It Just Gets Easier All The Time

It gets easier, but it gets complicated.  The inexorable move to online technology will define who we are, both as individuals and as a society, but we are still early and like the automobile industry many years ago, there are many entrepreneurs trying their hand, creating new products.  There were literally hundreds of car manufacturers in 1900, most of them building cars in their barns!  Now how many are there?

I truly believe our technological development is following a similar path.  In one hundred years, there will be fewer players than today.  The question becomes, what can we use today that will help us become better teachers?

Richardson (2010) talks about particular products he favors, and that's great.   Flickr is wonderful, we all know (and some of us even love) Facebook, and Google -- well, what can I say about Google? Will they still be there in ten years?  I guess we'll find out.  I used to think Microsoft would rule the world for at least 50 years.

For now, however, I am favoring Google's list of tools.  They are easy and intuitive and available for free.  As I see it, most of the data can be shared, whether from Google Drive to Google Earth, and when set up correctly, they can help me avoid the trap of taking hours and hours trying to determine if a particular software is really worth the time.  Plus, from a security standpoint, Google can be set to high levels of privacy, which would be a true boon in schools.  If you haven't really tried out what they have to offer, give it a try now.

Another that I live and die by (and take all my class notes on) is Evernote, which I can't say enough about.  I am having fun using Diigo, but Evernote is my go-to app for both notes and web page snapshots.  Check it out.

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stabilo-boss/93136022/">Ludwig Gatzke</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>