Mess of the Mind by Jake Speidel

               The application I chose for this Smackdown is called WIX, which is a free web-based tool designed to help you create websites with ease. I was first introduced to this site during one of my classes at ACCC. I also used it for my graphic design class to help build and assort my digital portfolio. There are lots of cool features that WIX employs to simplify the process of building a website, which I found to be really helpful. Whether you are building a personal blog, a business page, or setting up an online store, WIX has everything you need and more.               This presentation went a bit smoother than my last as I was more familiar with the program and project requirements, as well as how to use the screen-capture tool Screencast-O-Matic. In my video tutorial, I walk you through the ins and outs of using WIX and how to build a website from the ground up. Hopefully you guys will find ...

               In chapter five of The Connected Educator , we get to learn a little bit more about the importance of web-based tools and how they can enhance one’s career and educational goals. For Web 2.0 tools, they are only going to be of service if you take the time to learn them. Taking just a little time out of your day can go a long way in learning new tools, and the process for learning web tools is no different. Before committing to any one tool, however, we should first try it out and see if it is useful to our own interests and field of work. Not all tools are built the same, and as such, one tool that’s completely essential to one person could be totally irrelevant to another.                 Another thing this chapter points out is the tool of social bookmarking. This can also be described as tagging, which allows a user to “arrange content for simple archiving and retrieval,” Hal...

                            In chapter six, authors Hall & Nussbaum-Beach detail the advantages of personal learning networks as well as connected learning communities. Whereas personal learning networks are meant for more individualized education, connected learning communities are designed for the purpose of collaboration and collective education. They also go hand in hand with one another. Taking what you learn from your personal learning network and sharing it with a community can open the door to innovation and growth. As stated by the authors, “it takes both networks and community to become a connected agent of change,” (Hall & Nussbaum-Beach, p. 97). In my case, this could come in the form of taking what I learn from online spaces about film like Letterboxd and Twitter, and sharing that with my fellow comm majors at the school.                I...

               The application I chose for my Smackdown is called Celtx, a writing tool that features several formats and templates for writers to work with. There is both a web version as well as a mobile version, which are both available entirely for free. That said, there are also three paid plans to choose from which include additional features that may prove useful to some. In my presentation, I run through the basics of the free Celtx and provide a demonstration of how to use the mobile version.                Overall, I had a nice time working on this project, though there were some unexpected challenges I encountered along the way. The version of Celtx I had used before was the software version, which has since been deleted from my computer, and not the newly released web/mobile version. As a result, I had to slightly alter my presentation and learn the new set-up to better reflect the new ...