E- Learning

Well this week's class topic was education learning and the social networking tool to go along with this topic was mind meister which is an organizing program. How the tool relates to this topic of E- learning is organization because in the education world if you are not a good person at organizing than you would be failing school. This tool mind Meister will help you keep your thoughts for any subject that you are working on in an organized way so you won't get messed up all the time on the things that you're working on for school or personal life as well.

The function of this tool is to make sure you have things mapped out correctly for things that you're working on for school or a daily planner for personal life things that you are involved in. I know people out there are unorganized and misplace things and not knowing what to do or where to be well this tool will fix that to make sure you get done things correctly and on time. This tool can function as many different organize styles like writing a paper you can organize your thoughts for that paper by creating a web that includes your main point, three sub Main points and finally the conclusion.

What was interesting about the tool mind Meister was there were so many different ways that you can create and organize to put in your daily planner or to work on a paper. But the coolest thing was you can invite people to look at the web that you created on Mind Meister and they can make changes to it. But when you log back in to the site you can see what changes your friend has made and will show up in a different color so you can notice it. It's like a peer edit but its happening online which is pretty cool I think.

There was not a challenging thing with the tool Mind Meister because it was very easy to navigate around the site. The only challenging thing that was tough about the tool is there were not a lot of templates that you can choose from to organize your thoughts and schedule. If you wanted to get the full package you would have to pay some money per month to get the full experience with mind Meister. But with the templates I got to use I thought it was still pretty cool how the site works.

To improve this tool I think what needs to happen is you need to get this program some marketing and advertisement because this is the first time I have ever heard of this tool called mind Meister. There are people out there that suck at writing and can't organize their thoughts very well and this tool will help them get better at organizing their thoughts and becoming a better writer as well. The other thing that helps us tool communicate well is that you connect with Face book which is social networking tools well so that will help the situation a little bit.

My experience with this tool mind Meister was pretty fun. I like how I created my class schedule for this semester and created it into a web. Also I did was create my mom a schedule for what she has to do for having our house have Thanksgiving because once in a while when we have Thanksgiving she forgets something and this organizer which I created for her will help her not have that problem this year at least. I enjoyed navigating around Mind Meister and will be using this tool in the future to help organize things.

online gaming update

After a few weeks of playing the online game dungeon blitz I feel that I am more focused each time I'm playing the game. Each time I'm playing dungeon blitz I have more interaction with the players and  playing the game together. We help conquer the missions to help us get to the next level. As I am moving through the game the levels are getting tougher and the goblins are getting harder to defeat and I seem to be dying more and losing lives and using potions to make me alive again for my character. I have had some random conversations in the chat room of this game and people are asking me what got you into playing this game dungeon blitz and I said it's a college assignment for my class communication and technology. One person response was I never heard of playing an online game for a school assignment is the first time I ever heard of this before. In the coming weeks I will continue to learn more about this game dungeon blitz and also the communication of the game as the levels continue to become difficult as we had towards the finish line and hopefully it will be easy to get there.

Flickr

The topic we talked about in class this week was organizations in the tool that went along with this topic was Flickr. What Flickr is a site that allows people from anywhere to post pictures I certain topic and also allows people to comment on any picture they want to. Well technology has changed the way we can join an organization in Flickr allows you to do that and also they have a bunch of organizations they can join and then you can post pictures that relate to that organization and people can comment on the pictures that relate with the organization that you joined. Organizations have many different levels from top dog, middle-class and lower class well with Flickr I think every organization is just on one level.

The tool Flickr like I restated earlier allows people to post pictures randomly or to an organization that they have join or create your own group to have people join and have allowed people to comment on the pictures that they have uploaded on Flickr. What Flickr allows you to do as well is create a profile on yourself and it allows you to tell people what things that are your favorite or interesting to you. This also shows other people on Flickr that you also may have something’s in common with that other person. So this site is just another way social network with people but in the way of showing pictures of many different things that people like about an organization or a business.

The site Flickr to me was a pretty interesting site because of the different groups that I can join and also some pictures that people put up in the site as well. Even when we did that activity after the organization presentation and put up pictures about a business called big box and then a day later I get comments from other people saying that I heard of this company and this company has a lot of competitors involved. So to me that was pretty cool to hear people voice their opinion on the pictures that I uploaded to Flickr. Also looking at other photos that people have uploaded from the bad hurricane Sandy that devastated the East Coast and to see all the people going to the damage of what's left of their home was eye-opening to me in the pictures that I look at.

The thing that I found the most challenging about Flickr is not a lot of my friends use Flickr as a social networking tool. So it was tough interacting with people on the website. Also some of the groups that I tried joining were kind of weird and not right for me. What also I thought about Flickr is that I think Flickr is just copying YouTube in uploading videos and sharing it with anybody that is on Flickr and think that's wrong in Flickr should with their own way on putting up videos and stuff like that. Until Flickr becomes more popular and get more people to join it will be challenging for people to navigate the site.

The things that Flickr needs to do to make it a better experience is not just allow people to upload photos and comment on them they need to allow people to create status like they do on Face book and also chat with people on Flickr as well. This way you can get more interaction with pictures and chatting with people in uploaded the pictures to make it better communication and also a better experience.

I thought my experience with Flickr went okay. I enjoyed looking at the cool pictures that people posted especially the ones from the East Coast from hurricane Sandy to see how much damage was caused from the storm. I also joined a few groups of things that I could do and follow specially and sports. But I wish I had more friends of mine use Flickr then it would have been a better experience for me to enjoy but I still thought it was a cool website to navigate through.

online gaming

This week’s topic was online gaming and the tool that we use in class called dungeon blitz on Face book was like an online game. Dungeon blitz show many different aspects as just any online game that I have played before. Some of the things that we talked about with online gaming is the technology has made online gaming is pretty popular thing these days with all the different things that technology has to offer. But online gaming has some negative things as well like we talked about with the diction of playing too much of online games for like nine straight hours and a situation like this can affect people's lives. Playing the game dungeon blitz didn't give me too much addiction but this can be a game that can affect people. But this game dungeon blitz is just one of many online games that you can play these days.

            This online game dungeon blitz is just another game where people can interact with each other while playing the game. Not just this game people can do this it goes for all games that people can play online. But for this game dungeon blitz since it can be found on Face book it has a little more interaction with people then the other ordinary games.

            Well playing the game dungeon blitz was a pretty interesting task I would have to say because of all the different levels that I got through the more difficult it got. As you moved up each level there were more task yet it do like for example go into these caves and save the people of the town who are the town’s top priority but as you go through those caves you a fight the mean and tough goblins to get through. Also the way the game was set up about which character you had to be in the name had to be a pretty specific one as well because he couldn't have just a simple generic name. Also the different keys you press on the keyboard to move around and also use the special powers you have for each level of the game as he moved up.

            The most challenging playing dungeon blitz is as he moved up in the levels the game play got harder. That means for me it can make me frustrated and I say to myself I just got a work harder. But also the goblins became harder to defeat in the caves as you got into the harder levels but as you know with any online game that's always the case it's not going to be easy all the time. Lastly other thing that was challenging about dungeon blitz was there were so many people around the areas where you have to complete a task you could not find which person to go to complete your task because of all the people that were around.

            The things that I would improve with the online game dungeon blitz is add more characters to the game and also get a chance to people be a goblin and be on the evil side. Maybe also make the presentation of the game a lot better as well because I thought the graphics of the game were not so great they need to be more like the graphics we have today. And also need to find a better way to communicate with each other because when I was playing I was talking so many different people at the same time it got confusing and I lost track of the game.

My experience playing dungeon blitz was very good. I liked my character a lot because he had some great moves and powers as the levels got harder. Going against the goblins especially in the caves were a lot of fun because I was on a roll by keep on killing them and earning a lot of points. This game felt like I was playing a real online game on my PS3 but only it was on Face book and the computer.

second life

Well the topic of the week was virtual communities and the bond that it has with each support group involved with in a certain community. In these virtual communities they can be an online site or offline but also involved with where you are located in the world and thing that interests you. The tool that I played around with Second Life was kind of like that in many different ways. Well Second Life it was like a virtual community and also like an online videogame based on the graphics in the interaction. You had a bunch of people cars, villains and many other different things walking around in these many different types of virtual communities that Second Life had to offer. The communities that I went through were London England, South Beach and haunted town which was pretty cool I thought. But Second Life allows you to join groups and organizations but also it allows you to chat with people in the virtual communities that you're walking around in and it's like meeting new people online but in a virtual community.

I mean the purpose of Second Life is getting to meet people online in a virtual community. This is just showing that there are many other different ways to meet people online besides Face book, MySpace and Twitter. Second Life allows you to walk around and get familiar with many different virtual worlds and also communicate with those people where it can lead from becoming great friends or even better starting a relationship.

Well Second Life to me was like I was playing in online videogame and meeting people in it. I went through so many different virtual communities in the game and I found so many different organizations and clubs that I could join and some of them were kind of interesting to me. I also liked how people could be people, car or some type of villain and that you could fly in the game which I had a lot of fun doing.

Second life to me had it challenges in which I do not know what type of people I was going to meet in this game because there were so many different characters in the game that were kind of odd looking to meet but for me in the game I was just an ordinary person walking around. Another thing that was challenging was there were so many different communities to go in and explore I just had a tough time which one would be best for me to explore in.

Second Life is just another way for people to communicate online but in an online game environment. They need to make it more interactive by which I mean have different things involved in each of the virtual communities. But also they need to advertise this Second Life game a little bit more because I never heard of it and its just one of those new social networking tools that is brand-new to me and I think it needs to be put out there so more people can enjoy it.

I really enjoy playing Second Life because I like going through the different virtual communities and seeing different characters in each of them but also interacting with different people and the clubs and organizations that I got involved with or got invited to. I was just an ordinary person flying around in different worlds which was a lot of fun.

meet up .com

1.      This week’s tool meet up.com relates to how we communicate in so many different ways these days that we have with social networking. Meet up.com has that interpersonal communication but also it has dyadic which you can be personal and straight up on some of the pages that I look at on meet up.com. But also this site can be accessed from other social networking sites like Face book, twitter and YouTube. The site just shows that it's another way of social networking with people on the Internet. But what I learned in class this week it also showed the relationship development on select topics that I was interested in and how people can be really close on some of these pages but also how far apart you can be with opinion on these pages as well

2.      What meet up.com and also mingle did was meet people that we do not even know and we can meet online just like Face book and MySpace allows you to do.  This tool allows you to join groups that you are interested in and also things you like to do in your free time. I mean there were so many different clubs and organizations on meet up.com that I couldn't believe how many people interact with the site. But this tool serves as another chat room/communication tool where people can interact on a different meet up clubs websites on what's going on and when people are meeting each week for the club. This website reminds me of clubs here at St. Ambrose University but the online version of its which will be in the future as technology gets better.

3.      This tool meet up.com allowed me to join groups that are in progress at pages about what the group is and when they meet in town like there were groups about playing board games right here in Davenport and down the street from school which is cool. But also this website allows me to create my own group which I did about my favorite football team the Green Bay Packers and I haven't checked in a few days  but I have a few members in my group already. But maybe in the future I will join some group’s right here in town to get to know people that live in this area.

4.      The thing that was most challenging about meet up.com was all the groups that you could join and things that interested me the most with the different groups. I mean had to be careful what information was given out to other groups that I joined because I don't want people stalking me and finding out where I am and my phone number because I never met these people before and I have seen things on the news about what happens when new people meet and it's not good. By seeing this website having great success I think I can trust people in the groups that I have joined.

5.      I think this tool needs to be improved by getting out there so more people can find out about this website because my first found out about this website I never heard of it before. So I think if we could give this website more recognition I think more people will join it and even create more groups as well.

6.      My experience with meet up.com is that to me this site was just another social networking site that sounded kind of brand-new to me. But once I got to explore this website I thought it was fun and cool with all the different groups and clubs that I like I could join and some of them were right here in town. There is something for everyone on meet up.com where they can join and meet new people and things they like and have in common with each other. I'll be using meet up.com for a while and join other groups as well.

creating my own blog

In class this past week I created my first blog on blogger powered by Google. I got to create my blog page the way that I wanted it to be. And one of the most challenging things that came up when I was creating my blog page was what type of background do I want to make it look cool but also stick out when people checkout my page when I post things on it. The other problem that I had creating my blog was what kind of widgets to put on it so can stick out when people check my blog out. I mean when I think of the widgets to put up do I go with the things that I like and follow on other social networking tools that I use or do I go with things that are related to the class. So that was tough for me to do but I figured it out in the end and I hope everyone likes it. But it will be interesting to see what others people's blogs and their widgets and also what they are. I mean I have been a social networking freak for quite a while because I already have a Face book account, twitter and now I'm blogging and it's new for me but I have read different blogs on different topics. But for this class computer and technology it will be pretty cool to blog about the different topics we learned in class throughout the semester. Along with the different social networking tools that we will learn from our fellow classmates when they give their presentations on their topic and it will be pretty cool to give our opinion about it. I mean I didn't really have many challenges with learning how to blog because is just another social networking tool and it’s been around for quite some time and I feel that I am pro with blogging. Even though this is my first blogging page I just feel that I have enough social networking tools in my life and I don't need any more.

I think blogging improves the way we communicate with people especially in today's world with the technology getting better as the years go on. Blogging makes your voice be heard on certain topics that you agree with or you don't like and also you can voice your opinion on what you think should happen on a topic that the person has blogged on his or her page. With many people following this person on his blog page you can get a controversy going on this topic and will be going back and forth with the people and their opinions which is kind of like an argument in person but with blogging it’s the online experience. But over the next few years I think blogging will improve in many different ways to make it easier for everyone to blog and I think there'll be an app someday where you can blog and you can post it to Face book or tweet about it on Twitter which will be so cool and just make social networking and communication even better.

My experience of creating my first blog is pretty cool because I get to see people comment on what I post and see what people have to say and give their opinions and also think what is best. But also I will be able to look at other people's blogs and comment on their things of what there topic is about. But also I'll change my blog and how it looks every once in a while because I think I don't want to keep it the same as it looks now I want to change around and make it look interesting. So that way if someone looks my blog they might think oh that looks cool I wanted something like that and for me it just gives me a variety. But I really enjoyed creating a blog because it's just another social networking tool that I can use.