Chapter 5

      Chapter 5 of the Connected Educator is about using tools to support connected learning. This Chapter starts out by explaining how beneficial it is to use web 2.0 tools. There is also advice on how to find ways to use certain Web 2.0 tools. The author states that "they lay out what you need to understand to use each tool and than offer examples of how to put the tool into practice". 

     Social Bookmarking, Delicious, and Diigo are all tools used for documenting and archiving learning. Social Bookmarking is a way to categorize and archive the specific content you want. Social bookmarking allows you to be elaborate and connect with friends and colleagues. Social bookmarking can also be known as tagging. Delicious is used for bookmarking and tagging specific websites. By doing this process, you are saving yourself from skimming through thousands of different websites. Diigo is a social bookmarking community. It is similar to Delicious. Diigo allows you to make annotations on the direct webpage. These tools can be very beneficial to many of us, especially in my future career as a Speech Pathologist. These tools would allow me to save the important resources and websites that are beneficial in my career field. 

       When it comes to tools for connecting and collaborating, there are many. Blogs, Edublog, RSS Readers, Google reader, podcasts, Podomatic, microblogs (such as Twitter), wikis, wikispaces, and Google documents are all ways to connect and collaborate. Some of these we use daily to connect with others. I know that in my future career field as a Speech Pathologist, we will have to become more and more familiar with Google documents and how to use them. It is an easier way to connect with patients/students and help with things such as surveys and even an easy way to save paperwork. 

      Ning and Classroom 2.0 are tools for social networking. Ning is made to be simple for people who do not have web developing skills. Classroom 2.0 connects with Ning and allows you to create a network for faculty. 

     Tools for extending learning in the classroom such as TeacherTube and Netvibes are beneficial because they are educational videos made by other teachers to help others. This is basically the same as watching a tutorial. 

                                                       

       Managing your online reputation is very important. A person can search you in Google and will define you by the information they find. Some tips for keeping a good reputation online are to build your own professional webpage or blog, stack the deck in your favor, share your insights, be professional at all times, and track yourself. These are important to follow because if you have a reputation online that is not good, you will be less likely selected for a job or even accepted in an online community. 

References:

Nussbaum-Beach, S., & Hall, L. R. (2012). The connected educator learning and leading in a Digital age. Solution Tree Press.