Social Media Smackdown

Since LinkedIN has been the trend this semester, I decided that I would like to add on to what we already know about LinkedIN to make everyone's future a bit brighter. We all know how to add groups, companies, schools, and even connect with people, but LinkedIN has way more to offer. If you have or haven't discovered any of these wonderful tips provided by LinkedIN, here you go. just like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites, LinkedIN has "blue check" connections as well.
These blue check people are celebrities, CEO's , and Entrepreneurs. People like Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, to name a few, all have the a blue check near their names. However, this blue check is known as an "INfluencer" on LinkedIN. So, if you search for these people and add them as a connection, they will pop up above your "companies" row as a separate row knows as INfluencers.  Try it when you get the chance to let your connections know who inspires you. Keep in mind that not every celebrity or person of fame will have be an INfluencer.
After you have some fun with finding influences, try checking out your top grad school or even Stockton on LinkedIN. What I discovered is that when you go on any University/ College LinkedIN profile they offer information on what the students & and alumni are doing or have done at the school. When you click on the school LinkedIN,  click on "students & alumni" and you can view where the student/alumni live, work, careers, what they studied, what they're skilled at, and how are you connected with the schools connections. Keep in mind that people have to be connected with the school in order for this data to be collected.
These are some helpful tips on LinkedIN since we have been using it throughout the semester. I hope this helps.

Tech blog 6; Guidebook

For those you who have been to Welcome Week (most likely all of you) you probably used an app called  Guidebook  It is exactly how it sounds, a guide that is used as a book. Guidebook is virtual so as long as you have a smartphone you can utilize this app. I used guidebook for Welcome Week  specifically because I am an RA on campus and we use it to keep track of what is going on during that hectic first week of campus activities. Other organizations I was a part of utilized something like guidebook as well. When I went to Denver, CO a few weeks ago we used the National Orientation Association of  Directors (NODA) version of guidebook to guide us to different sessions.

Guidebook is a scheduling/guide app that lets you add, delete and edit large events by school, community centers, museums, association, personal events, airports,conferences, campus events, or even if you're going on vacations. This app allows you to use a template when you first create an app or start from scratch. You can only make a guide by desktop/laptop. You can follow a guide from the home screen of your phone and search using a pass code that the creator has or download your app. Within the app there are many resources. Depending on what event guide you downloaded.  For the welcome week guide, they have Stockton's resources and the times they are open, events that are for guys or girls only, events at the same time so it allows the user to choose the event they want to attend and mark it in there own guidebook calendar with reminders. So whether you're prepping for a trip and you want to know what resources are located within JFK airport or you want to plan a fun scavenger hunt for your job, Guidebook is the way to go!

Technology Blog #5

Tired of "bookmarking" websites? Do you get frustrated with yourself when you type in the wrong website because of one letter? Well, you have come to the right technology blog. Today I will be writing about a website that I use pretty frequently on my PC and I have it saved as my home screen, symabaloo.com. 

Symbaloo (sim-ba-loo), can be utilized as a bookmarking database, in which you type in your favorite website and add it as a tab to the actual page as a "tile". Symbaloo allows multiple tiles to be saved ( I have 76 and counting) and it saves the website along with any icon of your choosing. As soon as I click on my default browser, symbaloo pops right up as my home screen. This is helpful if you love surfing the web on your home computer, if you love to online shop, or if there's a website that you find intriguing and you want to save it. Symbaloo also has templates that you can use or if you want to share your symbaloo with other people you can do that as well when you first sign up. In addition to the those attributes, Symbaloo allows you to customize your background either from a  template or a saved picture on your computer to make it your very own. 

To utlize this FREE bookmarking site simply click on the link above and and start bookmarking your websites now!

Technology Blog #4

My next technology blog was going to be on Powtoon.com. Since we had to review Powtoon for homework, I decided to focus on the second best thing, Fitbit. Some of you may have a Fitbit and may already have the app, but in case you don't I will give you a little synopsis about what Fitbit is and how it could make your life easier . Fitbit is a calorie counter, weight watcher, sleep counter, and exercise tracker all in one. The Fitbit device is a small chip that can be inserted into any of the wrist bands that apply to the product. The wristbands vary depending on how much you would like to pay. Below I have the different types of bands. The attachments include a heart rate monitor, time , date, and even your step count. The reason why I chose Fitbit is because I utilize Fitbit every single day.

 I have the Fitbit Flex, which displays only the step count. If I would like to find out my daily caloric intake, number of steps taken on a given day, or  even my sleep  would have to utilize the Fitbit app. Fitbit is helpful for me because it gets me through my day. I can challenge my friends in running or any other exercise they partake in. My girlfriend and I challenge each other every week to something called a "weekly showdown" in which we battle to see who can get the most steps by the end of the week. Its great to be competitive, but even better to be healthy. Click on the Fitbit app icon below to find out more!

Smackdown #3

For my third Smackdown, I decided to focus on a good website, Booking.com . I have not traveled since the age of five and I just recently started looking back into traveling because of my girlfriend. As I stated in a previous blog, she has been to 11 countries and counting and she has told me numerous stories about her experiences abroad. So, I wanted to do my own research. I started off with booking.com to see what is out there when traveling. This is not the only traveling website that I use, but it is reliable . In conjunction with cheapflights.com, I use booking.com just to see if I want to book the hotel separately from the flight.

In addition to the aforementioned, Booking.com has various locations worldwide. You can search for deals up to 2 years, search by chain hotel in that area, or even search by price. Booking.com offers may ways to see your next traveling step. I’m using this website currently to send my Mother on a vacation for her 50th birthday (don't tell her I told you). Its free to sign up and once you make a reservation and follow through with that reservation, booking will offer you more deals. For example, my girlfriend has used booking so much that they will pay for a weekend trip to Colorado with one guest at any 3-star or lower hotel/motel. Guess who she is taking? So for those out there still looking for that travel bug. check out booking.com

technology blog #3

For my third technology blog I chose to write about an amazing app called GroupMe. I have an android phone and I noticed that many of my friends love iPhones. Not only do they love these apple phones, they love starting group messages with them . From an android user to an iPhone user, I cant see any of the messages that get sent because they come through as picture messages, which I then have to download, and then wait a day or two just to get the messages. So, I wondered what it would be like to be a part of a text messaging group. My sophomore year I stumbled upon GroupMe and I never looked back.

GroupMe is an app that you can download to utilize the app fully, or you can just get added to the group and the messages will get sent straight to your phone. As long as the person who starts the text group message has GroupMe, they can add people to the group chat. Whats great about GroupMe is that I can utilize it with all the different social and professional groups I am a part of. With the app you can also add pictures, GIF's, emoticons, and you can create an event on the GroupMe calendar as a reminder and see who will be in attendance or your event. Whether you have an android phone, iPhone or just your laptop, GroupMe is the app for you ! 

App Smackdown Nearpod 2.0

The App that I chose to use is an App that I recently wrote about for my technology blog number one, Nearpod. I recently gave a brief summary about what someone can do with this app but I didn't go into full detail. Here's my time to rectify that. Nearpod is like a previously mentioned smack down, Socrative. The main difference between Socrative and Nearpod is that Nearpod is controlled by the teacher and only the teacher can scroll to the next question or slide, whereas Socrative allows allows a free option for the students to move at their pace or teachers pace. If you do happen to read this please download the app "Nearpod" so my presentation can run smoother and you can have some fun with me.
Nearpod can be downloaded on any device iOS, Android, or Web. I utilize it for my tablet, which I will let one lucky person use just in case nobody downloads the app before class. It is FREE. Like Socrative, Nearpod begins by asking for a pin if you are the student. "Nearpod Live" is controlled by you and if you do want to give out homework for an extra fee, you can utilize "Nearpod homework" for self-paced items. Nearpod has items such as Polls,  Open-Ended questions, draw it, share web pages, quiz, audio, and even video. You can use videos from YouTube, self-created videos, or even videos the app already uses. You can save your nearpod presentation as a PDF and share it with your partners if you have a group presentation . Also, there downloaded Nearpod presentations on different topics that the public can use for a small fee.
I used this for multiple presentations throughout the years and it keeps everybody interested and involved in the topic. From classroom items to personal presentation, Nearpod is the way to go.

Technology Blog #2

For this second technology blog I want to focus on the the first Smackdown presentations that we had.There were many presentations and I learned about so many websites that I could utilize as a teacher or just in my normal daily life. From the presentation of Google Drive that Leke and I presented on to iflscience, these websites are a wonderful starting point for each Student within this class. Like I mentioned in my presentation , I utilize Google Drive frequently because I can't keep up with losing flashdrives and having all of my data just wiped away. I hope from our Google Drive presentations, people utilize Google a lot more in their daily lives to refrain being from losing that presentation last minute and having to explain that to the professor (trust me, I've seen it multiple times in class).

Another website that stuck out to me was mytripjournal.com . Since my girlfriend loves to travel, I assume that I will have to love to travel too in the near future. She's been to 11 countries and counting. Tennessee is the only trip on my resume. I asked her to utilize that website so she can track her traveling and get even more of an experience out of it. 

In addition to traveling, I do have a thing for science and iflscience.com also caught my attention. During his presentation, Brett mentioned that he liked aquatic animals and so do I. I scrolled through the website over the weekend and discovered so many articles. I read two articles. One was about how eating fish can lower depression and the other article was about fish being smarter than we think. Both articles intrigued me because we are constantly making leaps and bounds in the name of science and I'm gaining more knowledge about the fish, of course.  Overall, I enjoyed our Smackdown presentations and I cannot wait to see whats in store for our next Smackdown. 

Smackdown #1

The Web Tool that I chose for my first Smackdown is one that I use frequently and that is Google Drive. Google Drive acts as a USB/ Flash Drive device. It saves virtually everything that you do. As long as you have a Google account then you can utilize this tool. It's easy and accessible because Stockton accounts are linked to Google. If you are somebody who can’t afford Microsoft office, Google Drive is the way to go.

    Google has similar apps as Microsoft for free. Google Docs, substitutes the classic Microsoft word. Google slides, substitutes Microsoft Powerpoint, and Google Sheets substitutes Microsoft Excel. Many other apps can be utilized through google as well. I chose Google drive because I work at the Information Desk and many people lose their flash drives and I don’t want to be one of those people. Google apps allow you complete your own work without waiting for your classmates to save and send their information to you. This works best with group projects.

    I utilize this tool because I have taken many classes and I might want to reuse some information. In addition, I have multiple positions on campus so I utilize google drive to “share” my ideas with my co-workers. Whether you’re a CEO or a student, google drive makes sharing, working and studying easy and readily available.

Tech Blog 1

Nearpod is the app that I chose to use for this week. Nearpod is a great app for this generation since most students are usually on the phone anyway. This app can be downloaded on your laptop, tablet, android, or apple device, which makes it easy to use whenever. Nearpod is power point presentation, a test, or a video, whatever you would like to use it for.

Check out this video on how to use Nearpod for future teachers . What makes this app so great is that the students would need a pin number to utilize it for the class, which the teacher creates. For all my future teachers out there, if you're afraid that technology will get in the way of your teaching, utilize Nearpod to your advantage. :)