29 Sep 08: Interesting class... Prof gave us an ear-full on what we should be doing. She commented on finding out what the applications Audacity, Camstudio and Delicious can do for us as future teachers.

Paloma gave us a quick presentation on Google Finance & Google Earth. Google Finance was interesting for those of us who like see how the U.S. market is doing but more interesting how much our U.S. dollar is worth in contrast to other monetary systems in the world. Actually, this site was very nice to know it existed because we could all keep an eye on our monetary value... Google Earth, is one of those applications that I already knew about because of my job with the U.S. Coast Guard as a Search and Rescue Controller or Assest Management Director, as known in the civilian world.

Professor Pacheco talked about wetpaint.com and the usefullness of this site. She directed us to take a good look at certain sites like wetpaint.com and look into Education sub-sites. She also talked to us about using wikis in the classroom and how we all could learn now as students and later as teachers from our students just by simply reading these wikis. She made us go and look at Activo.blogspot.com and tell her how we felt about it. And last but not least she asked us to look for a video concerning out topic... topic that we would like to teach on our school project.

22 Sep 08: Today it was an interesting day... Prof. Pacheco forgot the keys to open our classroom... So, she decided to give us a 45-60 min class while we were sitting down on the stairs... Kind of interesting our classroom setup and surroundings... I liked it only because there was a cool breeze.

Prof Pacheco talked to us about the requirements of the course and how she expected all of us to meet those requirements. She talked about how we needed to start thinking about our subject for the class she is requiring us to give and then present our experiences to our classmates. She expressed that we needed to make sure that we had a Webquest, Wiki and Blog of all the information we will be presenting the students.

Prof Pacheco talked to us about Delicious.com and other tools that we have available for our class (i.e. Audacity, Pod Casting, Web 2.0 & Camstudio). She left us with a challenge... How can we better a classroom by looking for alternatives and strategies while integrating technology. She also wants us to teach her how to use these tools not the other way around.

15 Sep 08: On this date we went to Zunal.com and created our accounts... Very interesting on how we continue to find tools or applications in the internet that can be used to publish, interact and perform any type of research on any type of platform or environment. The thing that impressed me the most about Zunal.com is how they make it so easy for you to do your job and create a product that your peers or the audience you are trying to attract is familiar with and easy to follow. The format is already set or standardized for you, the publisher or creator. All you do is basically fill in the blanks... Extremely easy to use, as long as you have done your research and are ready to work.

We also looked into Delicious.com, a bookmark web-site... Everything you might imagine, you will find it there. This can make not only your life but those whom you are trying to educate, life a lot more easier... at least in the research side of the job... :) (less work more play)

08 Sep 08: Today Prof. Pacheco had me talk about my experience while I was signed-on 2nd Life on the 1st of Sep. Prof Pacheco wanted to say honestly what I thought about the program since I would be giving the view of a perfrom from a different era than the rest of my classmates.

I stated that my initial feeling was not only inmature but negative about the program because I believe that it would be a waste of my time trying out this game; OH, but was I wrong. I got to meet 2 people while I was navigating through the program. The 1st person was from UPR Humacao campus. We exchange a couple of initial greetings and words and come to find out that she was there also as part of one of her classes with other classmates. How interesting, just like me!!! The 2nd person I met was from Spain, he was assisting or educating others on how to use the program. He advised me at one point of a better way of doing what I was trying to accomplish, which was navigating through the 2nd Life Tutorial and I took his advise.

After experiencing that, I once again realized that this application brings a lot of pros and cons to the table. It can be a barrier breaker for those people who are not comfortable around other people. It can assist them in meeting and talking to other people breaking whatever cultural, social and economic barrier may exist. It can give a chance to those whom for whatever reason have isolated them selves from society to slowly re-instate themselves at their own pace. And, last but not least, it can be used as a meeting place like a chat room. Now let us be warned, like any other chat room or meeting place in the internet, this can also be a very dangerous tool in the wrong hands.

01 Sep 08: Today I signed-on as requested by Prof. Pacheco to Second Life. It was an experience, although my internet connection was slow, I was able to look around and then we went to a landmark with a tutorial to follow. In that landmark, while looking around and becoming familiar with the application, a met a couple of people from Univ. of PR, Humacao Campus. Also, met a person from Spain, whom was pretty helpful in my task to learn the application.