Week 9: Social Tools & Cloud Computing

This week we discussed cloud computing and learned about two useful tools designed for everyone: Google Docs and Delicious social bookmarking. Cloud computing is being able to use server-based applications as a service rather than being tied to a specific platform on a specific machine or device. In my opinion, cloud computing is quite complex, but I use it everyday - when I check my email or use Facebook. Social bookmarking is a way of using cloud computing to share bookmarks and favorites on the web. It is useful because instead of all of your bookmarks being saved to your personal computer, bookmarks can be saved on Delicious and accessed from any computer through the internet.

This week's tools were especially useful to me as a future teacher. First of all, Google Docs is great way to share information with parents, other teachers, colleagues, and even personal contacts. With a Google Doc you can share information in real time with constant editing power. One example is using a Google document to share information when doing a group project. Each member can edit and add to the document so that everyone is up to date and there is no need for multiple emails.

Social bookmarking is also useful for teachers because it is a way to share teaching resources with everyone. For example, if there is a lesson plan or new technique that many would benefit from, a person simply has to add the bookmark to their delicious and share it with other teachers. These links are easy to find by using "tagging," a method of classifying each bookmark - just like we do on blogger.

This website gives an explanation of social bookmarking and how it can work for any individual. I believe that this tool is great for any profession and is growing in popularity. I'm excited to use these tools in the future!