Week 1 Web 2.0

The first day of ED 421 was full of creating and discovering new things. For example, this blog. As a class, we took the time to set-up a g-mail account that would allow us to set-up a blog through blogger.com. Setting up a blog was a learning experience for me. I have never blogged before, therefore, I have never set-up a blog. However, blogger.com is a simple way to set-up a blog for yourself. It even allows you to customize the font, color, and layout to your liking. During this first class we also visited bighugelabs.com. Here we each chose a section to look at as far as it would let us before asking for money. I chose PopArt. It was a place to upload your own photos giving it a "pop-art" feel with bright colors and multiple copies. Then we shared what we had learned to the rest of the class using the SmartBoard. This was a fun and new experience too. Just in the few minutes of sharing I could see some of the positives and negatives that come along with the use of a SmartBoard.

Our homework for the day was too look over web 2.0. A website full of programs used online. I was not sure what to expect before visiting the site, but right away many of the program icons that popped up I was very familiar with. There are over 70 pages of icons of different programs, and some of the programs that I am familiar with include Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Pandora, StumbleUpon, and Chegg. I like how this site is set-up because if you run your mouse over an icon that catches your interest it gives a quick description of what the programs is. For example, when I came across Pinterest, the description given was "an online pin board". If you are still interested and want to learn more after the brief description you can click on the icon for more information. Then you can learn a little more about the site, and if the site offers a free membership. The icons I clicked on were mostly free, there were only few that required money for a membership. Web 2.0 is a website I would always like to remember for fun new programs online.