Thursday, September 17, 2015

When I began this set of assignments I felt like this... What? ¿QuĂ©?... 

Y U No - y u no understand that to, too & two are not the same thing

I felt a little confused... I am not that computer literate and I thought... I have to do like 10 tasks! I did not know where to begin! Twitter? Google+? Feedly?... At least I am a little familiar with Google, but with a "+"?, Okay... Let's get into business...

First, Twitter... Okay, deep breath, let´s kill this bird... 



But wait... It looks so innocent, so uncomplicated, so cute... Really? Okay... Getting started with Twitter... well, it appears to be easy like Facebook, but you need to give your cellular phone number to get a code to be able to begin the account! How can I avoid that? I CAN´T! It is homework so... here goes my private information... I do not like this... Not a week and I already received close to 10 text messages?!? Overwhelming!!!

Getting started...




Bueno... Now, I have to confirm my e-mail... 
Epe Parrado-Ortiz,
Final step...
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Settings | Help | Opt-out | Not my account
Twitter, Inc. 1355 Market Street, Suite 900 San Francisco, CA 94103

Now what? Oh, yes... search for topics of interest... Hmmm, 

Sooo many things to choose, soooo little time! 

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Pretty interesting... I found some things that I really want to follow! Short and sweet! I am beginning to understand the purpose of this site. Although, I do not want to devote too much time to this. Well, I found more than 20 organizations! I prefer to follow organization than people. I found an interesting organization that offers advise about Blended Learning, I went to the chatting session and I even left a message. This is getting more and more interesting...

Okay, I change my mind, I am not going to kill the little blue bird. It can help me share ideas, improve my teaching, and find communities of people with my same interests in regards of teaching Spanish as a second language, Spanish for heritage speakers and native speakers; Spanish Literature and Culture of Latin America and Spain!

Next task... Piece of cake... It is not that complicated, thank you, Diego, you saved me time when you taught to the LRU faculty a few semesters ago some useful technology aids... I remember that during that session you helped me to create my Google+ account but I just began to use it recently when we needed to store our stuff when the university changed from LAMP to Canvas. 

Today, I was able to create very few circles requested by this course, I do not want this to become bigger than me. Let's go easy to start...a few Google+ communities, not too many that I would not be able to handle,,, Good!

Wow, I was able to use "Hangouts" to talk to a colleague in Spain! That is really something... I am thinking... I can adapt this feature to my fully online classes to meet my students... Up until now, the way I use to measure the students' listening/speaking competence in the second language is by having conversations with them by phone, they call me and we talk in Spanish. I also assign group chatting sessions in Spanish. Wait... not only the "Hangouts" feature in Google+ could work in my fully online classes I can use it also in my my face-to-face classes to invite people from different countries of the Hispanic world to meet my students and share with them ideas... What a concept! Furthermore, I can use the "Docs" or "Sheets" from Google+ to create shared assignments in real time! Diego, I need you here!

Voila my Google+... 

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Doesn't look bad for a beginner in this world of the Personal Learning Networks. Well, well, I am going to take advantage of this Google+ and Twitter social networks to advertise a program I will be leading for the next 6 weeks with my intermediate Spanish class students, for the Hickory community... Yes, sir! I feel proud of myself... Now, I create blogs, share important information about the Foreign Languages programs with the rest of MY community... 

Finally, Feedly... Honestly, I am excited but at this point I have a headache but I want to be over with this before the day ends. Feedly? I have not heard about this one before but I think I have seen the icon before... 


Okay, the tutorial... I got it! let's create the account and add some RSSs. Now I plan to have places organized by a few categories with updated information about... again... so many choices... I will choose my places later... I am really tired.


After doing almost all the tasks to create my Personal Learning Network, I see the importance of having these accounts. They will save me time when I need to look for something for my classes, I can share ideas and learn from others with my same interests, I can engage in conversations to grow professionally by listening to others who teach in my field. I can enhance my teaching. The only thing I do not like is that I have to give my phone number to create one account and also that I found too much information, places to go, people, and I do not want to devote too much time to these social networks. I will go easy... I cannot deny that this is practical if you are selective and go straight to the point.