My school-issued computer is a PC. In fact, every computer that I have ever owned have been PC's. I wouldn't say that I necessarily want a Mac, but there are a handful of Mac-specific features that I am envious are not available for PC. Widgets, for example. As I was exploring the World Wide Web in search of all the various types of widgets that my PC and I are missing out on, I discovered something of a loophole. While widgets still are not technically PC-compatible, blogs happen to be adequate host-sites for widgets. And, thanks to Raven About Web 2.0, I happen to have a blog.
To showcase some web technology that I thought was cool, I chose a Chicago Cubs widget. This was admittedly a bit selfish because the Cubs widget has no real practical application to education -- which is why my technology showcase for this "thing" comes in two parts. There are certainly a variety of widgets that can be integrated into classroom curriculum, and numerous other widgets that may not be content-related, but defintely can serve to sharpen students' minds.
My justification for this particular widget is, in a nutshell, that I think widgets are a cool piece of web technology, and I really only have one favorite sport, and one favorite team. With the Cubs widget, I can simultaneously check my blog and find out the latest news about my Cubbies.
To showcase some web technology that I thought was cool, I chose a Chicago Cubs widget. This was admittedly a bit selfish because the Cubs widget has no real practical application to education -- which is why my technology showcase for this "thing" comes in two parts. There are certainly a variety of widgets that can be integrated into classroom curriculum, and numerous other widgets that may not be content-related, but defintely can serve to sharpen students' minds.
My justification for this particular widget is, in a nutshell, that I think widgets are a cool piece of web technology, and I really only have one favorite sport, and one favorite team. With the Cubs widget, I can simultaneously check my blog and find out the latest news about my Cubbies.
If nothing else, I want this class to be practical. As a Mac girl from way back, I have to admit to a partiality for Mac - I know that almost everything I can do on my mac I can do on a pc, it just takes too bloody long to find it :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree that widgets are great - I don't use them all that much but there are a few, like my google reader and gmail widgets, that I don't want to live without!