiple people at once on a conference call) enables you to A) see them, as long as your computer has a video camera component and B) chat with them live. Skype is very easy to use. Once you go to the site and download/install the program, it gives you step by step directions on how to set up your account. Once your account is set up, you can begin video-chatting with anyone in the world. For instance, one of my good friends from high school is in Sweden for the next 8 months due to his work. With Skype, I was able to have a personal, one-on-one video chat with him in his free time. I thought it was really cool that even though he was a half a world away, we could still see each other and talk to each other with Skype. It makes it much more personal than a phone call, and it's free (no long distance rates). I highly recommend Skype to everyone; it's an awesome way to stay connected with people, or to meet new people. As far as a classroom setting goes, Skype gives you the ability to connect your students to places that they regularly would not have access to. You may not be able to take a cross-country field trip to a historical museum, but you can set up a live video-cast of a display at the museum, for example. Skype is definitely something all teachers should at least try out.

Polldaddy.com

For my second choice of exploring technologies, I chose the website www.polldaddy.com. This is a great website for you to use if you wish to conduct a web-based poll or survey. The site is very easy to use. Once you create a free account, you have the option of creating a survey or a poll. If you click on the "Create a Poll" link, it takes you through a step-by-step process to create a poll. Here, you begin by asking the question you wish your poll to answer. Just for fun, I created a poll that asks participants who they think is the best team in the NFL right now. Once you ask the question, you have the option of entering separate answers, or leaving the response field blank for the participants to type in their own answers. You also have the option of allowing participants to record multiple answers, if they so choose. From here, you can customize the look of your poll, from template to poll size. You also have several options, like when you want to close your poll, and how you want the results to be displayed. The site is incredibly user-friendly; it literally takes you step-by-step, and if you leave something out, the website will prompt you until you correct it. Here is a link to the NFL poll that I created: <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/4036529.js"></script>
<noscript>
 <a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/4036529/">Who is the best team in the NFL right now?</a><span style="font-size:9px;"><a href="http://polldaddy.com/features-surveys/">online surveys</a></span>
</noscript>. As students, this is a great tool to use if you'd like to poll/survey a large group of your classmates. As a teacher, there are many different ways you can incorporate it into your classroom. For example, since the responses are anonymous, you can poll your class on assignments to see how interesting/educational/helpful they are. This is just one of many ideas you can use. I definitely suggest going to polldaddy.com and giving it a try yourself.

Delicious Resources

http://www.delicious.com/derekowens

First Post

Hello again everyone. I am Derek Owens, a student here at IUPUI majoring in Social Studies Education. Although I follow several sports blogs, this is the first blog I have ever created. It's actually much easier than what I thought it would be. There are a lot of cool options, most of which I am still getting familiar with. To anyone just starting their first blog, definitely spend some time going through all of the different options you have to add onto your blog. There are a bunch, and if you toy around with them you can really customize your blog to your liking. For instance, I am a baseball fan, so my background shows a crowd at a baseball game. This is just a small example of all the things you can do. I'm still toying around with all the different tools myself, but so far this seems like a really fun and interactive way for all of us to communicate as a class.