Topic 2

I first went to Cloud Canvas and clicked on the red LAUNCH button.  But it was stubborn and wouldn't launch.  I even created an account to use it, thinking that might be the problem.  But it still wouldn't launch!  Too frustrating.

I then went to Splashup.  I tried loading a picture from Facebook but it wouldn't work.  I went to my desktop and found a few pictures to play with.  Splashup reminded me of a photo editor (which I can't remember the name of it for the life of me!) I used when my colleague "Hoovie" and I created a Power Point presentation.  I wish I had a printed manual with examples so that I could utilize the full power of this tool, as I did not know what some of the special effects meant.  I could definitely use some of the enhancement tools to improve the photo quality of my digital pictures I took of my students doing various cultural activities.

I then downloaded Picasa.  It took more than 20 minutes for it to load and organize all my pictures and videos from my computer!  I spent over TWO HOURS revisiting the past.  It had located photos and videos that I had completely forgotten about.  Amazing!  This tool organizes everything for you and shows you duplicates (and those duplicates are so easy to delete).  This tool will be useful because NOW I can finally locate all those those student pictures I've accumulated over the last two decades.  In fact, I found photos of Mexico that students had given me copies of that I showed in class over five years ago.  Hoovie, I can't wait for you to see some of these pictures!

My overall choice is Picasa.  I can't wait to show these "lost" photos of cultural projects to my students!  :-)

Topic 1

I read several blogs before embarking on this assignment.  To quote one of them, I also feel like a fish out of agua.  My hope is that this class brings me up to speed as to what's out there in the virtual world and that I actually use it in the upcoming school year.

I tried the Prezentit website, but it didn't load.  On the top of the site it said, "This version of PreZentit is no longer supported. We're working on a new one."  ¡Ay, caramba!

I then went to the JayCut website.  I looked at the demo, but I felt overwhelmed by the presentation.  I am literally a step-by-step learner and love handouts to jot down information to aid my learning.  This website didn't offer that type of comfort zone.  I was ready to give this tool a low rating, but then I decided to ask my best friend (a fellow colleague) if she had ever used this tool.  She proceeded to show me a beautiful slideshow presentation WITH MUSIC that she was going to use at her daughter's graduation party.  Impressed, I asked to copy her handwritten notes. 

Being a Spanish teacher, I could definitely use this tool to create a slideshow of a bullfight I had my students recreate just a few weeks ago.  I took several pictures and I downloaded bullfighting music from iTunes.  Now I can't wait to start!