The first thing that comes to mind when I think of my favorites from the semester is Smore. The moment it was introduced I fell in love with it. During the class time, I created a news letter for my sorority. We had been discussing how to create a way to contact alumni but do not have the funds for that amount of postage. Smore has a multitude of templates and themes to make each month unique. It is very easy to use and can be embedded on our home website on top of being sent out in an email. And for the faculty in the building, the newsletter looks professional and we can give them a hard copy. Advertising for auditions, events, and concerts is rather important, and being able to quickly put something together that looks great will be a wonderful asset in my technology tool box.
Thinglink is right up there with Smore. It is such a great way to make information interactive. The project that I created for this course, is probably one I’ll hold onto for quite a while. Kansas State Bands hosts Band Day for high school students. Band Day is held on a day of a football game and invites over 40 high school bands to perform at half time with the K-State Marching Band and allows the high school bands to experience a college football game in it’s finest environment. The Thinglink I created has a picture of all the bands on the field and all the information schools could need about the event; who is KSUMB, how to get involved, where to sign up, what it entails, links to K-State Music, KSUMB and K-State Band facebook pages, and pictures of past years. With all this information together and not as a collection of papers in a folder, all band directors should want to bring their students to Kansas State’s Band Day.
VoiceThread is also something that I can utilize in my classroom. I found a thread by a former Music Ed student that did the ABCs of composers. He gave a brief synopsis of a composer for each letter of the alphabet, and it was great. I can send links like this to students, create my own, and show them during class. When it comes time to plan large trips, I can put an interactive itinerary on VoiceThread and be able to answer questions publicly so everyone with the same question can get it answered. This tool has many possibilities.
