1. Social Media For Educators By Erika Dobson 1

3. Twitter

4. Delicious

5. AnimotoWhat is a PLN?

6. Delicious was the most beneficial tool for me. I am excited to be able to access my bookmarks from any computer. Not only is this great for educational sites, but also for use with everyday life. You may visit my delicious at http://delicious.com/erikadobson1 What is Delicious?

7. Twitter is a wonderful tool for educators. At first, I felt like an educational slacker because educators are constantly sharing educational resources and I felt that I could never keep up. As I began to get more comfortable using Twitter, I started to enjoy the information and not be overwhelmed by it. Overall, it is a great resource for networking and professional development. My twitter account is http://twitter.com/erikadobson1 What is Twitter?

8. My Ning http://erikasdiscoveries.ning.com/ This tool is beneficial for collaborating with other educators on any given topic. I created a Ning on differentiating instruction. I feel my Ning was very time consuming to create and finding people to join has also been a challenge. Most likely I will probably use my Ning the least of everything I have created. What is a Ning?

9. What Nings did I join? Valleyeducators.ning.com Womenofwishes.ning.com

10. Animoto is a great tool to enhance any lesson in the classroom. Let’s face it, kids love pictures. Because I am home on sabbatical leave I used Animoto to create a short video of my family. Check it out at http://animoto.com/play/XofwxE69C2u7ZHgRzZsJ3w What is Animoto?

11. I have found that for being out of college for fifteen years my technological skills definitely needed some updating. Once I figured out how to use the tools I actually enjoyed them. Because my computer is also older downloading programs took a lot of time. The Social Media I will most likely use is the Delicious. It’s awesome that anything can be bookmarked: recipes, restaurants, etc. It is a very practical everyday tool for everyday life. Successes and Challenges

12. The biggest obstacle for me was remembering my username and password for each account . Multiple times I was locked out of programs. Initially, I also used my school email to set up my Ning on a Friday. This went to Spam so I was unable to work on the site until Monday. This resulted in me losing an entire of weekend of work time.

13. I love the Moodle. It is easily accessible and very organized. However, online learning isn’t for me. I learn better by seeing an instructor demonstrate material. Teaching myself from a video was challenging. In addition, having children at home made it difficult for me to set aside time to dedicate to my learning. When I had a question, the instructor always answered in a timely manner. In addition, he made himself available for me to work in the lab when I needed to. Moodle and Online Learning