Diigo vs Delicious

Well, I am not sure I am totally sold on one or the other. I really like the idea of all my bookmarks being on the web so that I can access them anywhere.....and when the IS guy's comes and updates my computer and forget to save my bookmarks, I would have a back-up. :)

I tried starting with delicious and was pretty sure I had an account with them before. Apparently, I did but have no idea as to what my log-in or password was. So, I tried logging in with my Google account, which it said was an option...well I never had success with that option either. So I created a new account.

With Diigo I was creating a new account. Getting started was easy but I did have some trouble. I would create a bookmark before I set-up a list and then I would run into problems trying to add it into the list. I guess I kind of started off backwards.

I know it sounds old school but I really do like clicking on  Favorites and just getting a quick list of bookmarks in folders. I like the look of just a clean list. Neither one of these really like that. They are a little more cluttered than I like. However, if I had too choose I think I like Diigo a little better. I do plan on adding more bookmarks, especially the ones I don't want to loose but use infrequently.

Second Life...NO, Say it isn't so!

Ha, ha, can you tell I am not a fan of Second Life.

I had the wonderful experience of Second Life last fall in another class and my fondness or it, or lack thereof, has not changed.

I just don't get it. But I must admit I have never been a fan of games, etc where you have to create a figure and role play. Heck, I don't even real life role play during training because I don't like it there either.

I tried talking to one person in Second Life, only find out they were as clueless as me :)

The one thing that helped me with Second Life was going to places I was familiar with in real life, ie: St. Louis Arch, MU J School, etc.  It was cool to see how realistic some places looked.

When thinking about how I could use this in training, I struggle. I know I could post notes or slides that folks could walk through and view or maybe some valuable links but it is a stretch. I am just not sure how I would use Second Life in the training that I do. Maybe I just need help thinking outside the box.

Here I am at Selmo:

Technology in the Classroom--phones, netbooks, apps, etc

Let's start with....I don't have a smart phone and my 5th grade daughter thinks we are insane because we won't let her get a cell phone. Keep in mind where we live we don't have cell signal (welcome to country life).

And ironically, the same day we received this assignment a letter came home from the school saying that cell phones were banned and they were going to start enforcing it. Apparently, students were hiding them in their socks and up their sleeves and texting each other. I resisted e-mailing this assignment to the principal but I must admit I gave it serious thought :)

I can see where smart phones could be used in the classroom and I personally, did use the web on my phone just yesterday when I couldn't remember where in Liberty my daughter's dance competition was being held. (That is going to cost me)

Our school did invest in netbooks just this year and the one teacher is going great bonkers on using Google Apps. The kid's are loving it! They are collaborating on projects and I think it is great to her my daughter say, "All I need to do is "Share" my document with Mrs. Hall and I am done with my homework."

With that being said...we had someone give my daughter a netbook for Christmas and like myself they are a little clueless as to what to look for when it comes to hardware. It was a bust, you can't do anything with it. She can't look at her google e-mail or do homework etc. I think the only thing you could do is look at Facebook....which she is mad because she doesn't have an account with them either :) She is 10.

So, I do think using technology is great in the classroom and there are many options with cell phones, netbooks, kindles, nooks, etc. It is critical that you make sure you can get service and have quality hardware. Otherwise, it is just going to leave the students frustrated.

Apps that either my daughter has used or I think would be fun:

Google Doc
Zoho Challenge
Survey Monkey
Fluent News Reader--haven't used but looks cool for a History or Current Events class.

Moodle vs Blackboard

Well, I am kind of bummed. I was really hoping that I would love Moodle and that it would just be like second nature learning how to use it, but alas I was wrong.

Moodle was just a little more cumbersome than Blackboard. I was really having to think about the set-up and digging around to find where to put things. Trying to add a survey or questions was difficult or confusing for me. It could be that if I gave it more time that it would become easier. I do plan on playing with it some more because the price just can't be beat, FREE

Blackboard was super easy and user friendly. Although in hindsight I have to wonder if it is just because I have been taking online classes for the last year. Just a year ago I was clueless about Blackboard and now I can't imagine not taking classes online. The convenience factor that BB allows is just too good to pass up.

If I was to use Moodle, I think the first class would take me sometime sketching out how I wanted everything but I sure it would be easier after that. I have been asked to consider developing a curr to use online with some 4-H volunteers and I thought Moodle would be a good venue, however, after this week I will need to do a little more playing around before diving in.

Camtasia vs Camstudio

Well, this one was an easy win hands down! Camtasia has so much more to offer and it pretty user friendly. I did struggle  briefly at first but I think it was because I just wasn't focused on what I was doing. After re-focusing it was much easier. When I set it up initially to automatically zoom in....it didn't . So, I did have to put in all my own zooms, etc but it was easy enough to do. I thought the zooms were very smooth and worked well.

Although, I did not have any trouble with Camstudio I do think it is limited...however hard to beat the price...FREE.

In the long run if this is something that I would want to use a lot it would make sense to invest in Camtasia.

E-books

E-books is not something I am terribly familiar with. Of course I have heard of the Kindles and Nooks, etc but I do not own one...as of yet :) I think it is a really interesting concept that many schools both higher ed and high schools are looking at switching from textbooks to e-books.

However, what has intrigued me the most is an article I found on the trends for publishing e-books.
I have always dreamed of publishing a book one day...not sure why, I am not a great writer by any means. I have tons of ideas of things I would like to write about...no idea where to start and the idea of trying to find a publisher, etc is just too daunting.

Maybe the e-books will open the door to writer's that only dreamed of being published, the library may become much larger in the future...now to figure out a pen name :)

Braineos

Braineos is a website that was recommend by a fellow student (thanks Rachel!)and was one that I wrote down as needing to check-out. It is a website where you can make your own flash cards.

It was an interesting website and some of the things I liked about it were you could easily make your own flashcards or use some of the ones that had been saved to the site. My daughter had just finished learning the European countries and their capitals and those flashcards were already on line...should have looked at this site last week :) Making my own flashcards were quick and easy. I liked the fact that it gave you several different options for playing with them ie: flip, reverse flip, multi-guess and a video game.

I did see two down sides. The first being that I never found a way to print the flashcards. I don't know that this is critical but I should would be nice to use them when you aren't near a computer. The second is that you were limited in the number of characters you could type. For many flashcards it wouldn't be a problem. I tried making my daughter some flashcards for her Awana verses and did not have enough room to type the entire verse.

I do think this is a nice little program for simple memorization of math, capitals or definitions. The student could make their own flashcards to help with the memorization and then use them to play the games.

Jing!

Another week...another new app!

I have never used Jing before but it was pretty easy to use....once I realized that I kept clicking on the Cancel button instead of the Stop button at the end of the recording. It was odd that it was so easy to share or embed the video. The fact that it automatically copied the info or link on to the clipboard is unusual and I felt like it was almost too easy.  The hardest thing about Jing is only having 5 min....as a trainer, I need a lot more time then that. :)

Toodledo is the web 2.0 app that I choose to talk about in the video. I am terrible at making a to-do list. I can make a list but prioritizing and not loosing the list is always a challenge. This little app would keep everything in one place and it helps prioritize for me.

I couple of other sites that I found that seemed with interesting or fun were: Mindmeister for mind mapping, TravBuddy for finding out about location you will be traveling too or restaurants in your own backyard and finally Game Classroom all different kinds of math and language art games for K-6.


Here is my Jing upload:

Cloud Computing...a little cloudy???

After watching this video, I had to chuckle. Here are the tech guru's and I am not sure they agree on how to describe Cloud Computing. By the end I was almost more confused than when I started.

I do believe that I like the lady's version of cloud computing the best; if there is no hardware or software for you to own or download than it is in the clouds, simple and straightforward.

Now Web 2.0 is different because it can require a download and sometimes you can manipulate the software. Two things that you can't or don't have to worry about in cloud computing.

My first experience with cloud computing was with Google Docs. I love it that I don't have to have my laptop or remember by flash drive every time I want to access a document. If there is Internet available then my document is available.

My daughter's social studies/comm arts teacher is now having them do assignments on Google Docs and submitting there assignments via sharing them with her. I think it is great idea. Leaves out the whole, "dog at my homework," excuse. Plus she can track how long or often they worked on the assignment.

Photo Story vs Animoto

Well....there was no comparison in my mind. Photo Story was the one I started with and after so many options and easy of use I was really disappointed with Animoto. I mean was that it? all it had to offer? There was no doubt it might be easier to drop the pictures and share but I didn't find it very user friendly and not many options. Photo Story is the way to go! I had fun and can't wait to make more. I think would also be a great way to involve the girl's in makeing memories of our vacation.

Podcasting--Customer Service

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Getting this posted took me awhile but I think I finally figured it out. The music I referenced at the end but here it is again: Musopen by Georg Philipp Telemann.

Copyright, Fair Use and all the jazz

So, this time I decide to just start with the US Copyright Office and see what they had to say, here are their definitions:

Copyright—is a form of protection that is grounded in the Constitution and is available for both published and unpublished works.

Fair Use—a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

                There are also four things to consider with fair use; the purpose of the use, the nature of the work, the amount used and the effect on the copyrighted material.

Now when it came to creative common license I couldn’t find a whole lot besides court cases and responses.

Creative Common License—a way to copyright your own works but still allow others to use it in a non-commercial way while giving credit to the source.

When it comes to students and copyright laws I think the ones that they are most likely to violate are the music and videos. It is still too easy to rip a CD and share it with everyone. Universities have really tried to crack down on students downloading copyrighted music over the internet and some have been expelled for infractions.

For educator’s I think it is easiest/safest would be to just use information with creative common license but I am not sure that is what we all do.  I believe most just bank on the fact that it is for educational purposes that will cover them in a lawsuit.

Creative Commons License, http://creativecommons.org/

US Copyright Office, http://www.copyright.gov/

The Basics of RSS

         “The Basics of RSS,” simply because just a little over a week ago, I had no idea what RSS meant. I can now tell you that RSS means “Really Simple Syndication” and is a method of providing website content such as news or software updates in a standard XML format.  Basically, if you follow a variety of news sources, magazines or blogs you can have them all in one location, therefore saving time because you do not need to go to each individual site. Forget about bookmarking sites in your web browser, email updates or visiting your favorite sites — these all take time and time is precious. 

    I choose to use both Google Reader and RSS Owl when experimenting to see how online versus download RSS differed. I didn’t have a problem setting up or loading either of the software programs. I think both programs are very user friendly.

I have used Google Docs before so the look and feel was very similar for the Reader. The big advantage that I see with Google Reader is that it doesn’t matter where I am or which computer I am on, I have easy access to the blogs that I follow. Everything is always updated and just waiting for me to come to the Reader to view the latest news.

In RSS Owl the look and feel reminded me of some of the Micro Soft programs such as Outlook, with the larger icons across the top to navigate through the program. I must admit that I like the layout and easy use of this software better than the Google Reader. It was a cleaner look and easier to read the different articles. Switching between magazines or blogs was easier than with Google Reader as well.

   
         Because the easy of set-up with both programs I think this is something anyone could do. In a school setting I would probably lean towards an online program because many times students will not always be at the same computer or may want to keep up over the weekend/summer and an online reader would certainly make it easier.

    I think the most obvious use of RSS in the classroom is to track one another’s blogs and to then to make comments. It is an easy way to engage the entire class, especially if some of the students are a little more reserved, everyone gets a chance to read and comment without feeling intimidated. One blog I found concerning RSS, which ironically was written in 2006, I had no idea RSS had been around that long, indicated that RSS was important because it was teaching students how to write for the internet and how to read bits of information. Writing a research paper and writing for a blog are vastly different styles. It helps if students can easily see and track how things of written for the digital media.  When it comes to reading, can you imagine standing the library visually scanning a variety of magazines, journal or newspapers for the topic you are looking for? It is much easier with a reader to scan quickly or search for keywords.

    Some of the websites that I have found to follow are 21st Century Ed Tech and Master New Media. Now sometimes the articles from Master New Media, or actually more times than not, the articles from Master New Media are over my head. But I do find them fascinating and enjoy learning about the possibilities out there even if it isn’t something that I could use in my career. There have been several articles in the 21st Century Ed Tech feed that I have enjoyed and debating using myself. Recently there was an article concerning resources available online from the Library of Congress and also a free professional development opportunity from the Discovery Channel.

        I have learned an enormous amount of information on RSS and it is certainly something that I will continue to use. I am not sure I have committed to one reader over another just yet, but I will certainly use one to save time and manage my resources.

Open Source Applications

Open source is something that I am just becoming familiar with in the last semester or so. I do remember when I was in college (orginally) my husband using shareware software but never really gave it a whole lot of thought. I am now beginning to understand that shareware may have been the beginning of open source applications even though today there are differences between the two.

There are several different types of applications including opens source, free ware and proprietary. Open source applications are ones that are available to anyone and are free for your use. However, the unusual idea behind open source is that anyone can update, change, add, etc to the software. Everyone works together to make the software better.  Freeware or shareware is sometimes free but it does not allow other people to adapt or change the software. Propriety software of course is going to cost money to pay for the license and does not allow for any changes.

For an open source application to be approved as on open source it must go through OSI (open source initiative). OSI is the keeper of the definition of open source documents and also is the one to approve and review license. You can find more information about this organization at: http://www.opensource.org/

One of the first open source documents that I found was Mozilla. This is an internet web browser and would be similar to Internet Explorer. My husband is a strong supporter of Mozilla and I must admit I had no idea it was an open source document until I started researching for this blog. I don’t really notice much difference between Mozilla and Explorer so I think it would be a great substitute for someone needing a no cost web browser. http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Another source that I was introduced to last semester was Open Office. I used it for one project and it worked well. Open Office would be compared to Microsoft Office in that it has applications similar to word, excel, power point, etc.  Obviously, this would be a huge benefit to students, families and school because of the cost savings.  It would introduce students to word processing and spreadsheets and would allow them to easily transfer what they have learned to Microsoft products when it became available to them.  http://why.openoffice.org/why_edu.html

Introduction

Hello my name is Michelle Taylor and I am taking classes towards a Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching and Learning. I received my BS and MS from UCM a few years ago.

I am currently working for UCM as the Staff Development Specialist. I develop training for faculty and staff on topics revolving around Human Resources (Hiring, Firing, Performance Appraisals, etc.). However, I am also able to do some fun things such as Colors Personalities and team building.

The book that I am currently reading is Bringing Up Girl's by James Dobson. I have 5 yr and 10 yr old girls so it is a practical read for me right now. I am really enjoying the book and it has given me several things to think about as well as some good laughs. Raising girls to be self-confident, assured young ladies with good character, is a challenge in today's society. There was been one chapter that contained interviews with college students where they were able to pin point very specific things their parents said or did that had made a lasting impression (some positive and some negative). Living in the moment is such a catch phrase these days, however, I think many times most of us don't live in the moment...we are too worried about the next event or activity. 

While there may not be anything earth shattering it provides a gentle reminders that parenting needs to be intentional and that it requires sacrifice.

http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Girls-Practical-Encouragement-Generation/dp/1414301278/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I do think people still read but not as much as they use to.