I created a visual resume with ResumUP. Follow this link to check it out!! http://resumup.com/25077234
There were several great examples of statistical tools that can be very helpful in regards to research methods. One tool that drew my attention is called Dataplot. I looked into this one and feel as though it would be a great tool for those that may not be as statistically inclined or those that are looking for a lot of graphics. I liked the options Dataplot had for the graphics capabilities and as a visual learner I was drawn to this option for statistical portrayal. I am sure that the tools available for statistical analysis are numerous and all are very helpful, but I am looking forward to exploring more with the tool that I have found.
Attention Athletic Trainers! Please take my very short survey on baseline concussion assessment. Through discovering exactly what a personal website is and can be I think there are some differences to using this as opposed to using LinkedIn as a professional portfolio. I think there are pros to both types of portfolios which include aspects such as displaying both personal and professional information, resume access, contact information, and networking capabilities. The cons to LinkedIn that I can see is that it is less customizable when one may want to add a personal touch, there is less capability to link other social media sites to it, and there isn’t an option for the blogger. Cons to using a personal website is that LinkedIn already has a vast networking system set in place where more exposure may be an option, and it can be more user friendly to some individuals who are already comfortable in the use of the network. I do not think that there are any drastic differences that should deter one from the use of either of these and I think that it comes down to personal preference. I have really adapted and become fond of the use of a personal website and like the fact that my LinkedIn is connected here as well.
Professional networking in the world of athletic training is crucial as I know that it is to so many other fields of expertise. The athletic training world is a small one as they say and we all know that a lot of the time is isn’t always what you know but who you know. I think that there are some amazing resources out there for professional networking such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc., but I think that to start a relationship and to get someone to know you, it has got to first be face to face. Now, I understand that this may not always be possible and that the social media sites afford us the opportunity to connect with professionals that we would not otherwise have the opportunity to meet, but I must stress that I think the face to face method cannot be overlooked. For this reason, I try not to pass up opportunities to meet other athletic training professionals and do my best to network with others at district meetings and conferences. I believe that getting out there is half of the battle and I am grateful that as a student I went to several of these conferences and met some amazing people that have ended up helping me or me helping them in one way or another.
I am not suggesting that the online networking is not going to be beneficial, but I think that the more people that can put your face to your name and can spread the word about you both on a personal level and on a social media level, the better off you will be when it comes to networking opportunities. Prior to reading the articles assigned, I did not have any in real background knowledge on the use of, the purpose of, or the real definition of a wiki. The only understanding that I had before the knowledge given in the literature was what I had known of Wikipedia, and knew that anyone could make edits to these webpages and that was the reason why throughout school, it could never be used as a credible source. Now that I have a better understanding of what a wiki is and what they are intended for I can understand how it would be very useful. A wiki was described as a website where multiple authors can add additional information to a webpage and it can be accessed by as little or as many authors as you would like.
In the educational realm, I think a resource like this would be a very useful and applicable tool. I think that several parties in the educational team would benefit from the use of this dependent upon the goal of the course, assignment, etc. If an educator could put this out for the class and have them see a document and make additions when necessary and then students could see what their classmates have done, I think that it would be a very efficient way to manage certain aspects of a course or assignment. Another thing that I keep coming back to is thinking how useful a tool like this would be in a group project setting where each of the group members could add or make edits to a project in a place where all members could see it at once. I can think of one project in particular in my undergraduate rehabilitation class that I would have loved to have a resource such as this on my side to use and keep track of several peoples work in this manner instead of trading emails and papers and trying to organize the work of several people into one file. I think that wikis should and will be used more as a technological advantage and I am happy to be afforded the knowledge of this valuable instrument. I have been a LinkedIn user for a little over a year and a Facebook user for even longer. Unless you are using Facebook for professional uses only, which let’s be honest most of us are not, the two are very different. LinkedIn is a place where you can network on a professional level and I think it is an excellent place to showcase your work experience and connect with colleagues. LinkedIn is also a place to connect with others whom you may not know but may have professional connections with or are associated by a company or a job. I have connected with several other athletic trainers of schools in my area that I have never met and I think that LinkedIn provides a unique opportunity for such connections.
With Facebook, connections are often purely social and sometimes people may be more reluctant to connect with people whom they have never met for fear of sharing their personal lives with a stranger. I admit that I am this way, I will not accept a friend request on Facebook unless I know the individual, but with LinkedIn I am more willing to do so on a professional level for the possible work connections in the future and for the purposes of professionally networking. In exploring the heaping amounts of apps available to use for education I stumbled upon a couple that I found to be interesting. One of these is called Hootsuite. With this app you can publish and schedule posts to multiple social media sites all at once. For educators who communicate with their students or have followers looking for their posts, this could be a very effective way to organize and keep track of each of the sites that need attention. I have to admit that since starting this course and becoming more of a “techy” than ever before I have felt a little overwhelmed at times trying to remember to follow up with each and every media site that we’ve joined. In that respect, I think that an app such as Hootsuite would be useful.
Another app that I thought may be quite useful in education is called VoiceThread. This app could be helpful in education particularly when a group of people are working together, on a project for example. The app allows several people to share conversation with documents or pictures and videos and has a feature that allows the individual to draw on the screen. If a group were to use this app it may make it easier to explain and share ideas and documents when they cannot get together, or in our case when the students may be thousands of miles apart. There are several apps that can assist in education and it is fascinating to see the options out there that smart phones have that computers do not. It can also be very user friendly when an educational app is available on both a laptop and a smart phone so that a student has versatility in how and when they use such technological tools and in searching for these it reminds me of how much is out there and available to me and how I have barely scratched the surface. The information shared in the article 2014 Top 100 Tools for Learning was a list compiled according to the results of the 8th Annual Learning Survey of the top 100 tools that are used in learning today. Hart (2014) stated that “a learning tool is defined as any software or online tool or service that you can use either for your own personal or professional learning, for teaching or training, or for creating e-learning”. In looking over and exploring the list I was surprised by the fact that I have used or do currently use 31 of these tools. Of the remaining tools, I had heard of some and others I had not. I think that compiling a list such as this each year is a great idea for teachers and learners alike to understand where to go in search of tools and this list can inspire some or encourage the start of the use of some of these tools. I have looked at several of these and will continue to explore more of these tools that so many other learners seem to have already found.
References Hart, J. (2014, September 22). 2014 top 100 tools for learning. Retrieved from Top 100 Tools for Learning 2014: Results of the 8th Annual Survey of Learning Tools: http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/ |