What I got from Mark Schlereth

Last week was a pretty cool week for myself. For class we got to interview Mark Schlereth. He is a 3 time Super Bowl champion, retiring from football in 2001. He also blocked for the 2,000 yard season of one of my favorite running backs Terrell Davis in 1998. After a successful football career he decided to start his own business for his green chili. He gave us tip on how to grow your small business. For example, knowing your market is very important. Mark would advertise his chill on his radio show thinking it would reach his targeted audience. The targeted audience were males and it was reaching him, however he did not consider the fact that it was their wives doing the shopping. With their wives doing the shopping they would not hear about his chili from the radio broadcast. This was one of the many lessens that he learned along the way. Near the end of the interview Mark said a quote that I loved, "there is always a game going on, if you don't know the game then it’s probably you". I think that this is great because it makes you be one step ahead of your competition. If they do not know they are in the game, then you can win easy.

Connected Educator Chapter 2 also talked about what Mark said the interview too. With the book and with Mark both go into how it is important to be well connected and expanding your network. Finding people within your field to work with, looking for informational blogs, and other practiced communities can increase your personal learning network. Increasing your personal learning network makes it easier to get and receive information, while also getting your name out there. When your name is out there it becomes easier to find others you wish to contact and other people who wish to find you. Mark is also an ESPN NFL analyst. As such he is somebody that can get information about the NFL a little faster and easier than other people. He brought up how in today's world being faster is better than being right. With social media information that is not true can be thrown out there for everyone to see. Social media can also be used to quickly fix these issues but, sometime misleading information can cause trouble. Mark also uses his twitter to interact with fans. He can easily get any information he wants to out for his fans to know. Overall social media is a small but, important part of you expanding your personal learning network. Whether it be promoting a business or working with other professionals having a being personal learning network makes it simpler and quicker.

From these three articles CNN, Zite, and Flipboard is that easy to get information is important. Zite is a great and new app that gets articles and information to the public in a personal way. People can set up an account and personalize it to their taste. Whether they like sports or medical news it is easy to your account tailor made to you. CNN owned Zite and sold it to another social magazine Flipboard. Flipboard is an app much like Zite in that it is a place where articles and other information can be collected. With these two apps together the spreading of personalized information will be easier.     

Untangling your Digital Footprint

Untangling the web Chapter talks about three websites that could be useful to educators or anyone looking for so simple websites that are easy to us. Th first one is called Symbaloo. At first glance its a site that makes it easier to get to other sites. You can make tabs for other site you have visited or wish to visit. The tabs are eye popping and easy and clean to see. It makes for a good home page for any browser because it could hold up to Sixty tabs and URL links.  





The second of the three websites is Diigo. It is some what alike Symbaloo, but you can share your links with other people who may be interested in your links. However, unlike Symbaloo you can also share PDF annotations. It is free but, you can pay a fee for extra features
on the website.

 

The final website talked about is educlipper. This website is actually founded by author Adam Bellow. It allows teachers and also students to collect and share articles and other educational websites online   Your able to clip items from different websites together, create citations, and mark and tag the content to easy to use labels for K-12 students.

If you had ever felt safe while using Twitter and Instagram well think again. Well, you are still safe however, it is not as hard as you think to fine at where you are and where you have been. With this app, if you know a person's username then you can find out where they have been.It is designed to show people the dangers of leaving a digital trail and how easy it truly is to find anyone. This is a good reminder to keep your account set to private and be careful while leaving a digital footprint. 

Speaking of your digital footprint, here is a list of some things to keep in mind about it. Some of the things I thought were most important are that employers do read your online profile, know the basics, and do not be afraid to make a mistake. Why are you online? What exactly are you trying to get out of it; is it for personal use or for a more professorial one, either way you should know the basics rules and layout of what ever your using the internet for. Another point is to be careful not to spend to much time on the internet, everything as consequences especially the internet. Some of the worst things you could put online are things that do not put yourself in a good light. Employers are looking at your digital footprint or anything they can find online. Foul language, insensitive jokes, and drunken pictures are all fair game once they are online, and employers can and will use this against you. So as a reminder, just be safe with what you do and do not put online.  

   

      

My First Entry

Hi my name is Alex Cattelona and you can find me on Twitter @catteloa. To begin with, I am not really a twitter guy. I've had one for about four years now but, I never really used it. I would follow a couple people I am interested in and that's about it. I never gave twitter a second thought or how powerful of a learning device it could be.

In class we started by reading an article which goes over the basics of twitter. For example the definitions of what a tweet really is or why you should have a shorter username. I had never known what a hash-tag was actually for, and for better or for worse I do now. An other thing that is interesting to note is what your profile picture could say about you. If your profile is using the default picture of a egg, people are going to think that your either new to twitter or just a spam bot.

The video above was also something that we watched in class. It goes into some of the of why someone should use twitter. One of the major points is that it is a great tool to communicate with others within or outside your field of interest. Twitter is a great tool for this is because not only can you talk to anyone one on one but, you can also get others to add their thoughts into the conversation. I find that pretty cool because it gets people talking. When people start talking then knowledge and ideas get past around. Once that start happening then new and exciting possibilities open up for you to explore.