IN THE CLOUD OR IN THE SCHOOL NETWORK?

That is definitely not an easy question I can answer straightaway. In fact, I have been inquiring  into the matter by asking some of my techie colleagues in the school where I work and I have seen there are different points of view or approaches towards this issue. I have also read a few articles on the net dealing with this subject. Generally speaking, I think the pros of using cloud computing systems outnumber those of using physical computers or servers. There are quite a few important disadvantages of cloud computing though.

 ADVANTAGES OF CLOUD COMPUTING:

1. Cost effective: it is cheaper and time-saving as the developers update their programs while you are using them.
2. Speed and Scales: depending on your needs, you can quickly scale up or scale down.
3. Innovation: you can pay closer attention to the innovation process because you don’t have to manually manage other resources.
4. Convenient: services are available to use immediately.
5. Multiple users at the same time: it is environmentally-friendly as it is shared by multiple users.
6. Flexible: you can use it whenever you want to.
7. Device diversity: iPad, smatphone, laptop, …
8. Lots of storage space: more room to store the files and data you need to store.

DISADVANTAGES OF CLOUD COMPUTING:

1. Internet connection: it is dependent on the reliability of your internet connection.
2. Security issues: data security is certainly a big concern.
3. Cost: to be sure you are saving money you have to look closely at the pricing plans and details for each application.
4. Inflexibility: You can’t insert a document created in another application into a GoogleDocs spreadsheet, for instance.
5. Lack of technical support: it is difficult to get customer service promptly … if any. You are usually derived to help forums.

I think the general tendency is to move towards cloud computing although there are still a few things that are not 100% clear. I mean data security, service disruption and connectivity.

MYSTERIOUS JOBS!

• A  ???? is a person who treats ill people by giving extremely small amounts of a substance that causes the disease. (Cambridge and Longman dictionaries)
• A ????  is the humorist of the medical profession. (Devil’s Dictionary)

BLOGGER vs WORDPRESS

• Blogger is free. WordPress offers different pricing accounts and a free basic one as well.
• Blogger is more intuitive. You can get started with just little or even no knowledge about HTML coding.
• Embedding in blogger is really simple. I wanted to embed a voicethread in my WordPress blog and realized I couldn’t because embed codes for Blogger and WordPress are different.
• Adding widgets and customizing side bars is easier in Blogger.
• WordPress looks more professional.
• You can have menus and sub-menus in WordPress, which is a very important feature in my opinion.

To sum up, I’d like to get into WordPress and see what it has to offer. However, for the time being, I choose blogger as my favourite blogging platform for class blogs.

MY HOBBIES

Two years ago I joined my local library reading club in English. I think it is a nice way to keep my English going and more or less alive. We meet every two months. I love that although I find it difficult at times to keep up with reading deadlines. At the moment I am about to start Deaf Sentence by David Lodge. Have you read that one?

Never say never!

So here we are, learning in the 21st Century, with 21st Century tools …

Something about Carmen

As you see in the picture I am 44 years old. I was born 23rd December 1968 in Eivissa. I am married and have two children, Miquel (11) and Joan (5). I love my family and they are priority number 1 in my life.

My father was a teacher, two uncles are teachers, one aunt is a teacher, my sister is a teacher and … I AM A TEACHER, an English teacher. My students are also important to me as I spend long hours with them in class. I am interested in anything that might keep them engaged and motivated to learn the language.