Summary Post C4T #4

The Power of Educational Technology: Liz Davis

My first comment on Liz Davis' blog was for a post about how she introduced Twitter to her technology class of high school seniors. In total, the students could see the value of Twitter as a networking tool; however, they didn't think it was appropriate for teens their age. This may have been due to the fact that the majority of Twitter users are either teachers, businesses or celebrities, to name a few. The students remained faithful to Facebook as a social media, as they believed it could do everything that Twitter could and more. The students didn't seem to understand why someone would want to publish what they had for breakfast, as well. Also, Liz Davis teaches in an all-boys school, so one of her questions asked if girls might have responded differently to Twitter.

In my comment, I agreed with the students that Twitter might not offer as many interesting applications as Facebook; however, it doesn't decrease its value as a networking tool for college research or job/internship opportunities. I mentioned that I have a Twitter account where I follow educators, bands, authors, magazines, and museums, but that I didn't follow any of my friends for fear that the status updates would be unending!

The second post I commented on was called "Two for Tuesday". Liz Davis publishes a post like this every Tuesday with two possibly useful websites for her followers. The post I commented on had a Thanksgiving theme. One website was EarthCam.com and the other was FreeRice.com. On the EarthCam website, viewers could watch the Macy's Day Parade in New York via live video stream. And the FreeRice website was really cool! You answer questions about vocabulary, definitions, etc., and for every question you answer correctly, 10 grains of rice are donated through the World Food Programme to fight world hunger.

All in all, I thought both websites were really neat. I also liked Liz Davis' idea of "Two for Tuesday" and I loved that she used her blog to share all of these wonderful tips with her followers.