Gregory Heenan

Chapter 4 of The Connected Educator begins by discussing the importance of relationships and the understanding of the need to change values, norms and beliefs to assist the growth of connected learning. Within the teaching community, there is a lack of collaboration and sharing of knowledge and teaching structure that is suppressing the rate of change within our education system . The first step in bridging this gap is to put relationships first. When interacting and collaborating on professional networks we must understand we do not have to fully remain " professional " and can build a social relationship through our interactions . Having social encounters that stray away from the professional task at hand is important, as it helps establish trust and ultimately strengthens professional relationships . Through having professional and social interactions that are transparent, open and truthful, professional networks can begin...

Chapter 5 of the Connected Educator invites users to apply free and affordable useful tools in their learning experience. The chapter begins highlighting tools that allow you to keep track of useful information on the web. The main tool used for this purpose is social bookmarking otherwise known as tagging. Social bookmarking is used to archive and organize content while sharing it with social connections through the use of "tags." Two popular platforms for social bookmarking are Delicious and Diigo, both of these platforms are used to strategically organize useful information found on the web so it is easy to access. You are essentially creating your own mini library of information found on the web. The next topic Chapter 5 unravels is Connecting and Collaborating. While there are many different ways to connect and collaborate Chapter 5 highlights blogs, verbal and written communication platforms along with visual communication platforms. Blogs allow for ideas, experienc...

I chose Mint for my smackdown app. I selected Mint because of the useful features it has as a financial planning app. The app Mint allows you to manage your bills, budget, credit score and even set up financial goals. Under the bills tab you can input future expenses along with the dates they are due and the app will check to see if you have enough money to allocate to this bill and remind you when the bill is close. The budget feature allows you to visualize and see the break down of each transaction and expense you have and offset your expenses with your future income or savings. These are just a few of the features of Mint, almost all features are automated and require little to no manual inputs. In my future career I can use Mint to allow my clients to track their spending and personally manage and become more aware of their personal finances. This app will not only be useful to my potential clients but for myself whether I am working in the financial field or not. I will need to...

Chapter 6 of the Connected Educator discusses implementing a connected learning community. The chapter begins by talking about the importance of whom you follow or connect with when starting a professional network. In order to start a connected learning community you must focus on finding real people with the same interests who are well respected users. Professional networks are laden with fake users it is our responsibility as savvy tech users to be able to spot and recognize fake profiles so we do not clutter our network with fake users. Although many of these connected learning communities "are what you make them", there are many people on these networks who are passionate about learning and are looking to connect, share, learn and grow. After connecting with other professionals in your field you must share information and find ways to engage in discussions and frequent communication to establish relationships and knowledge. These learning communities allow you to find a...