Blog Post 12

For Blog Post 12, we were asked to come up with a set of instructions for future students of EDM 310.

Here are my instructions:

• I am going to challenge you to search on the Internet and find the latest and greatest technology. All you need to do is Google “new technology”. You will be amazed at what you will find. It can be anywhere from new search engines, new devices or new social networking sites. As we have learned in EDM 310, technology is moving fast and new ideas are introduced every day.

• After you have found your new technology, write a summary about what you have found.

• Does this seem to be something that will be useful in your classroom?

• Also, what kind of audience will this new technology appeal to?

• Let us know what you have found, include links, and be sure to look at all sides of it.

With those instructions, I have done a little research myself. I did this exact thing the other day. I sat down at my computer and Googled “new technology”. I ended up finding something called Google+. I was curious, so I did a little investigating. What I found was amazing. After visiting a few websites, I quickly went to tweet my finds and found that everyone in my PLN was already tweeting about it! Now I was really excited.

Here is what I found:

Introducing the Google+ project: Real-life sharing, rethought for the web is the first site that I visited when I found out about Google+. It is actually part of The Official Google Blog. I don’t know why I never thought about Google having their own blog. I should really be more creative. This site had a lot of information about this pilot project.

The Google+ project is a social network designed with you in mind. Hence the +You icon that you will soon find on your Google page. They claim that this will be a simpler way for you to stay connected. Here is a short video that will give a quick overview of what their goal is.



You have to be invited in order to participate. I did put in for my invitation, but so did many other people. You may have noticed that black bar across the top of your Google page. That is where they will be placing the “+You” tab.

There are five components that make up The Google+ project. They are as follows:

• Circles
Circles is used so that you can arrange your friends into certain groups. You will be able to separate your parents and pastor from your Saturday night friends. Unlike Facebook, you can post a status update to a certain circle of friends.

• Sparks
Sparks is basically a search engine that will find articles or videos that it thinks you will like. Whenever you have time, they are available for you to read.

• Hangouts
Hangouts is used so that you are able to meet up face-to-face-to-face online. We do this by using our webcams. All you need to do is let your friends know that you are hanging out and see who drops in to chat.

• Instant Upload
What a great tool! You will no longer have to physically upload your photos. They will automatically upload themselves, with your permission. They will automatically be stored in a private folder in the cloud so that they will always be available for you across any of your devices.

• Huddle
Huddle is used as a texting mechanism. Phone calls take too much time and you would have to call all of the members of your group to get the message across. When using Huddle, everyone in your Circle is involved with the text messages at the same time. This would be mostly convenient when you have to change your plans and you have to relay the message to others quickly.


Now, you may be wondering what other social networks have to say about this. I have found an article that may answer a few of those questions.

Do I feel that Google+ will benefit my students? Yes! I can foresee us being able to set a Circle of classmates. In doing that, they will be able to share information about the classroom and also keep up with what is going on socially. It will be something that needs to be monitored, of course, but what a great way to stay connected!

What kind of audience will this new technology appeal to? I believe that it will appeal to everyone. This will be a great tool to be used by many.

The bottom line is, “In the end, competition between the companies is sure to bring on more features and improvements which will greatly benefit the users of both services.”

Information is continuously being reported from the users of Google+. I am also keeping up with the latest information on Twitter.

Go here to take a tour!

I will continue looking for my Google+ invitation!