Chapter 2: Communications, Networks, the Internet, and the World Wide Web

I found Chapter 2 (Communications, Networks, the Internet, and the World Wide Web) to be a good review of things we use every day. Although most of us use the terms "internet" and "world wide web" interchangeably, I learned that they actually aren't exactly the same. The world wide web, the book tells us, is the largest service used on the internet. It explains and gives examples of popular plug-in applications such as Acrobat Reader, Flash Player, QuickTime, and Windows Media Player. I found that a lot of what Chapter 2 had to say helped me to put a name to things that I encounter a lot. Especially what things like URL, http, and other abbreviations stand for. As we talked about in class, I think that RSS (really simple syndication) is very helpful for those of us who don't have all the time in the world. This helps send us the feeds from all the sites we love, without having to visit each individual site.

Something that I learned last week that I have been using ever since is iGoogle. How addicting?! I've set up my calendar and look at it about 3-4 times a day. I love being able to have my own personal calendar everywhere I go. With iGoogle itself, I check the weather each morning before heading to class (to see what to wear) while also glancing at the day's top stories. I love having everything right at my fingertips.

I thought last week's presentations were very helpful. Each site that the class covered had it's own interesting aspect that could easily be incorporated into everyday classroom life. The search we did for lesson plans also helped me to know that there's a lot more out there for teachers than I thought. It's good to know that when I finally get out there with a class of my own, I'll have some good help!