Tech Assessment #2: Let's Talk Tools

Moodle ✩✩✩ 

          Since the beginning of my college life in the University of Guam, everyone from students to teachers have been utilizing Moodle. Students use this learning management system to turn in their assignments, check their grades, and communicate with their professors and peers. Teachers are able to post up announcements, attendance, grades, assignments with their due dates, and other helpful examples or links for the students' use. Although this system has been great over the years, it does have a few issues that I have noticed from my experience with it. Moodle has a tendency of not having the correct due dates even if they were supposedly changed. I have also noticed the constant need for maintenance, especially at inconvenient times when I am required to turn something in or check instructions for an assignment. Overall, Moodle is a great tool for schools besides the minor inconveniences.

Chrome ✩✩✩✩ 

          I have been using Chrome since I discovered the Internet and definitely have preferred it over all the other web browsers available until the present day. Chrome works the same way as any other browser allowing Internet users to surf the web and search up anything they need. The main thing that caught my attention was, of course, the features included in the browser. I am able to completely change the design and layout of my Chrome browser to whatever I wish. There are also some things I can add on such as AdBlocker that blocks pop-up advertisements that might show up when I'm watching videos on Youtube, which is exclusively available for Chrome. However, the one thing I have noticed is that some websites are not compatible with Chrome meaning that the website might look different or some of the content will not show. Overall, I enjoy using Chrome and I feel that it is still the best web browser.

Google Apps ✩✩✩✩✩ 

          Google alone is already the best and most used search engine on the Internet. Google Apps are the other applications that Google has come out with including Gmail, Drive, Blogger, Hangouts, Classroom, and so many more. All of these apps have definitely changed my life for the better and has made being a student and an employee easier. I hope to soon use these tools and others that I have not had the time to get familiar with in my classroom and career as an educator. Overall, this tool has been the most helpful and I know for sure I will be utilizing it for the rest of my life until something better comes along, if that is even possible.

LiveBinders ✩✩✩✩✩ 
          I only learned about LiveBinders recently and I have grown to love it. LiveBinders is an electronic binder that allows us to organize live online resources into specific tabs for future use. It took me a bit of time to play around with it and discover the features within the tool. I really love how the resources open up and we can look through it as if we were actually on the website. This feature is very convenient, especially for the busy life of a teacher. Overall, LiveBinders is a great tool to keep all my resources together and I will definitely make use of it as a teacher for my lesson plans.


Weebly ✩✩ 

          Weebly is a web hosting service that allows its users to create their own websites with their various features and tools. My experience with this tool was actually terrible because I thought it would be easy to edit, but it was very difficult and confusing to understand. Another problem that I noticed was that the edited version looked completely different from the published version of the website. There were multiple times where I would edit and it would not show up on the website or the next day the saved content would be gone. Overall, Weebly did not help me grow in terms of my technological skills and I would never advise anyone to use this tool.

Canva ✩✩✩ 

          In the past, I would only use the Canva app to edit my photos because I did not realize that it could also be used to create slideshows. Canva is a graphic-design tool that can be used to edit photos, design logos, and make presentations. I think it is great for editing photos because it has amazing aesthetics, but in terms of creating a group presentation, it was somewhat difficult. Canva did not allow us to edit at the same time, so one device was the main editor while the rest can only watch them make the changes. Overall, I loved the layouts and features for this tool but I would not use it again for a group assignment.



Voki ✩✩✩✩ 

          Voki is a text-to-speech tool where you can type out anything you would like your character to say out loud. I remember being introduced to this website in middle school when my teacher used it to introduce themselves. I have always enjoyed this tool because it is a fun way to present something instead of doing an ordinary presentation. You can start off by choosing a character out of their given selection or create one from scratch and choose one of the backgrounds given or upload a specific photo you would like. However, some of the special avatars require a premium account, which you would have to pay for. Overall, Voki still does the job of text to speech regardless of might not getting the avatar that I would like.

iMac ✩✩✩✩✩ 

       Ever since I owned my first Apple product, I have not been able to let go of the brand. Almost every electronic device that I own today is from Apple. I actually do not own a iMac desktop computer, but I have been using it during the class period and it has similar features to a MacBook laptop. I have tried other brands such as the HP desktop in class as well and I still prefer the iMac because, in my opinion, the functions and features are far better and more familiar to me. With the iMac, users are given fun apps for free such as iTunes, iMovie, GarageBand, and so much more. Overall, this tool continues to amaze me and I will hopefully own one in the future.

Rating Scale

✩✩✩✩✩ - I will definitely use this tool again & recommend it to everyone.
✩✩✩✩ - I would use this tool again & might recommend to a few others.
✩✩✩ - I might use this tool again, but probably would not recommend it to others.
✩✩ - I will never use this tool again & most likely will not recommend to others.
✩ - I would stay far away as possible from this tool & definitely not recommend it to anyone.