Thing 13: Online Productivity Tools

I chose igoogle for a start page, mostly because I already had an account with google. It was fun to set it up, choose a theme, and add some gadgets. Some of the gadgets I added will certainly not make me more productive, but it was too tempting to not add the PacMan game. :) I also set up a google calendar, which I am going to try to use as my main calendar. In the past, I have used my Outlook calendar at school, and my MSN calendar at home. Most of the time I send the appointment to whichever calendar I am not sitting at, but don't always remember, making it confusing. I like that you can access the google calendar from anywhere, and that you can share it with others. I also looked at some of the tools for creating lists, but have a really hard time giving up my paper lists. I find it almost therapeutic to physically cross something I have completed off the list, and don't have access to the web except when I am at the computer. This wouldn't do me any good at the grocery store unless I print out the list anyway (and I LOVE the pad I found that breaks your grocery list into departments of the grocery store!) I am challenging myself to try these lists and see how it goes....we'll see.

I was thinking about which tools I could use in the classroom with my students. The one that jumped out as useful was the online calendar, but that seems useless due to the calendar feature on Edline.