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I did not know what the term "wiki" meant but I had used Wikipedia before, not realizing that the site allows for more authors/users to edit the content. I did not realize that there were other sites that are wikis.
After learning about Wikis I can see the benefits that they can have in education. I think by incorporating lessons that require students to post onto wiki sites really allows for the students to post their opinions and see other students views as well. I think by using Wiki's in education it teaches the students to be collaborative in a group project and be held accountable by each student contributing to the wiki site.
I liked the examples in the article "I thought wikis were creatures in Star Wars" of physical education staff posting to a wiki site to collaborate on creating a policy manual. By having multiple people involved it allows for the content to always be reviewed and allows for each staff member to add their input.
I wikis being very beneficial and I am interested to see how far it goes as technology enhances.

 
In todays professional market, it is all about "who you know." Due to the advancement in technology, professional networking can now be done through such sites as LinkedIn. The benefit to having a profile on LinkedIn is that it allows you to connect with other people that have the same professional work experience or interest as you. Using technology allows for you to network with a variety of people that are all over the world with just a click of a button. The days have past where it takes days to hear back from someone in regards to job positions because the only communication was from Phone or snail mail. Now we have social sites, video conferencing and  email that allows for faster communication and it is convenient. 
The best ways to network without using technology is attend various events that are specific to your interest or experience. Job fairs,  company conventions, specialized groups are just a few ways to network. Another way to network is by attending meetings by your employer will allow for you to connect and interact with other colleagues and provide personal interaction.
Both networking strategies are great so it just depends on your preference. I prefer both because they each have great benefits.
 
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One of the Apps that I found that would be beneficial for me as a basketball coach is Coach's Eye. This app allows for you to use video that you have recorded on mobile device (iPhone or Android) or any other video footage that can be used to break down an athletes form or skills for improvement.
Coach's Eye is excellent for creating analysis videos with audio commentary, annotations and slow motion that can easily be shared through email, text messaging, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and with other Apps such as Dropbox, Edmodo and Evernote.

Coach's eye can even be shared with other Coach's eye users by discovering what others are doing around the world with video on the Map and find inspiration with popular videos found on the Leaderboards.

The app cost $4.99 but its a free online account that gives web
access to videos that you have shared or liked.


 
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Now that I have created a LinkedIn profile, I am interested to learn about the benefits of having it. First off, I can tell that LinkedIn is focused on career professionals. I would consider LinkedIn more of a
"professional network" and Facebook as "social network."  LinkedIn allows recommendations to the user by providing profiles to "connect" with that have similar work experience. LinkedIn is not as entertaining as Facebook because there are not multiple status updates or a variety of pictures and videos being posted or tags by friends or acquaintances. The main difference I see is that LinkedIn provides a "true" picture of someone in regards to their professional work experience, where as Facebook profiles can be a facades of someone. What I do like about LinkedIn is that, it is not as easy to become distracted with various updates and pictures while searching through the site like Facebook. If you log on to LinkedIn it is for a specific reason (professional networking) where Facebook I am guilty of  logging on just to waste time or for a moment of entertainment.

 
Like I said before, I am new to all the new technology and the tech words. I
had no idea what web 2.0 was. I now understand the difference between Web 1.0
and 2.0. Web 2.0 is the next generation of the web by having the user more
involved. Users are able to make post, publish and interact with a greater range
of Internet users than before. Before, web 1.0 did not have user interaction.
I'm interested to see how much more technology evolves. I found it interesting
that there are over 3 million students that attend college via the web in the
United States. That goes to show much technology has influenced education and
the ease that it is creating for many people to attend school. I am thankful for
this advancement in technology else I would have this opportunity to be part of
the 3 million online students. I cannot wait for what's next.

 
I always enjoyed watching these commericals. LeBron is my favorite basketball player.
 
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Since being in this class, it has really opened my eyes to
  several technologies. At first I was intimidated by the new advancements of technology but there are several ones that I would like to incorporate into my coaching profession that would be beneficial.

1. Facebook Fan page- I created a Facebook fan page for my basketball team at Kerman High. I thinks it’s important to have FANS in order to keep the excitement. I would like to use that to post updates to and various team outing events, game scores, tournament highlights and pictures. I would also like for the parents as well as the players and school students to "Like" the fan page so that they can always see what we have planned or the team success.
2. Twitter- I want to use my twitter in a similar way as the Facebook fan page, except these will be instant alerts to my followers. I will make sure that each of my players will "follow me" on twitter so that they can always have the most accurate and up to date
information that will come directly from my "tweets."
3. Flickr- I want to make sure that I have pictures in an additional location that I take with my personal camera. I like that I can I can access the photos at any time via web.

4. PWP- I think its important to create a web presence on the web that highlights me and gives me the opportunity to manage my online presence. By creating a PWP, it may allow for other networking opportunities that can get me to my ultimate goal of being a college head coach.

I am sure there will be other technologies that I would want to incorporate as we continue with this course but I look forward to what’s next.


 
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 After reviewing the top 100 tools for 2012, I found out that I am a little bit more advanced than I thought when it comes to technology. I wrote a list  as I was reading the top 100 tools to see how many tools I currently use. I ended up being at 20%, I originally did not even think I would be at that many.
I was surprised that out of the 582 professionals that were surveyed for this list, that Twitter was ranked #1.  I am still learning about Twitter, but I did not think it would be #1 as a learning tool. I now can see how Twitter can be a learning tool because its gives instant update to followers and it can be a short "tweet" that is to the point. I also was surprised about Facebook being ranked at #9, which is up 5 places from year 2011.  Facebook is one of the most popular social network sites and I just expected for it to be ranked in the top 5 on a yearly basis.
 Twitter, Moodle and Flickr are the new tools that I am learning about since being in this master's program. I look forward to learning about more tools and using them in my coaching career. 

 
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The greatest benefit I see to podcasting in education is the fact that it is something that is available to listen to at any time and at my leisure. With being a Head basketball coach I am always on-the-go, I do not always have time to read a text book or log on to the Net to read an article. The reason why I chose to do an online Master's program is because I like the flexibility in choosing when I will "log-on" to work on schoolwork. 

I can see podcasting becoming a favorite in comparison to in-class lectures. There are many college programs that are impacted where they can only allow as many students as there are seats.  Therefore, there are many students who may not get into the class due to that reason. However, podcasting can really open up greater opportunities for students because it is not limited. Besides, there are many people who are juggling multiple things. For me, I am juggling being a Husband, a Father, a Head basketball coach and a graduate student and podcasting would be convenient when I need to catch up on reading assignments or lectures while driving. 

We live in a society that we are constantly on the go and always looking to have
everything we need at our fingertips and this is a great example of that. I am
thankful for the advancement in technology where I am able to squeeze many
things into a 24-hour day.


 
Elon University wrote an article about the future of "Generation Always-On" in year
2020. It is expected that Teens-to-20s will benefit and suffer due to 'always-on' lives. Right now Generation AO have an amazing ability to juggle many task, a thirst for instant gratification while they will suffer by having a lack of patience.


I agree that the 2020 generation will have many different experiences in technology than any other previous generation. However, I agree that many use the Internet as their external brain which I feel will cause for them to think "shallow" and not know the true meaning of thinking in depth. I worry about the future generation because it does seem like being 'always-on" will and can affect their attention span and patience.

However, some benefits that I see are that it allows for the generation to be creative
and strive for something better. We live in a society that always wants to be "first" when it comes to technology advancements and with Gen AO they may be able to put a new spin on things and create bigger and better technology in society for future generations. But by putting a spin on something, it means that the idea has already been there and therefore it is not as unique. The Internet is used for people to find answers but it does not let them think for themselves. My worry is that we will become a society that is so dependent on technology that we will not know how to function without it.


    Author

    Shannon Taylor
    Head Basketball coach at Kerman High School. Currently a graduate student at Fresno Pacific University for Kinesiology with an emphasis in Physical Education

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