BP2 iGoogle PLE

Here is a copy of one of the assignments that mistakenly went to an old Blogger site I had set up some years back. Thus, the glitches in the system were set into motion. I am hoping all is well now!

This assignment was a learning experience on a number of levels. When I first submitted this assignment to my blog, it did feel like it was missing something! And, I was! I did not

realize that there was an "Assets" PDF that gave instructions until I spoke with with the instructor today. This was an important, and key, piece of this assignment. So, yes, I was missing something! Now I will know to look for "Assets" for further instruction when working on assignments.

Meeting with Rena by phone this morning to go over how to set up IGoogle was so helpful and eye opening! What an incredibly useful tool! I have so needed to find a way to manage all of the things I am doing online! As I get more familiar with this tool, and as it becomes second nature to use it, it will be a powerful, and much needed, tool for me to navigate through all of the online aspects of my business.

I am excited about what I have been learning so far about PLEs (Personal Learning Environments). It is essential that students of today are networked online and know how to navigate the Internet. I love that IGoogle offers a place to capture and house many of the tools we, and our students, will be using.

As I worked through setting up the basics and getting started on iGoogle, I was thankful for being introduced to this tool that lets me organize and access all of my links, emails, blogs and other tools all in one place. It will make life so much easier and save valuable time also.

While, in some ways, this assignment was challenging for me, as seems to be the case when introduced to most technology for the first time, I was able to get started with iGoogle and I look forward to expanding my ability to navigate my way through it and, not too far down the line, to easily utilize this powerful organizational tool.

Below are the tabs I set up for my Home tab, FSO/Ar tab and Reosurces Tab. I also added gadgets for Hubble Telescope photos, ITunes Top Ten Songs, and a weather gadget

What a difference from my first attempt of this assignment! It feels good to be 'getting' it. I encourage any of you reading this blog post to not give up. Getting the basics of iGoogle in place will prove to be well worth it in the end.