Thing 10: Google+

I initially dabbled in what Google+ was offering when it first launched a few years ago.  At the time, though, it was still very early and very few people seem to be using it.  Again, I was using it as an extension of my personal life (mainly connecting with friends around the world).  However, since joining ISM and seeing how connected our school is through Google and their suite of apps and programs, I am becoming more and more interested in Google+.  For the complaints I had about using Twitter professionally, Google+ eases some of them.  During my day-to-day life at school, I am connected to Google almost constantly.  I leave my email open and work through Google Drive often, so Google+ is a more natural extension of my professional life than logging into a Twitter account would be.  I can imagine Google+ becoming another Google product I use daily.  I think the trick is finding communities that key into my interests as an educator.  For this activity, I visited the links given in the activity description and ended up joining a few communities.  One of these already provided me with a neat online tool I had never heard of: Thinglink.

I played around with making a screencast using Google Hangouts earlier in the year, and it was a neat experience.  I can really see Google Hangouts as another neat tool to use.  If I didn't have Skype, it would probably be a great way to connect with friends and family around the world.  I could see using it in the classroom too, if I didn't teach 12 year olds that is.  I wish that our kids had access to Google+ and Hangout, as I think they could be neat extensions of our classroom learning.  Despite that, I can see myself using Google+ more and more this year!