Blog Post #8

 For assignment four, I was tasked with creating a website on the platform Weebly for my hypothetical class. At first, I found Weebly to be difficult to use and somewhat tedious as the instructions are not defined in a clear fashion. Similarly, there were multiple incidents where the platform did not save my website automatically and my adjustments were no where to be found. This lead to me spending more time on redoing formatting and content editing that I had already done. However, I found Weebly to be provide a high degree of design flexibility with themes and fairly solid website speeds. Overall, I have enjoyed this experience of curating my own website that allowed me explore and enhance my internet skills. 

Diigo can be classified as a social and digital bookmarking tool that allows users to search, highlight, bookmark, share, and annotate materials on the internet. In my opinion, Diigo is a useful professional tool where teachers and students can actively collaborate while engaging in conversations and receiving helpful feedback. Likewise, Diigo presents a unique feature where users are given the ability to organize their bookmarks into lists as well as groups. In my opinion, Diigo would be useful in my future classroom as students and myself can share useful internet material that pertains to the course. Additionally, I can share and find new materials through interacting on Diigo with fellow teachers. 

Today, the teaching environment is heavily dependent technology which requires educators to stay informed. There are multiple ways for teachers to obtain updated knowledge about the newest trends in educational technology, through blogs and educational organizations. Technology blogs that are catered towards teachers are a great way to stay in the know as viewers can subscribe allowing them to gain unlimited access. Normally, these educational technology blogs are designed to enhance classroom learning experience and improve levels of engagement in students. By reading and watching these blogs, teachers can access tutorial videos, review articles, step-by-step instructions, and photos to enhance their understanding of how to use technology in the classroom. It is clear that teachers can benefit from receiving emails or updates from blogs such as Ed Tech Roundup. Another method for teachers to stay informed is by registering with ISTE which facilitates and guides the building of relevant skills for education today. ISTE offers various courses designed for educators to build and develop digital competencies.