Track 5 - "The Reader"

  In order to blog meaningfully, one must obviously read. A lot. One extremely user-friendly and convenient way to keep up with favorite blog sites is to use the program Google Reader. (www.google.com/reader)

  The purpose of the Google Reader is to send you notification whenever your favorite bloggers publish new posts; if you read a lot of different blogs, this is extremely useful because, as you can imagine, checking numerous websites daily for updates is quite a time consumer. When I open my Reader account, it is basically the same thing I see when I open my e-mail account. There is a number of new notifications in my "inbox" and a list of what sites they are from and links to the sites for convenient navigation.

 

  The use of this system meets the following National Educational Technology Standards:

Students locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.  (S.3) The blogs that I kept up with using the Reader, helped me locate, organize, analyze, etc. all of my reading material.Students demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.  (S.5) My class was not forced to use the Reader. We could do it if we chose to, which shows that "lifelong learning" is a priority for me.Students understand and use technology systems.  (S.6) It goes without saying that the use of any new computer program takes some getting used to. The Reader was no different. I had to learn the way it worked and how to use it to its maximum.Students select and use applications effectively and productively. (S.6) This obviously isn't the only program on the internet that serves this purpose. This objective goes hand in hand with the third in this list. It isn't too useful if I don't use it to its maximum.