Blog Post #8

I have definitely acquired new skills during the web design assignment. Previously, I had never designed my own website and was not very familiar with any type of software that would allow me to do so. I liked the creativity that came with this assignment, as I really got to feel like a teacher. However, I did not love navigating and learning how to use Weebly. I felt like I didn't really get the hang of it until the very end once I had almost finished my assignment. I repeatedly got frustrated with it, and feel as though my assignment came out mediocre at best. If I were to start from scratch now, I would come out with a better product. Luckily, learning is all about growth so now I know I am capable of making an adequate website if I needed to! Link to my website: normanenglish.weebly.com 

Working with Diigo was an interesting experience. At first glance, everything appears to be very cluttered but then once you understand how it works it makes much more sense. This application definitely would have good use in a lot of settings. In the age of technology, it simply is not practical to print out pages and pages of long articles. That is wasteful for the environment and not seen as efficient anymore. I like the idea of being able to share articles with peers and coworkers online through Diigo. Not only can you share articles, but you can also annotate them and make comments and I think that is such a useful tool. This could be extremely beneficial in a high school classroom especially when writing papers that require references. As a teacher, you could have the students find resources for the paper and share them with the entire class through Diigo. 

Technology is changing at such a rapid pace, which is something that is heavily discussed in our society. However, something that is less discussed is the impact this has on teachers. Teachers not only need to stay up to date with what kind of technology their students are using outside the classroom to keep them safe, but they also need to stay up to date with educational technology for professional development purposes. A lot of the new educational technology is usually confusing to learn at first (similar to any type of technology really.) Teachers already have so much on their plate, so learning about new technology can be time consuming and frustrated, but it is so crucial for their students learning to stay up to date with these types of educational trends. This site appears to show different and unique ways teachers can use technology in the classroom! https://www.freetech4teachers.com