Class Technology
First off I just want to thank Laura for outlining all of these tools for us in one place. That will be really helpful later on in the semester when we begin working on our projects. Most of the programs that she mentions, like Canva and Wix, I've used once or twice before, either for college classes or even in high school. And most of these programs are very user-friendly, so even if I am a little rusty with them, they should be pretty easy to navigate.
In May, I'll be departing for my service with the Peace Corps, and I've been thinking of using some digital platform to be able to write about my time there and share it easily with my loved ones. A blog or a website would be perfect for that, because then everyone could go to one place to keep up with me, and I could just share the link with those I want to keep in the loop. So being able to do both of those things this semester will be a great way to figure those programs out before I leave.
Laura pointed out some helpful extensions to have on your browser (I use Chrome, personally, even though I have a Macbook, just because I find it easier to use, especially since I store my documents and class readings on Google Drive), but I would like to suggest one additional one that might be helpful for this class, and others. There's a program called Zotero, which is like your own little personal research assistant. You can download an app for your computer, but there's also a Chrome extension you can download here. With the program, you can save articles, documents, and more in one place, organized by project. The program helps you format citations from those sources, which you can use on your blog, website, in Microsoft Word, anywhere that you might need to put a citation. With my major, I've found it really helpful, since I rely on a lot of academic articles for my class assignments, and it's nice to have all my sources for each assignment in one place. The extension lets you save references directly from your web browser instead of having to copy and paste the link into the app.
In May, I'll be departing for my service with the Peace Corps, and I've been thinking of using some digital platform to be able to write about my time there and share it easily with my loved ones. A blog or a website would be perfect for that, because then everyone could go to one place to keep up with me, and I could just share the link with those I want to keep in the loop. So being able to do both of those things this semester will be a great way to figure those programs out before I leave.
Laura pointed out some helpful extensions to have on your browser (I use Chrome, personally, even though I have a Macbook, just because I find it easier to use, especially since I store my documents and class readings on Google Drive), but I would like to suggest one additional one that might be helpful for this class, and others. There's a program called Zotero, which is like your own little personal research assistant. You can download an app for your computer, but there's also a Chrome extension you can download here. With the program, you can save articles, documents, and more in one place, organized by project. The program helps you format citations from those sources, which you can use on your blog, website, in Microsoft Word, anywhere that you might need to put a citation. With my major, I've found it really helpful, since I rely on a lot of academic articles for my class assignments, and it's nice to have all my sources for each assignment in one place. The extension lets you save references directly from your web browser instead of having to copy and paste the link into the app.
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| A screenshot of the Zotero Connector Chrome extension page in the web store (link to webstore above). |
Like you, I really appreciate Laura outlining all of the available technology tips and tricks in one place for us to check out during the semester! At first, I wasn't too sure how I would feel about having to write a blog, but now it's becoming second nature to me! Also, I wish I knew about Zotero earlier for my other writing classes! It seems to be especially handy when writing long, extensive research papers, and I think more people should know about it to save them save time and frustration!
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