Media skills are very important for all to know. I already know how to screen shot on both my phone, iPad, and laptop. I am also a user of Instagram ( you can follow me gladle13)-although not heavily. I use it once in a while. I feel I'd like to start using it more. I also use Snapchat to talk to my best friend in North Carolina and her two daughters.
So today I wanted to try out something different. I decided to try out fotojet.com. I created a free account and then created two designs- one Facebook banner with images from SSL conferences and then I created a collage with pictures of my cat from the time I got him at 2Lbs to now when he is 18lbs. It has only been two and a half years. 😊
I found this tool to be extremely user friendly and easy to access. It allows you to upload images from your computer or Facebook. The images come in cleanly and easy to use. There are options to edit each photo as well. There is a paid version that would unlock more templates but I feel that the free version provides plenty of options for a beginning person or group of students. I loved the amount of options you have to choose from when it comes to designing different items. You're also able to create flyers, cards, and more on this site. You can directly save them to your device or share them on social media as well.
I feel that this would be a great tool to use with students when they need to create a flyer or simple presentation. Students could create a series of collages to demonstrate their topics. It would also be beneficial to use the different social media templates to help students create their own banners or posts.
I work with the 8th grade science teacher in my building during the spring on a biomes project and this would be great to use so that the students could create their food chains within a collage and add arrows showing how the food chain moves in that particular biome.
Fotojet is definitely a program I will continue to use.
I have tried Twitter in the past because it was required for a college class however, I didn't really care for it and I wasn't thrilled that I was forced to use it or lose points for a class. I think it should have been an option as to which social media tool we chose to use. But I used it because I had to and then I stopped. So I thought it would be fun to try it out again as it has become much more popular and seems to be something that I should take the time and learn about so-
My first thought is that Twitter is quick and simple to use however, I do find that I like Facebook much more. However, I've only been using Twitter for a couple of weeks now- so I'll give it some more time before I fully judge it. :-)
You can follow me @Books_13_Amber.
Right now I'm currently following some of the TV shows that I like to watch, football team, sports teams, publishers and authors. I'm working on reaching out and contacting co-workers and friends.
I also have followed a few Librarians along with checking out the groups in the assignment. I have been perusing through the information looking for ideas to help me throughout my career. I run a few different book clubs in my school and I have found ideas for books to read for my book clubs which is nice. Especially for my faculty book club group.
I haven't done too much tweeting yet myself however, it was discussed at our last liaison meeting for our school library system that we should try and come up with a hashtag to use for our area. I'm looking forward to this as many of the other librarians already use twitter.
I'm hoping that as the year progresses I will get more use out of it and gather more information. I know that it is popular to use during conferences and I will make sure that I'm prepared to use it during that time.
