Weekly Report & Reflection Post #7

Hey Everyone!

I hope those who had reading week had a great time because I know i did. Now it's time to get back to the normal school routine of essays and blogs. This week we were introduced to Google Docs and TodaysMeet which we utilized to do our collaborative Google Docs presentation. My project was on digital communication and I must say it was a pretty interesting topic.

Retrieved from: http://www.edgalaxy.com/journal/2013/4/12/20-google-docs-secrets-for-busy-teachers-and-students

Google Docs was an extremely beneficial tool and utilizing it for this project was very helpful and is something I will promoting to my fellow classmates if they do not have it already. I used Google Docs for my project on digital communication, I learned how to utilize it and realized just how useful it is; but this week instead of discussing Google Docs I wanted to discuss what this project taught me in regards to becoming a digital citizen (and a better one at that). My topic discussed digital communication which can be defined as exchanging information electronically; think of texting, email, Skyping, etc. It taught me what is considered appropriate and inappropriate digital communication within the digital community. As I read and learnt the more appropriate ways to digitally communicate, it assisted me in making adjustments to how I communicate digitally. I am now (or trying to be) more perceptive on how people perceive my messages and I am going to try my best and make sure they are going to be interpreted properly and that they are appropriate from the get go. Though digital communication is one aspect of the overall digital citizen, learning about it in more depth and understanding what is considered appropriate digital communication helped me and is leading me to becoming a better digital citizen 

Retrieved from: http://epicnewsezine.com/site/2015/08/09/anger/

To conclude, this week from my Feedly I would like to share an article which discusses how to effectively and appropriately express your anger towards your peers. Many individuals in our society react to situations angrily and inappropriately which is hurtful towards the ones they are angry at and in turn is something they may feel bad about/regret doing after the fact. The article titled How to Express Your Anger Effectively by Margarita Tartakovsky goes into detail on anger and gives tips on how to effectively express your anger and deal with it in certain situations. It is a great read and I hope you utilize and enjoy it!

Sincerely

Jason Wilson

Weekly Report & Reflection Post #6

Hello My Fellow Peers

Well, it seems like I have survived to the halfway mark of the semester. Good job to everyone who made it thus far and hopefully all of us can continue to be successful. This week I was introduced to a new tool called Evernote which I will be utilizing for my research project. The topic I have chosen to research is Digital Communication and I am excited to learn more on the topic. Evernote is a tool I had not yet heard of but boy am I glad I have been introduced to it. It will be the main tool used for this project and after a bit of a confusing start I am starting to see just how useful Evernote will be in my future.

Retrieved from:http://mergy.org/2012/05/use-the-evernote-clipper-with-safari-on-ipad-and-iphone/ 

Evernote is an online tool which contains an extremely useful web clipping tool (if you choose to download it, I recommend you do ASAP) that allows you to collect, save and categorize information throughout the web which you feel is important. As I explored Evernote I learned just how beneficial and useful a tool it is. I learned I was able to create separate notebooks and have dozens of notes within each. This allows me to have a notebook for each class and save tons of relevant websites with pertinent information which is extremely useful academically. Additionally, I can put a tag on everything I save which allows me to categorize information and remain organized while I collect a myriad of articles. The web clipping tool you can download allows you to clip any article, bookmark it for future use, screenshot it, and more. As you use the tool it sends everything you select and save to the Evernote notebook you are using. Evernote also auto-saves so you do not have to worry about losing the information as you continue finding more websites and articles. For my academic career this tool will be useful as I am able to collect and save websites, screenshot quotes, and more which will assist me with my essay writing and the qualitative research I will be conducting. I am able to categorize and condense the information I save which is extremely beneficial as I know I am saving only the best websites and knowledge.  I have already recommended Evernote to my family and now I recommend it to anyone reading this! It is a very useful tool which will help you with any projects or just let you collect and save information.

Retrieved from:http://www.spring.org.uk/2016/02/giving-support-effects-on-brain.php

To conclude this week I wanted to share an article titled Giving Support To Others Has Remarkable Effects On Your Brain which I found on my Feedly (It is amazing the articles you find). It discusses a study which examines the effects on the brain when an individual is giving support to others. It turns out that the effects are positive and it stimulates the stress and reward area of the brain. Learning of this should only give people more reason to be selfless and give support to others in their environment. Should it be friends, families, peers, or just someone who looks like they need a smile, give support to those around you. I hope you enjoyed this blog, it is time for me to relax and enjoy my reading week. Kindest regards

Sincerely,
Jason Wilson

Weekly Report & Reflection Post #5

Hey Everyone

Another week and another blog! This week I have joined the social media phenomenon Twitter and created my own account for which I will expand my PLN (Personal Learning Network). We are joining Twitter in order to connect with individuals and classmates to grow our PLN and to discover and utilize its educational benefits.

Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/11900012/Twitter-to-get-rid-of-140-character-limit.html

In the previous weeks we have been adding and learning about useful tools on the internet to assist in our learning and in growing our PLEs (Personal Learning Enviroment) and PLNs. One tool I have mentioned and we were introduced to in a previous week is the tool Feedly. When I first added it I found interesting articles but did not think more of it then that, As I checked it more frequently I discovered it was producing articles that were connected directly to the topics I was writing about for my classes. As I utilized it further I found scholarly articles for each of my classes that I have been able to quote and paraphrase in order to support my work. With the teachers requiring scholarly articles, it is fantastic to know I can look to Feedly as an academic resource that is beneficial and trustworthy. I am continuing to expand the topics that will be showing up on my feed as I know that within time they might be a good read or something extremely useful I can use in my educational career.

Now back to this week; After I joined Twitter I did a little searching and viewed some of my peers, favourite personalities, and educational individuals and discovered just how Twitter works and how useful it can be educationally. With the search engine, you can look for people or hashtags of subjects and phrases and they will be brought to your screen. You can see how people talk and think about certain topics which gives a variety of perspectives and opinions which is fantastic, view posts and links people have shared to get more information (some scholarly as well), and see what is trending and interesting which could be something you need to be informed about! This week as I just started out, I have started following a few individuals and some of my peers from ADED 1P32. Thus far, I have seen interesting articles and viewed opinions and perspectives (some I agree with, others I just did not understand) presented by these people and now I am excited to add it Twitter my PLE and expand my PLN! For the remaining people who do not have Twitter, I recommend you join as soon as you can.

Retrieved from: http://www.spring.org.uk/2016/02/reason-never-use-term-mentally-ill.php

Continuing the trend and finishing up this week, I wanted to share an interesting article I found on my Feedly! It is titled "The Reason You Should Never Use The Term 'The Mentally Ill' and I found it on PSYBLOG. The article discusses terminology and the detriment to the label of 'the mentally ill', it gives great evidence and is an interesting read. That is it for me, have a great weekend friends!

Cheers

Jason Wilson