Welcome back!
As I write this blog post, the sun is shining down on my empty and wet garden bed. In the last 4 days, we have received roughly 2 inches of rain. I had planned to put my garden in this past weekend but, the rain has resulted in a very muddy garden space. The forecast for the next few days is calling for sunshine so I am hoping the sunny days that approach will dry my garden up. If this is the case, the garden will be put in this weekend! So while the rain poured down, I decided to do some planning and research for my garden space. For my planning, I used the Google Tool, Jamboard. So, here is my review:
I may be one of the only Education Students who has never used Jamboard. I have heard about Jamboard within classes and classroom experience but I have never created one. As I navigated around this new tool, I found a few pros and cons.
Pros:
- I enjoyed the fact that Jamboard had a Google Image extension. I am a HUGE visual learner and will often use photos or drawings in my notes or rough drafts. The Google Image extension made it super easy to add visuals to my Jamboard.
- I liked that Jamboard has the option for highlighting and writing utensils. This would be a great tool to use to jot or hightlight important information.
- One of my favorite elements of Jamboard is the Sticky Notes. Anyone who knows me knows my obsession with Sticky Notes. I have Sticky Notes all over my planner, bathroom mirror, computer, and school notes. I find physical Sticky Notes super effective for reminders therefore, the digital ones are also great! I can see my future self, going back into this Jamboard and adding reminders or tips about gardening for myself via the Sticky Note tool. As you can see below, I added a Sticky Note to this page on my Jamboard to remind myself "Beets and Strawberries grow good with one another".
- Another thing I enjoyed about Jamboard is hoe easily assesable it is to viewers. A simple right click on allowed for a dowloadable QR code to access my Jamboard. You can scan the QR Code below to check out my creation. In additon to the QR code, a copy of a link to this profile is also simply done. Here is the link for my Jamboard: https://jamboard.google.com/d/1FuBfj8yWVSP3iDzHXcTKiPYBmHgTJ0Pc6ay3eTvoCCA/edit?usp=sharing. 
Cons:
- There is only one font option. As someone who likes their work to look visually appealing, this made me sad. I wish that there were more options for font choice!
- Jamboard has limited font and writing colors in comparison to Google Docs, Slides, etc. As I stated before, I enjoy having visually appealing work and the limit of color options is someting that stood out to me.
- When I create slideshows, I often use the "Duplicate Page" tool. Through my naviagtion on Jamboard, I came to realize this was not an option. Another realization was you cannot move around pages within Jamboard. It is almost like if you wrote in sharpie on a notebook page... there is no going bcak!
- Lastly, I like to have my work organized and the fact that people who have the link or QR Code can move around the elements on the Jamboard worries me. For this project, if someone has the access to my Jamboard, they could fiddle around with my work... not ideal!
So overall, I enjoyed using Jambaord and could see myself using it in the future. I wasn't blown away with the elements and tools it offers but, it does the job! In comparsion to other Google extensions I have used like Slides and Docs, I would consider Jamboard an even playing field.
Now I have some curiousity for YOU: Have you used Jamboard before? If so, what are some of your pros and cons?
Chat soon!
Miss G
I wish you luck with being able to plant your garden! Hopefully the weather cooperates for you :)
ReplyDeleteAs for using Jamboard, I find that it can be an effective learning tool when used with a class of more mature students. I used it in my pre-internship in a grade 6-9 classroom and despite making clear instructions on what to do and what not to do, the boys still moved things around. If you trust your students to be respectful of each others contributions and actually contribute to the Jamboard, it can be effective and useful.