Thing 7: Google, more than a search engine.

Incredible.......
Since changing careers two years ago, I have used Google a lot to find Internet resources and images for my classes. I was not aware that Google offered such a variety of different tools that could make both my work life and personal life so much easier. Out of all of the tools that I explored my top four selections are: Google Calendar, IGoogle, Google Notebook and Google Scholar.

Let's start with Google Calendar. In the past two months my personal computer has crashed twice from a virus that loads as an update. My personal & family calendar was stored in my MSN Email account which was lost both times. I have gone into Google Calendar and created six calendars that can be updated and tied together for both work and home. My plans for this next school year include posting a calendar to my school web page for my students to reference and using the share option I plan to send updated calendars to my dept. supervisor.

IGoogle was a fun site to set up. I have personalized several tabs for the things that interest me the most. Each tab has a different photo that relates to the subject of that tab. In setting up the Art Tab, I was given instant access to a slide show of London's Architecture which was on Flicker.

Google Notebook is going to be a great tool for both my students and myself. I have already started a research project on Furniture for a new PowerPoint. I will introduce this to my students and have them use it for a research project.

Google Scholar is so amazing. I love to present information to my students in power points and spend a fair amount of time creating informative presentations with interactive activities for them. I was surprised to find out that you could search the web for power points that other professionals created for their classes. I have found an activity that introduces the reason for taking interior design or housing as a quiz that relates to my students lives. This is going to be a great resource.