C4T #3

C4T # 3


This week I was assigned to read Jenny She's Blog. It just happened that the Post that I read had to do with Google +. I am very happy that I read to see that she was using Google + too. 


For the past month, many of us have heard people around the world, raving about Google Plus--unless of course if you live below sea level or under the rock.  I have to admit that I joined Google Plus fairly early because I have friends who are very active in social networking.  And ever since,  my ride with Google Plus has been very pleasant.  I love it totally.  So far it has been just a social networking site where I interact with friends globally.

My views changed dramatically last Monday night when I over heard a family member having a "hang out" with her peers.  This family member is in her final year of completing her degree in Optometry at Auckland University.  There she was hanging out with her optometry classmates discussing about their assignments.  They were eight of them in the "hang out" and I could hear them talking and discussing about their topics and I could also hear them laughing at times assuming that one had given the wrong answer.  It reminded me of the tutorials that I used to attend when I was at university.  To me, this is just awesome, now people do not have to meet in a room in any particular time to hold any meeting.  The seemingly important "tutorials" can be held after hours outside the institutions.  Imagine how much bus fare or petrol money these students can save over a long period of time.  Needless to say there will no excuses like the bus never came or I have no money for the bus fare.

I came across an article while on Google Plus about the possible ways of using Google Plus in the classroom.  This article gave many useful tips about the ways that educators can use Google Plus.  I personally think that "Circles" and "hang out" would be of great value especially for the classroom.  The "circles" can be used to group the students and the "hang out"can used as a teaching and learning tool.  And of course, this is just the beginning of many good ideas to come!


Hello Jenny. 


I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class. I am so happy that I got assigned to read your blog this week. For our assignment this week we are actually assigned to use Google +. Before this class I had never heard of Google +. Since being in the EDM 310 class I have learned that you can do so much while using Google +. I plan on using Google + when I start my teaching career. Thanks so much for posting. 


C4T #3 Summary


This week I was assigned to read Jenny She's Blog again. I really have enjoyed reading the interesting subjects she has written about. This week she wrote a post about her first experience with Google Plus. I can relate to this blog in so many ways. I was pretty nervous about Google + at first. Now that I am using it constantly, I really like it.


My First Experience with Google Plus


I have been wanting to write this post for a few days but got distracted by my busy life schedule as a teacher.  Today seems a perfect day to do it.

I first heard about Google Plus from a Facebook friend by the name of Nicola D. who lives in Italy.  He has a post on his wall about how Google was aiming at setting up a social net work site that is very similar to Facebook.  I was totally intrigued by what he said and after that I did a bit of reading on the net about the whole thing and I left it at the point.  The next day when I got up from bed, I found out that Google Plus was there for real and Nicola was sending out invites.  I was too late as his invites were all gone!  I felt a little disappointed because I want to be part of it.  Two days later, I tried signing up on G+ without any invite and wah la--BINGO! I got in!  What followed that was unbelievable!  I played with it and circled all the friends that I know very well and of course, Nicola was one of them.   It didn't look very user friendly at first but then I got the hang of it and  after that, it was a journey of no return from here.  I have to say Google Plus totally rocks! Awesome! Awesome!

The privacy feature of Google Plus is most impressive!  Now I can add my family members without offending anyone.  I can post stuff that I want to whatever circle that I prefer.  I have a school circle which consists of only educators and a close friend circle that I can share all things about my life and they won't mind.  And more, I have a crazy circle that consists of people whom I think are geeks and nerds that I can learn stuff from.

Inorder to pay forward, I have also send out invites to my good friends who want them and this make feel good because this is what social networking is about!  Thank you for coming by, my courteous readers! If anyone need any invites, please leave a comment or follow me on G+.

The photo below shows the cup of coffee that I had on Friday at a cafe in Auckland.  I requested Melissa who made the coffee to put the Google plus sign on it--just for fun.  Melissa was thrilled to do it.  She said in her 5 years of working there, nobody had ever made any personal requests before me.


Hi Jenny,

My name is Mckinley Kennedy and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in the EDM 310 class. I have just recently started using Google + and I was a little nervous at first. But after using it for the EDM class I am in, I love it. I have really enjoyed being able to see and use all the neat tools that Google + has to offer. The most interesting tool I have found is the Hangout tool. It is very similar to Skype but it is with Google +. I found this tool very easy to use and a lot of fun. Thanks so much for sharing your blog. I have really enjoyed reading them all.

Mckinley Kennedy